USA > Rhode Island > Pictures of Rhode Island in the past, 1642-1833 > Part 2
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11
EDWARD RANDOLPH.
after his happy restouration did of his bountifull good- nesse graunt us a Charter full of liberty of conscience, provided that the pretence of liberty extend not to licentiousnesse, in which said Charter there is liberty for any person that will at their charges build Churches and maintaine such as are called Ministers without the least molestation as well as others.
In behalf and with the consent of the Councill, signed PELEG SANFORD, Governor.
Dated Newport on Road Island
the eighth of May 1680.
1 685. Edward Randolph.
Randolph (c. 1640-c. 1700) was the famous agent sent to New England by the home government in 1676, with instructions to obtain information as to the resources of, and state of feeling in, the colonies. In 1678 he was appointed collector and surveyor of customs in New England, and, in 1685, was made secretary and regis- trar of the province of New England. He also held office for the Crown in New York, and, it is stated, in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Cotton Mather says, in his Parentator (1724) that Randolph died in Virginia in great poverty. The paper quoted is taken from Bartlett's Records of the Colony of Rhode Island, III. 175, 176.
Articles of Misdemeanor against Rhode Island.
To the Right Honorable the Lords of the Committee for Trade and Foreign Plantations.
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PICTURES OF RHODE ISLAND.
Articles of high misdemeanors exhibited against the Governor and Company of the Collony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, by Edward Ran- dolph.
1. They raise great sums of money upon the inhabi- tants of that Collony, and others by fines, taxes and arbitrary imprisonment, contrary to law, and deny ap- peals to his Majesty.
2. They make and execute laws contrary to the laws of England.
3. They deny his Majesty's subjects the benefits of the laws of England, and will not suffer them to be pleaded in their Courts.
4. They keep no authentick Records of their laws, neither will they suffer the inhabitants to have copys of themn.
5. They raise and cancel their laws as they please, without the consent of the General Assembly.
6. Their Governor, Deputy Governor, Assistants, Deputys and other officers for the administration of justice, as well as juries and witnesses, are under no legal oaths.
7. They violate the acts of Trade, and have taken from Francis Brinley, Esq'r, his late Majesty's Com- mission, appointing the said Brinley and others to ad- minister an oath to the Governor of that Collony, for his duly putting in execution the act of Trade and Navigation, made in the twelfth year of his late Ma- jesty's reign ; the Governor of that Collony not having taken the said oath these three or four years last past, as is required in the said act.
All of which is humbly submitted, &c.
13
"N. N."
1690. N. N.
The pamphlet from which this extract is taken was published anonymously, and has but recently come to light. It is not known who was the author. The work is entitled A Short Account of the Present State of New England.
The Names of the several Colonies and Provinces, are these that follow, Road-Island, Plymouth, Narra- ganset Country, Connecticut, New-Hampshire, Province of Maine, & the Massachusett' s-Colony.
ROAD-ISLAND is of a considerable bigness, and justly called the Garden of New-England, for its Fertility and Pleasantness. It abounds with all things necessary for the life of Man, is excellent for Sheep, Kine and Horses ; and being environed by the Sea, it is free'd from the dangers of Bears, Wolves and Foxes, which much molest and damnifie those that live on the Con- tinent.
The People for some tract of time had a Charter to themselves, lived under a Governour of their own choosing, and Laws of their own making: But in year 1686, upon serving the Quo Warranto, they freely resigned up their Charter to His Majesty, and con- tinue so well satisfied with the surrender, that they do not so much as petition for their Charter again. Here is a medley of most Perswasions, but neither Church nor Meeting-house, except one built for the use of the Quakers, who are here very numerous, and have an- nually a General Meeting from all Quarters.
Many of the others regard neither Time, nor Place, nor Worship ; and even some very sober men have lived so long without it, that they think all instituted Religion useless.
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PICTURES OF RHODE ISLAND.
The People live in great plenty, send Horses and Provisions to Barbadoes, and the Leeward-Islands, and sell great numbers of fat Oxen and Sheep to the Butchers of Boston.
The settlement of this Colony, was in this manner ; The People of Boston, who always had a perfect hatred against all those who differed in Opinion from them, had some Quakers in the Land ; and how to rid them- selves fairly of these, they had many Consultations, which at last ended in this result ; They would banish them to some place or other, from whence they might be sure to be never troubled with them again : so they banish'd the Quakers to this Island, where in all prob- ability they must have perish'd with hunger, or else been destroyed by the Heathens; hither these poor people being come, dig themselves Caves in the earth, and by the kindness of the Indians, outlive the severity of a long and sharp Winter. The Spring coming on, they obtain'd leave from the Sachem to manure the ground, and in a little time wrought themselves into good Estates, which some even of the first setlers enjoy to this day. Being thus happily settled, they petitioned King Charles II. that they might have a Charter to themselves, fearing least they should fall under the lash of the Bostoners again, who had been so Inhumane and Barbarous to them in their banishment.
The NARRAGANSETT Countrey is a large tract of Ground, little inhabited, but the greatest part of the Country is taken up by several Persons. Some of the Bostoners claim a propriety for several miles together, but never take care to make the least Improvement. Churches here are none, and but a few Houses ; I can- not say there is one English Town in the whole Prov- ince. What is most considerable in the Narragansett Country, is the settlement of the French Protestants : who, on the violence of the Persecution, left their Country, came over to New-England, and took up their
15
LORD BELLOMONT.
habitation in this Wilderness ; where they have made good improvement, live comfortably, and have planted great numbers of Vines, which they say thrive well, and it is hoped will be very beneficial to them.
1 699. Lord Bellomont.
Richard Coote, first Earl of Bellomont (1636-1701), was in 1695 appointed governor of New England, with a special mission to put down piracy and unlawful trading. The notorious Captain Kidd engaged his energies in the first-named sphere of duty, and Rhode Island seems to have claimed no small share of the Governor's attention so far as the regulation of unlaw- ful trade was concerned. He visited Rhode Island in 1699, was most unfavorably impressed with the colony and its people, and in his Report his views are ex- pressed in terms of unflinching sincerity. This " Re- port of the Earl of Bellomont on the Irregularities of Rhode Island " is taken from Bartlett's Records of the Colony of Rhode Island, III. 385-387.
Boston, November the 27th, 1699.
My Lords : In obedience to his Majesty's commands, contained in his Royall commission and instructions, authorizing and requiring me to inquire and take the examination of persons and witnesses relating to the the disorders and irregularities countenanced and prac- tised by the government of the English Collony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in New England, in America.
:
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PICTURES OF RHODE ISLAND.
In the month of September, in this present year 1699, I repaired unto the said Collony, and have made inquiry and examined into the disorders, irregularities and maladministrations committed and practised by and within the said government. And in further pur- suance of his Majesty's commands, crave leave to ob- serve unto your Lordships wherein (as I apprehend) the government of the said Collony have deviated from, and gone contrary to the rules prescribed by their Charter of incorporation, and the powers and authori- ties which they have usurped and exercised, beyond the powers therein conferred upon them.
1. They seem wholly to have neglected the Royall intention, and their own professed declaration recited in the Letters Patents of their incorporation, " of Godly edifying themselves and one another in the holy Chris- tian faith and worship, and for the gaining over and conversion of the poor ignorant Indian natives to the sincere profession and observance of the same faith and worship." Upon which grounds, they were granted to have and enjoy their judgments and conscience in matters of religious concernments, they behaving them- selves peacably and quietly, and not using this liberty to licentiousness and profaneness. In that they have never erected nor encouraged any schools of learning, or had the means of instruction by a learned orthodox ministry. The government being elective, has been kept in the hands of such who have strenuously op- posed the same ; and the generality of the people are shamefully ignorant, and all manner of licentiousness and profaneness does greatly abound, and is indulged within that government.
15. Their Courts of Justice are lield by the Gover- nor and Assistants, who sit as judges therein, more for the constituting of the Court, than for searching out
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LORD BELLOMONT.
the right of the causes coming before them, or deliver- ing their opinion in points of law (whereof it's said they know very little). They give no directions to the jury, nor sum up the evidences to them, pointing unto the issue which they are to try. Their proceedings are very immethodical, no ways agreeable to the course and practice of the Courts in England, and many times very arbitrary, and contrary to the laws of the place ; as is affirmed by the attornies at law, that have some- times practised in their Courts.
16. Their Generall Attorney is a poor illiterate me- chanick, very ignorant, on whom they rely for his opinion and knowledge of the law ; and allow of judg- ments against criminal offenders, drawn in his own name, viz .: I, John Pocock, do indict, &c.
17. The Assistants, or Councillors, who are also Justices of the Peace, and Judges of their Courts, are generally Quakers, and sectaries, elected by the pre- vailing factions among them ; illiterate, and of little or no capacity, severall of them not able to write their names, or at least so as to be read, unqualified to exer- cise their respective offices, not having taken the oatlıs or subscribed the test and Association appointed by Act of Parliament. John Greene, a brutish man, of very corrupt or no principles in religion, and generally known so to be by the people, is notwithstanding from year to year anew elected and continued in the place of Deputy Governor, and second Magistrate in the Collony ; whilst severall gentlemen most sufficient for estate, best capacitated and disposed for his Majesty's service, are neglected and no ways employed in any office or place in the government, but on the contrary maligned for their good affection to his Majesty's ser- vice.
18. The aforesaid Deputy Governor Greene, during the time of the late war, granted severall sea commis- sions under the publick Seal of the Collony unto private
18
PICTURES OF RHODE ISLAND.
men of war (otherwise pirates), expressly contrary to the will of the Governor, then in the actual exercise of the Government ; and notwithstanding his forbidding the same, took no security of the persons to whom the same were granted, nor could he tell by the contents of them, who was to execute the same, being directed in an unusuall manner to the Captain, his assignee or assignees ; and otherwise full of tautologies, and non- sense. And all the vessels whereof the Commanders were so commissionated went to Madagascar and the seas of India, and were employed to commit piracy. The said Greene is likewise complained of for exer- cising divers other exorbitant and arbitrary acts of power, under color of his office.
19. The government is notoriously faulty in coun- tenancing and harboring of pirates, who have openly brought in and disposed of their effects there ; whereby the place has been greatly enriched. And not only plain breaches of the Acts of Trade and Navigation have been connived at, but also manifest and known piracies, and all that has been done by them on pretence of seizing and taking up of known pirates, has been so slender, weak and not pursued to effect, as plainly de- monstrates it was more in show, than out of any hearty zeal or desire to suppress and bring such notorious criminalls to Justice, and their care has been so little therein, that when they had some of the greatest of those villians in their power, they have suffered them to escape.
I 702. Governor Joseph Dudley.
Joseph Dudley (1647-1720) was said to be a " phi- losopher and a scholar, a divine and a lawyer, all com-
19
GOVERNOR JOSEPH DUDLEY.
bined," but is best known to us as governor of Massa- chusetts. He held this office from 1702 to 1715. It was in his capacity of captain-general (by virtue of which he was empowered to exercise military authority in Connecticut and Rhode Island in case of necessity) that he made the journey to Rhode Island which is below described. The extract is taken from Bartlett's Records of the Colony of Rhode Island, III. 462, 463.
GOVERNOR DUDLEY TO THE BOARD OF TRADE.
BOSTON, 17th September, 1702. My Lords :
.
About twenty days ago, in obedience to her Majes- ties instructions, I took with me some gentlemen of the Councill here, and a troop of horse to attend me, and came to Rhode Island, and there in presence of Mr. Cranston, Governor, and seven of their Councill, most of them Quakers, and a great assembly of people, I published her Majesty's Letters Patents for the gov- ernment of the forces and fortifications of that Collony in the time of war, and the commission for the Vice Admiralty, at which the Quakers raged indecently, saying that they were ensnared and injured.
I refused to enter into any conference with them untill I had taken the oaths of allegiance, &c., and had signed the Test, which I told them I would do in the presence of the Councill I brought with me ; but had rather do it before them, and then I should account myself qualified and secure in my proceedings with them, which obtained, so far as that some of them withdrawing, Mr. Cranston administered the oaths, and the next day at a conference with them, I told them I should proceed to review and settle the defects of their militia, and desired the names of their officers; but
20
PICTURES OF RHODE ISLAND.
could obtain nothing of them but stubborn refusall, saying they would lose all at once, and not by pieces.
The next day I gave out warrants to the town Major to muster the two Companies in Newport, that I might see them, intending to have given the oaths and spoken kindly to the people ; but the Governor and his Coun- cill would admit of no such thing, but have called their Generall Assembly, which is now sitting ; and, as they say, intend to send home some application to her Majesty.
The day after, I proceeded into the Narraganset country, and came to the town of Rochester, to which I had the honor to give that name sixteen years since, when I was President there, who are now grown to one hundred and twenty men, who with their officers all met me at the sea-side, and attended the publication of the commission, and cheerfully and unanimously, officers and soldiers, took the oaths. I treated them as well as the place and time would allow, and the next day proceeded in my journey. But the Governor and Councill of Rhode Island came near to Rochester the next day, sent for the officers, and were greatly dis- pleased with their attendance and submission ; and since have used all methods to bring back the people to con- fusion.
And upon the whole of this article, my Lords, I am humbly of opinion, that I -do my duty to acquaint your Lordships, that the government of Rhode Island in the present hands, is a scandal to her Majesty's govern- ment. It is a very good settlement, with about two thousand armed men in it. And no man in the gov- ernment, of any estate or educaton, though in the Province there be men of very good estates, ability and loyalty ; but the Quakers will by no means admit them to any trust, nor would they now accept it, in hopes of a dissolution of that misrule, and that they may be brought under her Majesty's immediate government in
21
COTTON MATHER.
all things which the major part by much of the whole people, would pray for, but dare not, for fear of the oppression and affront of the Quakers party making a noise of their Charter.
My Lords, I am your Lordships' most obedient and most faithfull humble servant,
J. DUDLEY.
I 702. Cotton Mather.
The reputation of Cotton Mather (1662-1728) as a repository of erudition is well known. He was a Har- vard graduate of the class of 1678, studied for the ministry, and at the age of seventeen preached his first sermon. In 1685 he was ordained as his father's colleague in the pastorate of the North Church in Boston, and his connection with this church only ceased with his death. His writings were extremely numerous. The best known is probably that from which this extract is taken,-Magnalia Christi Americana : Or, the Eccle- siastical History of New-England, from Its First Plant- ing in the Year 1620, unto the year of our Lord, 1698. London, 1702. Book VII. pp. 20, 21.
I believe there never was held such a variety of reli- gions together on so small a spot of ground as have been in that colony. It has been a colluvies of Antino- mians, Familists, Anabaptists, Antisabbatarians, Ar- minians, Socinians, Quakers, Ranters, every thing in
22
PICTURES OF RHODE ISLAND.
the world but Roman Catholics, and real Christians, tho' of the latter, I hope, there have been more than of the former among them ; so that if a man had lost his religion, he might find it at the general muster of opin- ionists !
I may venture to say, that Rhode Island has usually been the Gerizzim of New-England. The Island is indeed, for the fertility of the soil, the temperatures of the air, the commodiousness of scituation, the best garden of all the colonies ; and were it free from ser- pents, I would have called it the paradise of New-Eng- land : but the number of sensible and ingenious gentle- men, whereof there are some upon the Island, will find it hard enough to rescue it from an extream danger of that character, Bona Terra, Mala Gens. The condition of the rising generation upon that Island, is indeed ex- ceedingly lamentable !
The former generation of Rhode Islanders is now generally gone off the stage; and all the messengers which the churches of Massachuset colony, whereto any of them did belong, sent with admonitions after them, could reclaim very few of them : the rising generation, confounded by the contradictions in religion among their parents, and under many horrible temptations, and under some unhappy tendencies, to be of no religion at all : and when the ministers of this province have several times, at their own united expences, employ'd certain ministers of the gospel, to make a chargeless tender of preaching the word among them, this charitable offer of ministers has been refused : tho' it seems they are now beginning to embrace it ; the indefatigable, and evangel- ical, and very laudable industry of Mr. John Danforth, the minister of Dorchester, has, with the blessing of our Lord thereupon, overcome a number of them, not only to hear the gospel from a worthy young preacher, Mr. Nathanael Clap, sent thither, but also to build a meet- ing-house for that purpose: yea, and the liberal
23
SARAH KEMBLE KNIGHT.
merchants of Boston have in this present year 1695, been exemplary, by their bearing the expences of the ministers which we have sent forth to make tenders of the gospel unto other Paganizing plantations on the Main belonging to that colony ; albeit some of those tenders also have been scandalously rejected by the inhabitants. If I should now launch forth into a nar- rative of the marvellous lewd things which have been said and done by the giddy sectaries of this Island, I confess the matter would be agreeable enough to the nature and the design of a church history, and for a warning unto all to take heed, how they forsake the word of God and his ordinances in the societies of the faithful, and follow the conduct of the new lights, that are no more than so many fools-fires in the issue ; but the merriment arising from the ridiculous and extrava- gant occurrences therein, would not be agreeable to the gravity of such a history.
I704. Sarah Kemble Knight.
Madam Knight (1666-1727) was the daughter of Thomas Kemble, a merchant of Charlestown and of Boston. She married Richard Knight of Boston.
Madam Knight's later years were passed in Nor- wich, and she figures with considerable effect in the title-deeds of the real estate transactions of that town, and of New London. "She stood high in the social rank, and was respected both in the church and in mer- cantile affairs."
In the year 1704 she journeyed alone from Boston to New York, on horseback, apparently for the purpose
24
PICTURES OF RHODE ISLAND.
of attending to the distribution of an estate, and her journal kept during the pilgrimage is one of the most entertaining bits of description which have come down to us from the eighteenth century.
The quotation is taken from her Journal, New York, 1825.
Tuesday, October ye third,. About Three afternoon went on with my Third Guide, who Rode very hard ; and having crossed Providence Ferry, we came to a River weh they Generally Ride thro.' But I dare not venture ; so the Post got a Ladd and Cannoo to carry me to tother side, and hee rid thro' and Led my hors. The Cannoo was very small and shallow, so that when we were in she seem'd redy to take in water, which greatly terrified mee, and caused me to be very circumspect, sitting with my hands fast on each side, my eyes stėdy, not daring so much as to lodg my tongue a hair's breadth more on one side of my mouth then tother, nor so much as think on Lott's wife, for a wry thought would have oversett our wherey : But was soon put out of this pain, by feeling the Can- noo on shore, weh I as soon almost saluted with my feet ; and Rewarding my sculler, again mounted and made the best of our way forwards. The Rode here was very even and ye day pleasant, it being now near Sunsett. But the Post told mee we had neer 14 miles to Ride to the next Stage, (where we were to Lodg.) I askt him of the rest of the Rode, foreseeing wee must travail in the night. Hee told mee there was a bad River we were to Ride thro', weh was so very firce a hors could sometimes hardly stem it; But it was but narrow, and wee should soon be over. I cannot ex- press The concern of mind this relation sett me in ; we entred a Thickett of Trees and Shrubbs,
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SARAH KEMBLE KNIGHT.
and I perceived by the Hors's going, we were on the descent of a Hill, weh as wee come nearer the bottom, 'twas totaly dark wth the Trees that surrounded it. But I knew by the Going of the Hors wee had entred the water, wch my Guide told mee was the hazzardos River he had told me off ; and hee, Riding up close to my Side, Bid me not fear-we should be over Imedi- atly. So, as the Post bid me, I gave Reins to my Nagg; and sitting as Stedy as Just before in the Cannoo, in a few minutes got safe to the other side, which hee told mee was the Narragansett country.
Here We found great difficulty in Travailing, the way being very narrow, and on each side the Trees and bushes gave us very pleasant welcomes wth their Branches and bow's, weh wee could not avoid, it being so exceeding dark. I on a suden was Rous'd
by the Post's sounding his horn, which as- sured mee hee was arrived at the Stage, where we were to Lodg :
Being come to mr. Havens', I was very civilly Re- ceived, and courteously entertained, in clean comforta- ble House ; and the Good woman was very active in helping off my Riding clothes, and then askt what I would eat. I told her I had some Chocolett, if shee would prepare it ; which with the help of some Milk, and a little clean brass kettle, she soon effected to my satisfaction. I then betook me to my Apartment, wch was a little Room parted from the Kitchen by a single bord partition ; where, after I had noted the Occur- rances of the past day, I went to bed, which, tho' pretty hard, Yet neet and handsome. But I could get no sleep, because of the Clamor of some of the Town tope-ers in next Room, Who were entred into a strong debate con- cerning ye Signifycation of the name of their Country, (viz.) Narraganset. One said it was named so by ye Indians, because there grew a Brier there, of a pro- digious Highth and bigness, the like hardly ever known,
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