USA > Rhode Island > Pictures of Rhode Island in the past, 1642-1833 > Part 8
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This first interview seemed to us very queer, and we began to suspect that we must be in the house of a Quaker. Just then the door open [ed], and in came the very goddess of grace and beauty. It was Minerva herself, who had exchanged her warlike vestments for the charms of a simple shepherdess. She was the daughter of a Shaking Quaker. Her name was Polly Lawton. According to the custom of her sect, when she spoke to us she used " thou," but with a grace and simplicity only to be compared to that of her costume. This was a species of English gown, pretty close to the figure, white as milk, an apron of the same whiteness, a fichu very full and firmly fastened. Her headdress was a simple little cap of very fine muslin, plaited and passed around the head, which allowed only half an inch of hair to be visible, but which had the effect of giving to Polly the air of a Holy Virgin.
She seemed to be in no respect conscious of her charms. She spoke with ease, and "thoued " like the Quakers the most unaffected and polite remarks. She enchanted all of us, which she discovered, and did not appear dissatisfied at pleasing those that she kindly called her friends.
I acknowledge that this attractive Polly appeared to me the most exquisite work of Nature, and that every time her image occurs to me I am tempted to write a big book against the dressing, the theatrical graces, and the coquetishness of certain rich ladies much admired in the world of fashion.
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PRINCE DE BROGLIE.
Polly had a sister dressed like herself, and of a very agreeable appearance, but one had not the time to look at her while her elder sister was present.
Miss Brinley, Miss Sylvan and some other ladies to whom I was introduced after having quitted the lovely Quakeress, convinced me that Newport possessed more than one rosebud.
All these young people appeared to regret very much the absence of our army. They declared that since the French had left there had been no more amusements nor conversation parties. This little complaint decided de Ségur, de Vauban and myself, and some other young gentlemen of our army, to give a ball to these discon- solate fair ones. M. de Soteux took charge of the preparations.
We met neither reluctance nor refusals when we spoke of dancing. Our company was composed of some twenty young ladies, some of them married, all beautifully dressed, and all appearing to be pleased. We toasted very gaily at supper, and everything passed off satisfactorily.
The second day after this little entertainment we left, so as to rejoin the army at Providence. We quitted Newport with great regret, but not without first having kissed the hand of Polly Lawton.
I do not mention the military works which the French army constructed around Newport, nor the defense of the harbour, because I have treated those matters very carefully in another place.
To go from Newport to Providence one has to pass two ferries ; the first, called Tyverton, is sufficiently formidable and rather dangerous in heavy winds. The other, Bristol, is about a quarter of a league broad. Except the ferries the road is very agreeable. The distance from Newport to Providence is about thirty miles.
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PICTURES OF RHODE ISLAND.
Providence is situated in a forest, and the river Pau- tucket or Narankas, which passes through it, is wide and navigable. It seems to have about eighteen hun- dred or two thousand inhabitants, amongst whom are some quite rich men, who have extensive commercial transactions.
The army was encamped on the road to Boston about a league from Providence, in some fields which it had occupied the preceding year. The weather became exceedingly rough and the troops suffered a great deal from the almost continual rain and snow.
M. de Rochambeau, much vexed with the perpetual delays of the fleet, nevertheless behaved at Provi- dence like a thoroughly good French General ; that is to say, in order to divert his army and gratify the ladies of the city, he gave some balls in a handsome and large public apartment intended for such purposes.
It was at the first of these balls that I saw for the first time the Misses Brown, sisters of the Governor of the city. I do not give their portraits here because I do not want to turn all the men crazy and render all the women jealous. I will content myself merely by saying that Clarice is awkward in comparison with the elder of the two, Nancy Brown ; and that Betsy, the youngest sister, after a most agreeable conversation, one which showed that she had been well educated, appeared greatly surprised when she was told that amongst her many advantages not the least of them was that of having great black eyes with eye lashes so long as to half hide them, a thing both rare and lovely. She naively acknowledged that she had never imagined that this was a beauty, and it is quite certain that it was for her a discovery.
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COUNT MATHIEU DUMAS.
I 782. Count Mathieu Dumas.
Dumas (1753-1837), was another of Rochambeau's aids, and one who seems to have borne a moderately conspicuous part in the siege of Yorktown. Dumas held the position of chief-of-staff after Rochambeau's departure, and, later, travelled quite extensively through this country and South America.
He became an émigré at the time of the French Revolution, served. under Napoleon, and helped to bring about the Revolution of 1830. The quotation given is taken from the English translation of his Me- moirs of his Own Time, I. 71.
The little State of Rhode Island, animated by the example of the Bostonians, and encouraged by their success, displayed much energy from the beginning. The enemy took possession of the capital, ravaged the coasts, intercepted its maritime communications, and ruined its commerce. Several weak citizens, attracted by the advantages of prohibited commerce, abandoned the cause. The Quakers, indifferent in appearance, but English in their hearts, inclined to the king's party. The state, however, was neither subdued by the arms of the enemy nor shaken by these intestine quarrels : in the end the Whigs persecuted and expelled, or re- duced to silence the Tories who were among them. In consequence of the small extent of this state, all the in- habitants are acquainted with each other. The dense population, the love of agriculture, the active naviga- tion, the continual jobbing, have excited among them the spirit of association, and we observe among them,
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PICTURES OF RHODE ISLAND.
more than in any other state, a propensity to political controversy. In fine, the new republicans have nowhere been more haughty, more intolerant, more ardent in the defence of the national cause ; and though they have been reduced by great losses to sacrifice every thing, they are not less jealous in supporting the authority of Congress, than in vigourously defending the privileges of their own assemblies ; thus but a short time ago, they formally refused to pay a duty of five per cent. on imported goods, to which the other states had already submitted. '
I773. Samuel Davis.
Samuel Davis (1765-1829), the author of the Jour- nal whence the following extract is taken, seems to have been blessed with a peaceful and uneventful life. He was born in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and died unmarried. His epitaph is pronounced a just epitome of his life and character. It is as follows :
" From life on earth our pensive friend retires, His dust commingling with his pilgrim sires. In thoughtful walk their every path he traced, Their toils, their tombs, their faithful page embraced : Peaceful and pure and innocent as they, Like them to rise to everlasting day."
The quotation given below is taken from the Pro- ceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1869 70, pp. 28, 29.
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SAMUEL DAVIS.
SCITUATE, R. I.
Manchester's ; thirteen miles from Voluntown. Enter this' State at Coventry, near a log bridge, three miles from Voluntown. Also pass through a part of Foster, a new township. The militia of Scituate were paraded on the border of a grove, into which they fired by platoons. The reverberation of the sound was like cannon, which I supposed it to be. All the matrons and children of the country were assembled in their best attire. This part of the' State is thinly in- habited, and the buildings are ordinary. A Baptist meeting-house in Coventry, and another in this place, are without glass or doors. There is something sav- age and wild in the appearance of everything in these back towns. The road from Hartford to Providence is in a direction nearly east and west. From Bolton, fifty miles hence, it is a continuous tract of ridges of very high ground. These ridges pervade the country, while the rivers and streams, in various directions, find a passage to the Sound, or Narragansett Bay. Dine at Scituate. A dispute or argument occured here be- tween a Connecticut man and a Rhode Islander, on the moral and religious character of their respective States. The latter' observed, that " there may be more religion in Connecticut, but there was more honest men in Rhode Island " !
PROVIDENCE.
Dexter's ; twelve miles from Scituate. Arrived here this afternoon. The last stage the road bounds Johnson on the north, and Cranston on the south, ex- cept the last four miles, being in Johnson. Pawtuxet River rises in Scituate, Coventry, and Foster, and falls into Narragansett Bay below Providence. The ele- gant spire of the Baptist meeting house, in Providence,
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PICTURES OF RHODE ISLAND.
is conspicuous many miles. The soil is light and sandy in the western suburbs of Providence. Lodge at this place.
September 25 .- Visit the stone-ware manufactory. The apparatus for moulding it is simple. Two wooden wheels, placed horizontally, and a few wooden tools, in the manner of a pottery, are all. The ware was an- nealing in a kiln, in which Lisbon salt was occasion- ally thrown. Two ranges of holes are on the top; I suppose for this purpose. The clay is procured from New Jersey. Leave this place in the forenoon, by the lower ferry on Seaconk River, to Rehoboth, in Massa- chusetts. The river is here seventy rods wide. The channel is crooked, but very deep here, perhaps twenty- five feet. Pawtucket Falls are three or four miles above. The general name of the river is Narraganset. It rises in Worcester County, Massachusetts. Ships of great burden, 800 tons, and more, are built at Provi- dence, thirty miles from the ocean.
1787. J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur.
A native of Normandy, Hector St. John (1731- 1809 ?) came to America in 1754, and settled on a farm in New York, where he lived until the turmoil of the Revolution broke up his home and drove him back to Europe. He introduced the cultivation of the potato into Normandy. His publications upon America were so enthusiastically laudatory that many French families were induced to settle on the Ohio, where the greater part of them perished. The quotation given
.
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HECTOR ST. JOHN DE CRÈVECOEUR.
is from the third and complete edition of his Lettres d'un Cultivateur Américain, Paris, 1787, II. 54-59.
Cette Province [la Colonie de l' Isle de Rhodes & des Plantations de Providence, en y comprenant le district de Narragansets], quoique la plus petite de toutes, jouit de grands avantages .- Le havre de New-Port est un des meilleurs de l'Amérique à tous égards : les terres de cette Colonie produisent de l'herbe excellente et des bestiaux de la plus grande taille, du lin, du maïs, du seigle, des moutons. Narragansets est le meil- leur Canton de toute l'Amérique pour les chevaux d'allure. Le commodité que procure à cette Colonie la grande Baie qui en forme le centre, a donné à ses Hab- itans un goût & une aptitude singulière pour les af- faires maritimes ; de tous les tems ils ont été les plus habiles Navigateurs : n'ayant que peu d'objects d'ex- portation, ils arment leurs vaisseaux pour le compte des étrangers ; ils entendent parfaitement toutes les res- sources du cabotage & celles du commerce de specula- tion.
Le Gouvernement est une democratie parfaite ; le peuple chosit annuellement son Gouverneur & ses Mag- istrats .- Cette Ile a quatorze milles de long sur quatre de large ; les chemins dont elle est entre-coupée, sout plantés des deux côtés d'acacias & de platanes .- La Nature a placé sur la cime de cette Ile charmante, des fontaines d'où découlent les ruisseaux les plus utiles ; partout on y voit les champs couverts de moissons, & des prairies couvertes de l'herbage le plus abondant ; les maisons y sont singulièrement propres & commodes. Providence leur fournit de la chaux excellente, & leur Isle une espèce de sable dont ils enduisent les de- hors de leurs maisons : cette incrustation, à laquelle ils donnent l'apparence de la pierre, préserve les bois qui en sont revêtus de toutes les attaques des vents, des
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PICTURES OF RHODE ISLAND.
pluies & des geléés ; rien ne m'á paru plus léger, plus propre, plus elegant & plus durable .- Dans aucune autre Colonie, on ne voit point de boeufs d'une si pro- digieuse grandeur, ni de troupeaux de moutons si nom- breux.
C'est le pays le plus sain que je connoisse ; aussi New- Port est-il devenu le rendez-vous de tous les infirmes Anglois, Hollandois & François des Isles occidentales. - Ne pourroit-on pas appeler cette charmante Isle le Montpellier de l' Amérique ? Les chaleurs de l'été y sont régulièrement tempérées par les brises de mer, & les rigueurs de l'hiver, considérablement diminuées par le voisinage de l'Océan. La tête de cette Isle, du côté de la mer, offre un singulier mêlange de rochers pittor- esques & de petits champs fertiles, de sterilité & d'abondance, de sables & de riches sols, de baies douces & commodes, de promontoires escarpés. C'est ici la partie de l'Isle qui inspira à l'Evêque Berkley le désir d'y bâtir un College : on y peut, pour ainsi dire, cultiver la terre avec une main & pêcher avec l'autre ; jamais rivages n'ont été plus abondans en poissons de toutes espèces, sur-tout en Tewtags (blackfish). L'Isle de Kananicut unit à l'excellence de son pâturage, la fer- tilité du sol labourable, la facilité des pêches, la beauté de la situation, & la plus grande salubrité de l'air. Je désirerois pouvois finir mes jours sur l'une ou l'autre de ces deux Isles. Toute cette Baie en est parsemée, & aucune n'est stérile .- Ici on voit le plus beau sang de l'Amérique : la beauté des filles, l'hospitalité des habitans, la douceur de leur société, la simplicité de leur amusemens, y ont toujours prolongé mon séjour, & m'y ont fait passer les momens les plus heureux.
L'esprit démocratique du Gouvernement, anisi que celui du commerce, auquel ils sont si adonnés, a beaucoup influé sur leurs moeurs .- Ils sont actifs & remuans, toujours occupés de quelques spéculations maritimes ;
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HECTOR ST. JOHN DE CRÈVECOEUR.
ils sont fins & rusés : leurs Loix, quoique fondées sur l'équité, ne procurent pas toujours à un étranger les prompts secours qu'elles promettent : c'est peut-être un vice dans leurs constitutions que le peuple ait le droit de nommer ses Juges .- Comme leurs principales rich- esses viennent du commerce, & d'une foule de spécu- lations d'importation & d'exportation, ils ont besoin, plus encore que les autres Colonies, de la liberté la plus ample : c'est pourquoi ils se sont toujours opposés aux réglements commerciels de l'Angleterre, & avec la plus grande animosité .- Les plus foibles entraves renver- seroient leurs fortunes & leur existence, qui n'est fon- dée que sur la liberté du commerce la plus illimitée.
Toutes les Sectes sont venues s'établi ici : les Ana- baptistes, les Quakers, les Anglicans, les Calvinistes & les Juifs, dont il y en a un très-grand nombre ; ces derniers ont fait bâtir une magnifique Synagogue, où ils y adorent l'Être Suprême dans l'antique langage d'Abraham, & avec les anciens Rits de Moïse.
Tous les ans on arme ici un très-grand nombre de vaisseaux pour la pêche de la baleine ; ils sont aussi entreprenans, aussi hardis, aussi habiles que les Habi- tans de Nantucket dans ces expéditions .- On fabrique à New-Port des chandelles de spermacetty, plus blanches & plus belles que celles de cire ; elles ne donnent aucune odeur ni aucune fumée .- Dans les opérations neces- saires, & pour donner la consistance à la matière dont ces chandelles sont faites, ils ont trouvé l'art d'extraire une huile limpide, appelée aussi huile de spermacetty, qui est très-utile pour les lampes des Studieux.
La Ville de Providence, au fond de la Baie, est fameuse pour la construction des vaisseaux & la grande quantité de chaux qu'on y manufacture ; ils en expor- tent dans presque toutes les Villes du Continent .- Cette Province contient, à ce qu'on m'a assuré, 59678 habitans .- L'importance de cette petite Colonie con-
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PICTURES OF RHODE ISLAND.
siste moins dans les productions de son crû, que dans l'activité, les conoissances & l'esprit entreprenant des Colons, & dans la situation avantageuse pour le com- merce.
1787. Rev. Dr. Manasseh Cutler.
Dr. Cutler (1742-1823), a Yale graduate of the the class of 1765, studied theology, and became pastor of the church at Ipswich Hamlet, Massachusetts, in 1771. He was distinguished for his scholarship in astronomy, meteorology, and botany, and especially for the part he had, as agent of the Ohio Company, in persuading the Continental Congress to pass the famous Ordinance for the Government of the Northwest Ter- ritory. The quotation from his diary here given is taken from the Life, Journals and Correspondence of the Rev. Manasseh Cutler, by William P. and Julia P. Cutler, Cincinnati, 1888, I. 324.
We arrived at Newport before daylight set in. The passage not very agreeable, as we were obliged to beat all the afternoon, and considerable sea. I took lodgings at Mr. Benj. Olney's, a very good lodging- house, the genteelest in the place.
Mon., Oct. 15. The wind against us. Waited on Miss Polly Stiles, at Mrs. Channing's. Rev. Mr. Channing, a young clergyman, son of Mrs. Channing, and now settled at New London, walked with me over the town of Newport. We went up the steeple of the Episcopal Church, and had a fine view of the town,
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J. P. BRISSOT DE WARVILLE.
which is laid out in regular form ; the buildings old and out of repair, but very few houses that make any tolerable appearance. One street in front of the town is straight and about a mile in length, and makes a tolerable appearance.
There are two Congregational Churches, one Episco- pal, three Baptist, and one Jewish Synagogue, which we visited. I was much gratified with a view of the Synagogue. The reading-desk, the altar and ark of the Covenant, the five books of Moses in parchments, rolled and covered with silk, the garments with the fringes which all the people wear, and the phylacteries, are curious and new. Judah was the name of the Jew that attended us. Drank tea at Mrs. Channing's, in company with Governor Bowen and lady, Mr. Gibbs, a principal merchant of this town, and several other gentlemen, and a brilliant circle of ladies.
Tues., Oct. 16. Spent the day in listing my money for Congress. Governor Bowen, Mr. Channing, and brother called on me and spent part of the evening. Mr. Atkinson and I took a walk to see Malbone's Gardens. The house was burnt a number of years ago, but the garden remains in tolerable order.
I788. J. P. Brissot de Warville.
Brissot (1754-1793) played a prominent part in the early French Revolution as leader of the Girondists. After the defeat of his party, he was thrown into prison and guillotined. His eloquence and literary ability gave him great influence in French politics. In 1788 he visited America to inquire into the condition of the
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PICTURES OF RHODE ISLAND.
negroes. While here he became interested in the Scioto Company, and wrote the Commerce of America with Europe, to further the enterprise. The quotation given here is from his New Travels (ed. 1792), p. 143, et seq.
On the 12th of October, we set out from Boston at half past seven in the morning, and arrived by six in the evening at Providence. It is forty-nine miles ; the road good, the soil stoney, gravelly and sandy, and, as usual for such a soil, covered with pines. The country bordering the road, appears neither fertile nor well peopled : you may see houses in decay, and children covered with rags. They had, however, good health, and good complexions. The silence which reigns in the other American towns on Sunday, reigns at Provi- dence even on Monday. Everything here announces the decline of business. Few vessels are to be seen in the port. They were building, however, two distilleries ; as if the manufactories of this poison were not already sufficiently numerous in the United States. Whether it be from prejudice or reality, I seemed to perceive everywhere the silence of death, the effect of paper money. I seemed to see, in every face, the air of a Jew, the result of a traffic founded on fraud and finesse. I seemed to see, likewise, in every countenance, the effects of the contempt which the other States bear to this, and the consciousness of meriting that contempt. The paper-money at this time was at a discount of ten to one.
I went from Providence to Newport in a packet- boat. This journey might be made by land ; but I preferred the water. We arrived in seven hours and a half ; and during two hours we had contrary wind. This distance is thirty miles. We never lost sight of land ; but it offers nothing picturesque or curious.
J. P. BRISSOT DE WARVILLE. 115
A few houses, some trees, and a sandy soil, are all that appears to the eye. The port of Newport is considered as one of the best in the United States. The bottom is good, the harbour capable of receiving the largest ships, and seems destined by nature to be of great con- sequence. This place was one of the principal scenes of the last war. The successive arrival of the Amer- ican, English, and French armies, left here a consider- able quantity of money .*
Since the peace, everything is changed.t The reign of solitude is only interrupted by groups of idle men, standing with folded arms at the corners of the streets ; houses falling to ruin ; miserable shops, which present nothing but a few coarse stuffs, or baskets of apples, and other articles of little value ; grass growing in the public square, in front of the court of justice ; rags stuffed in the windows, or hung upon hideous women and lean unquiet children.
Read again, my friend, the charming description given of this town and this State, by M. de Crèvecoeur. It is not exaggerated. Every American whom I have questioned on this subject, has described to me its an- cient splendor, and its natural advantages, whether for commerce, agriculture, or the enjoyments of life.
The State of Rhode-Island will never again see those happy days, till they take from circulation their paper- money, and reform their government. The magis- trates should be less dependent on the people than they are at present, and the members of the legislature should not be so often elected. It is inconceivable that so many honest people should groan under the present anarchy ; that so many Quakers, who com-
* The English destroyed all the fine trees of ornament and fruit : they took a pleasure in devastation.
+ This town owed a part of its prosperity to the slave trade, which is at present suppressed.
*
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PICTURES OF RHODE ISLAND.
pose the basis of the population of the State, should not combine together to introduce this reform .*
If this reform is not speedily executed, I doubt not but the State will be unpeopled. A great part of the emigration for the settlement at Muskingum on the Ohio, is from this State. General Varnum is at their head. A number of families are preparing to join them. Nearly all the honest people of Newport would quit the place, if they could sell their effects. I doubt not, likewise, but the example of Rhode-Island will be a proof, in the eyes of many people, that republican government is disastrous. . But in the midst of these disorders, you hear nothing of robberies, of murders, or of mendicity ; for the American poor does not degrade himself so far as to abjure all ideas of equity, and all shame. . . The Rhode-Islander does not beg, and he does not steal-the ancient American blood still runs in his veins.
I792. Rev. Dr. Jedidiah Morse.
Dr. Morse (1761-1826) was a prominent clergyman of New England, minister at Charlestown, Massachu- setts, from 1787 to 1820. He was among the fore- most of the founders of the Andover Theological Semi- nary, and helped to organize the Park Street Church in Boston. He was the first in this country to publish a text-book of geography, and his various works on the subject, some of which were published also in England,
* The author is happy to find, that before the publication of this letter, this State has acceded to the new federal government. This fact proves, that good principles will predominate at last, and par- ticular abuses will disappear.
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REV. DR. JEDIDIAH MORSE.
Scotland and Ireland, and translated into French and German, gained for him the title of "The Father of American Geography." The quotation given is taken from the American Geography, ed. of 1792, pp. 204- 209.
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