USA > Rhode Island > Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. I > Part 32
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With the war emergency ended, Parliament once more took up the problem of paper money. Governor Greene in a letter to Richard Partridge, 1749, advised the colony agent with reference to a bill pending in Parliament : "As to the bill in Parliament relating to the paper currency, the Assembly expects you will strenuously oppose it; since, should it pass into a law, it would annihilate all the legislative power granted to this colony in their Charter; and, as we judge that we have not acted anything to forfeit these privileges, we hope on an impar- tial consideration, we shall not be stripped of them." Governor Greene thereupon recited again the necessities of war that had induced the original issue of paper currency in 1710. In the same year, 1749, the Duke of Bedford wrote to Rhode Island, requesting "an account of the tenor and amount of all the bills of credit which have been created and issued . . . . that shall be then outstanding . . . . with the amounts of the said bills in money of Great Britain." The answer included the detail of issues, and continued: "The reason of the great depreci- ation observable in the bills issued by this colony is because the inhabitants of New England constantly consume a much greater quantity of British manufactures than their exports are able to pay for; which makes such a continual demand for gold, silver and bills of exchange, to make remittances with, that the merchants, to procure them, are always bidding one upon another, and thereby daily sink the value of paper bills, with which they purchase them. And it is plain that where the balance of trade is against any country, that such part of their medium of exchange as hath universal currency will leave them; and that such part of their medium as is confined to that country will sink in value, in proportion as the balance against them is to their trade; for what hath been the case with Rhode Island bills hath also been the common fate of all the paper bills issued by the other colonies of New England; they having all been emitted at near equal value, and have always passed at par with one another, and consequently have equally sunk in their values. And this will always be the case with infant countries that do not raise so much as they consume; either to have no money, or if they have, it must be worse than that of their richer neighbors to compel it to stay with them." The committee which drafted the answer, including Stephen Hopkins, reported £312,300 emitted since 1710 on the credit of the colony, of which. £176,964 6s. 101/2d. had been burned. The colony's debt in bills of credit was £135,335 13s. 11/d.
In August, 1750, the General Assembly ordered a new issue of £50,000 of bills of credit to be loaned in land mortgages, and in the following month seventy-two inhabitants sent a peti-
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tion of protest to the King, in which they alleged "that the landholders of this colony, having generally mortgaged their farms or plantations as a security for the bills of credit they have taken upon loans, have found it to their interest to multiply such bills, that they may depreciate and lessen in value, and which they have recourse to, as a legal expedient of wiping away their debts without labor ; whereby the laudable spirit of industry is greatly extinguished, and your majesty's trading subjects greatly reduced from want of produce and remittances." Gov- ernor Greene wrote to Partridge, directing the latter to oppose the petition, and, if possible, to obtain a copy of it and send the latter back to Rhode Island.
Upon receiving a copy of the petition of protest two committees of the General Assembly were appointed, in June, 1751, one "to inquire into the relation, station and circumstances which the petitioners stand in, to his majesty and this colony," the other "to examine into the facts contained in a petition preferred to his majesty by sundry of the inhabitants of the colony." The first committee reported "that all but twelve of the said petitioners are freemen of this colony, or of some towns or other in this colony; and that as to their relation, station or circumstances, we find that two of them are officers . . and that the circumstances of some of them are visibly very considerable, but the circumstances of others are to us unknown." The petitioners included Samuel Pemberton, who was one of two accused in 1750 of having "grossly abused this Assembly" by saying "that the General Assembly are a parcel of damned rascals and scoundrels, and as bad as thieves and robbers, and had taken £ 5000 out of his pocket," an accusation that indicated the intensity of partisanship for the time being with the issue drawn squarely between inflationists and advocates of redemption. Being brought before the Assembly, Samuel Pemberton had "acknowledged that he had so said, but that he intended only those that had voted for making the money." He was ordered to give bond in the amount of £5000 for appearance at the next session of the Assembly. The second committee reported : "That the first fact asserted, 'that the currency of this government is so far from being fixed that it hath sunk in its value above one-half within the seven years last past,' is not strictly true. That the second fact asserted, 'That this colony hath now outstanding the sums of £525,335 in bills of credit,' we find not to be true, there not being, at the date of the petition, bills amounting to that sum outstanding. That as to the other facts asserted in this petition we, on the most exact examination, cannot say but that they are strictly true." There was no evasion of truth in this report; the General Assembly accepted it. Meanwhile, in March, 1750-1751, an emission of £25,000 in bills of credit had been authorized. In the same month the English House of Commons resolved that "the great rise in the value of silver and in the exchange, occasioned by the repeated emissions of bills of credit, particularly in Rhode Island, had been the means of defrauding creditors in all the four* governments of a great deal of their profits, and by introducing confusion into dealings had proved a great discouragement to the trade of these kingdoms." In June the General Assembly ordered printed 200 copies of the petition, with the petitioners' names, the resolutions of the House of Commons, and the bill prepared for action by Parliament, for distribution to members of the Assembly and to mem- bers of town committees letting out the bank money. This publicity might serve a variety of purposes, including fixing responsibility for the action that Parliament might take, besides advertising the issue of bills of credit as probably the last, which it was of the kind during colonial days. In August the Assembly undertook to stabilize exchange by statutory regula- tion of the value of bills of exchange of old and new series in silver. In September news came that Parliament had acted. The obstacle to action dealing directly and exclusively with Rhode Island suggested by the decision twenty years earlier on the questions submitted by Governor Jencks, was avoided by passing an act, purporting to prevent defrauding creditors in all the colonies, and expressly forbidding issues of paper money by the New England colonial
*New England.
RHODE ISLAND CLIPPER SHIP
3
A RHODE ISLAND PRIVATEER, REVOLUTIONARY WAR
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governments after September 1, 1751. The inhibition thus became part of the laws of Eng- land, and binding upon Rhode Island "regard being had to the nature and constitution of the place and the people." Even the latter, apparently, was taken care of in provisions that, with the King's consent, permitted issuing bills of credit in emergencies and to meet current expenses provided reasonable provision for redemption was made. Whether or not the legis- lation was effectual was not determined by actual testing ; the moral victory won by the redemp- tion party was sufficient, although it had been obtained at the price of assumption by Parlia- ment of a right to enact legislation affecting Rhode Island that was somewhat inconsistent with the colony's claim to virtually unrestricted discretion in legislation. As a measure for the regulation of the internal relations of the empire, particularly emphasizing economics, the law prohibiting bills of credit might stand with others formulating a development of the mercan- tile theory.
TRADE RESTRICTIONS-The mercantile theory in actual operation fostered international rivalry, jealousy and enmity so bitter oftentimes that commercial competition ripened into conflict in arms upon the battlefield or open seas ; within nations it substituted disaffection for loyalty as it intensified economic distinctions, sectionalism for national unity as it resorted to discrimination, and revolution tending to disunion for evolution tending to harmony and hap- piness. The "molasses" act of 1733, intended to enrich the British West Indian planters at the expense of those of other nationalities by assuring the former a monopoly of trade through imposts levied on commodities imported from islands other than those governed by Great Britain, irked the northern colonies not quite so much because of the higher cost of molasses landed at New England distilleries, an inevitable consequence of reducing the supply of molasses and sugar, as because it tended effectually to limit the market for New England goods, which theretofore had been sold in all the West Indies. Indeed, the export trade to the West Indies had been the most prolific source of New England prosperity, such as it was. With New England markets practically closed to their sugar and molasses, the French and Spanish islanders could no longer afford to buy New England goods. The incongruity of "favorable" trade balances and sound commercial relations is scarcely recognized even by twentieth century statesmen. A customer must sell in order that he may obtain the wherewith to buy. Rhode Island protested vigorously but vainly against the "molasses" act. Richard Partridge, agent for Rhode Island in England, argued that Parliament actually had embarked upon a policy that involved taxing the colonists as Englishmen without representation, in viola- tion of a principle recognized in England, though oftentimes violated, since Magna Carta. Thus he anticipated one of the rallying slogans in use before and in the earlier period of the Revolution, that "taxation without representation is tyranny." Parliament was stubborn, and the London representatives of the British West Indies were influential. When, in 1739, the "sugar" act, more drastic in its provisions and intended still further to limit trade to colonies within the nation, was proposed, the General Assembly instructed the Governor to "write to our agent strenuously to oppose at home the making any addition to the sugar act that so much affects the northern plantations ; and . ... also write to the neighboring governments request- ing them to join with us in opposing the same." Again the opposition was vain; the mercan- tile policy was ascendant, and the West Indies were in greater favor in London than was New England. The solution of the problem lay in taking the sugar islands away from France and Spain, uniting them with the English nation, and thus restoring them as markets. The later colonial wars, in America if not in England, aimed at conquest of the continent, and possibly also of the islands.
Meanwhile, as it was in its external operation breeding international war both in America and in Europe, the mercantile theory in its internal operation was engendering discord between
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England and her colonies, and also between the colonies, as each of the latter sought advantage at the expense of the others. The instructions to Partridge, Rhode Island's agent in England advised him frequently to oppose strenuously the activities of the agents of the sugar colonies. The trade and navigation acts were as much a matter of controversy as the tariff has been in the United States. The enforcement of the trade and navigation acts brought officers of the crown and officers of a colony frequently into open conflict. At Newport there was inter- mittent friction. To prevent the court of admiralty's assumption of jurisdiction belonging properly to courts established by the colony, the General Assembly, in 1734, authorized use of the writ of injunction against the judge of admiralty. In 1763 a writ was issued against John Andrews, judge of the admiralty court in Providence, to stop the issuing of a judgment. The naval officer, from the establishment of the office for the purpose of assisting the Governor in enforcing the trade and navigation acts, had been appointed by the Governor. When Leonard Lockman, in 1743, presented a commission as clerk of the naval office, issued under the privy seal and purporting to be a patent granted by the King, a committee of the General Assembly, appointed to consider the matter reported "that, with humble submission, it is conceived that his majesty was mistaken in said grant ; for that, by several acts of Parliament said office is in the appointment of the Governor of said colony, who had (according to the privilege used of old) appointed a naval officer in said colony, and is by law answerable for the neglects and misdemeanors of said officer, agreeable to the statutes in this case provided," and the Assembly adopted the report. The consequences of the King's "mistake" were avoided by disregarding it. A committee of the General Assembly, in 1743-1744, investigated the condemnation by the court of vice-admiralty of the "La Gertruyda," bark, Captain Samuel Baal. The vessel had been taken near Rio de la Hache by three English privateers, brought into Newport as a prize, condemned by the court, and divided among the captors, as was alleged, contrary to the treaty between England and Holland. At the time of the investigation, Samuel Pemberton, late judge of admiralty, was in prison for debt. The Governor sent an authentic copy of the record of the trial to England, along with the report of the General Assembly's committee. The Gover- nor's letter concluded with the humble hope "that, as this court, which has the sole cognizance of prizes, is wholly independent of any authority in this colony, that the Governor and Com- pany will never be thought liable to censure on account of any judgment in that court, that may be thought owing to the mistakes or passions of an ignorant or indigent person, that without their consent or knowledge may be deputed to judge and determine singly in matters of such high and public concernment." The General Assembly revised the table of fees for the col- lectors and naval offices, and enacted a table of fees for the court of vice-admiralty. Of these last Leonard Lockman, whose commission as clerk of the naval office had been disregarded as a mistake, who was now judge of admiralty, complained to the Lords of Admiralty; the col- ony answered in a statement approved by the General Assembly in 1744. For special defence of the "privileges of this colony as established by charter," the General Assembly remitted £550 to the colony agent in England "to be expended in the just defence of the Charter priv- ileges of the colony, so as need shall require." Special instructions to the agent were ordered forwarded "in three different vessels . . . . as soon as may be," an indication of the General Assembly's interpretation of the situation as critical. Leonard Lockman persisted in hostil- ity ; in a letter addressed to the colony agent in 1749, Governor Greene referred to him thus: "As to his aspersions so liberally cast on us, were his character as well known in London as it is in Rhode Island, he would not have access to any public board to spread his false reports, which it is obvious are only the result of his disappointment."*
FLAGS OF TRUCE-There being no provision by treaty for regular exchanges of prisoners of war, the General Assembly, in February, 1747-1748, authorized exchanges under flags of
*In the matter of the naval office.
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truce. If and when fifteen or more French or Spanish prisoners were in Rhode Island, the Governor could commission a vessel at the charge of the colony, if no private vessel were available, to convey the prisoners to a suitable port. Vessels operating under flag of truce must clear regularly, and were permitted to carry only sufficient provisions for the outward voyage, and for an equal number of persons on the return voyage, and were to bring back to Rhode Island as many English prisoners as possible. Within six months the new statute had operated to open a controversy, and Governor Greene received from Chambers Russell a protest as fol- lows: "The lords commissioners of the admiralty, having been informed that there was an iniquitous trade subsisting between the colony of Rhode Island and the King's enemies, under color of flags of truce, have directed me to make the most strict inquiry into the truth of it, and if I find the same to be fact, to make proper remonstrances to the government of Rhode Island against illegal proceedings. I have, in compliance with their lordships' command, made inquiry into the same, and find that there were last year about twenty sail of vessels commis- sioned as flags of truce by the government of Rhode Island to carry prisoners to the French West Indies ; which vessels have carried but few prisoners : but under color of said commis- sions have carried cargoes of fish and other provisions to the King's enemies, and in return have brought back the produce of the French sugar plantations. And, also, that several French flags of truce came to Rhode Island with cargoes of molasses, sugar and indigo; for which they have carried back in return provisions. And as said trade is strictly prohibited by his majesty's proclamation, and is a base prostitution of the King's commission, and has a tendency to distress his majesty's subjects and succor the enemy, I doubt not but that you'll take the utmost care to prevent it; and will see that those who presume to carry on such illicit trade, for the future, are duly punished." The war had ended with the peace of Aix-la- Chapelle, and with it the use of flags of truce for the time being. The issue suggested would be revived in another war, and eventually would constitute one of the causes for ill-feeling leading to the Revolution.
FRESH CAUSES FOR FRICTION-Earlier misunderstanding because of colonial laws, and the delays involved in the first printing of the laws were suggested when, in 1742, a committee was appointed to revise the laws for reprinting ; a second committee was appointed later in the same year; a third committee was appointed in 1743, and increased by one member later in the same year. The laws were printed in 1744, and in 1745 were ordered bound in "marbled paper." Ann Franklin, widow, who printed the laws, stopped not with the edition of 500 copies for the colony, and was ordered, therefore, not to sell any of the extra copies in her hands within a year, the colony meantime offering the books for sale at thirty shillings. When the public laws enacted after the revision of 1744 were ordered printed in 1751, the printer was required to give bond that he would "not print or suffer to be printed on his press" more than 500 copies. In October, 1749, Daniel Updike, James Honeyman, Jr., Matthew Robin- son, and John Alpin, all lawyers, represented to the General Assembly that the judges of the Superior Court had determined judicially that the statutes of England "are not in force in this government except such as are introduced by some law of the colony," thus reversing earlier rulings that English statutes were in force as part of the body of the common law. Of course, the court was exactly right in its ruling ; the remedy, if one were wanted, lay with the Gen- eral Assembly. Thereupon the four lawyers were appointed a committee to draft a bill for introducing such of the statutes of England as are agreeable to the constitution, the last a sig- nificant term as it expressed compactly the principle enunciated in the Charter that law should regard "the nature and constitution of the place and the people." In was English usage, how- ever, rather than that developed later in America with reference to written fundamental law. The committee reported in 1750, and the General Assembly adopted by statute a long list of
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English statutes covering subjects not already included in the body of Rhode Island statute law. In 1752 the Lords Justice of England, citing the necessity thereof for properly deter- mining appeals, requested a "true and authentic copy . of all the laws, statutes and ordinances now in force . . . . under the public seal." At the same time it was ordered by the King in council that thereafter communications from the colonies should be addressed to the commissioners for trade and plantations only, unless the matter communicated were "of such a nature and importance as may require our more immediate direction by one of our prin- cipal secretaries of state." In the latter event the communication was to be addressed to one of the secretaries.
The King's order in council, beyond the direction with reference to communications, which was clearly applicable to Rhode Island, had contained other matters that were disquieting, among them this: "And whereas nothing can more effectually tend to the peace, welfare and good government of the colonies and plantations than the appointment of able, discreet and prudent persons to be governors, lieutenant-governors and other officers and magistrates, it is hereby further ordered that the said lords commissioners for trade and plantations do, from time to time, as vacancies shall happen by deaths or removals, present unto his majesty in council, for his approbation, the names of such persons as the said commissioners, from the best of their judgment and information, shall think duly qualified to be governor or deputy governors," etc. Governor Greene immediately wrote to the colony agent: "Though this col- ony entertains a grateful sense of his majesty's just and equal government, and from thence are led to hope that nothing is intended by the said order to the prejudice of the Charter priv- ileges of this colony . ... I am directed by the General Assembly to desire you to make dil- igent inquiry about the design and intention of the said order, and if need be, advise with counsel about it ; and if you find it is intended to operate in this colony, so as to take away, or any way lessen our Charter privileges, immediately to advise the colony of it, and use all endeavors in your power to prevent anything being further done in consequence thereof." In practice the order in council was applied to the appointment of governors and other officers in royal provinces, following the principle that a general law does not repeal a special law unless the latter is expressly mentioned.
HARASSING OF INDUSTRIES-Unprecedented extension of the mercantile policy, affecting Rhode Island because of the development of an iron industry, appeared in one of three Eng- lish statutes proclaimed from Whitehall in 1750, "an act to encourage the importation of pig and bar iron from his majesty's colonies in America ; and to prevent the erection of any mill or other engine for slitting or rolling of iron; or any plating forge to work with a tilt ham- mer; or any furnace for making steel in any of the said colonies." Accompanying the proc- lamation and a copy of the statute was a particular communication for Rhode Island command- ing "that you do immediately transmit to their lordships certificates under your hand and seal of office containing an account of every mill or engine for slitting and rolling of iron, and every plating forge to work with a tilt hammer, and every furnace for making steel, at the time of the commencement of this act, erected in your government; and also the name of the proprietor . . . . and the place . . . . and the number of engines, forges and furnaces in your government." The communication expressly ordered that engines, forges, and furnaces already in operation should be abated. This was a type of statute that easily might provoke revolution ; it was the first of a series of English statutes forbidding, harassing or suppressing industries in the colonies, that tended to convince Americans that the mother country, far from protecting, was intent upon exploiting America. The iron industry had already been estab- lished in Rhode Island. The Jencks family in Pawtucket conducted a forge and shops, with a profitable trade in iron and steel implements. The Greenes of Potowomut were manufac-
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