USA > Rhode Island > Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. I > Part 79
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101
After the surrender of Vera Cruz Commodore Perry and General Scott undertook joint operations against Alvarado for the purpose of capturing horses, sending a brigade from the army and two vessels from the fleet to surround the town. A zealous lieutenant, Charles G. Hunter, commanding the "Scourge," a small steamer armed with one cannon, upset the plan by reaching and capturing the town before the brigade arrived to cut off the escape of the Mexican cavalry. Lieutenant Hunter was court-martialed and sentenced to be reprimanded for capturing Alvarado, when he had been ordered only to "surround" the place. At Tuspan, the entrance to which was dangerous because of a sandbar, Commodore Perry transferred his flag to a small steamer, the "Spitfire," and led a squadron towing boats laden with landing parties up the river. Three forts were silenced in turn by cannon shots from the "Spitfire." In the move- ment against Tabasco Perry's fleet was stopped on the river by an obstruction, and Perry landed a force of sailors and marines, which he led against the town. While he was on the march the obstruction was removed and the fleet preceded its commander. Tabasco sur- rendered without resistance and Perry found the American flag flying when he reached the town. While in service during the war Perry was stricken with yellow fever, and the crew of his flagship, then the "Mississippi," was so afflicted that the vessel was ordered to Pensa- cola. Perry refused to retire; he transferred his flag to the "Germantown," and remained with the fleet. American marines from the fleet were with General Scott on the march through Mexico, participated in the battle at Chapultepec, and were first to enter the city of Mexico when the city surrendered.
463
SECOND WAR WITH ENGLAND
PERRY OPENS JAPAN-Commodore Perry's greatest service was in the interest of peace. As commander of the "Mississippi," frigate, he was sent, in 1852, to the coast of Halifax, where, because of a dispute over the fisheries between American and Canadian fishermen, British cruisers had seized seven American vessels. Largely because of Perry's diplomacy the dispute was adjusted, and a reciprocity treaty with Canada was negotiated. In 1853 Com- modore Perry was assigned to command a squadron in the Pacific, with instructions to make a demonstration in the waters of Japan, which had been accused of inhospitality to Americans. The whale fisheries of the North Pacific Ocean had drawn thither a large contingent of American ships and sailors. In the days before petroleum had been discovered, and before gas and electricity had superseded the lamp for purposes of illumination, whale oil was almost indispensable. It was estimated in 1850 that $17,000,000 of American capital was invested in the Pacific whaling industry, and that 10,000 American citizens were employed as sailors and in other capacities. No less than 86 American whaling ships were counted as passing Matsumae in a single year. Japan at that time was a country practically unknown to any but its citizens, because of rigid enforcement of laws excluding foreigners. It is true that Amer- ican ships occasionally visited Japan to return shipwrecked Japanese to their homes, and that the Japanese likewise sent shipwrecked Americans to Batavia on their journey homeward. American statesmen wished to establish international relations with Japan on a more friendly basis, with the ultimate purpose of opening up trade between the United States and Japan. Several early attempts to negotiate with Japan had resulted in little progress. In January, 1853, Commodore Perry was appointed to command a naval expedition to Japan, with the object of negotiating a treaty. His squadron, comprising the "Mississippi," "Susquehanna" and "Powhatan," frigates; "Macedonian," corvette; "Plymouth," "Saratoga" and "Van- dalia," sloops-of-war ; and "Supply," "Southampton" and "Lexington," store ships, anchored in front of Uraga, in the bay of Jeddo, Japan, on July 8, 1853. Perry assumed toward the Japanese a dignity and exclusiveness that equalled their own, refusing to permit any but government officers of high rank to approach his vessels, and dealing with these, from the seclusion of his cabin, through his officers. Eventually he entrusted to a group of high-caste Japanese a letter addressed by the President to the Mikado, and withdrew from Japanese waters for three months to permit consideration and the preparation of a reply. On his return to Japan, he moved nearer to Tokio, and on March 31, 1854, signed a treaty with the Jap- anese. Under the treaty two Japanese ports were opened to American vessels seeking sup- plies, and the Japanese agreed to aid American sailors wrecked upon the coast, to allow Americans to visit certain parts of the islands, and to receive American consuls. This was the first treaty made by Japan with any nation, and had the effect eventually of introducing Japan to the family of nations. Commodore Perry published a three-volume report on the expedition.
The General Assembly of Rhode Island, on February 25, 1855, adopted resolutions authorizing the presentation of a suitable memorial to Commodore Perry. The memorial consisted of a solid silver salver weighing 319 ounces, inscribed as follows: "Presented to Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, in the name of the people of the State of Rhode Island by their General Assembly, in testimony of their appreciation of his services to his country in negotiating a treaty of amity and commerce with Japan; and in acknowledgment of the honor he has conferred upon his native state in ever maintaining the renown of the name he bears and adding to the triumphs of his profession those of humanity and peace." Commodore Perry died at New York, March 4, 1858. On October 2, 1868, a bronze statue of Commodore Perry was unveiled in Touro Park, at Newport.
Japan erected a monument to Commodore Perry at Kurihama, in 1901. The Japanese Minister of Justice wrote: "Commodore Perry's visit was, in a word, the turn of the key
464
RHODE ISLAND-THREE CENTURIES OF DEMOCRACY
which opened the doors of the Japanese Empire, an event which paved the way for and accelerated an introduction of a new order of things; an event that enabled the country to enter upon the unprecedented era in national prosperity in which we now live. Japan has not forgotten, nor will she ever forget, that next to her reigning and most beloved sovereign, whose rare virtue and great wisdom is above all praise, she owes her present prosperity to the United States of America. After a lapse of forty-eight years the people of Japan have come to entertain but an uncertain memory of Kurihama, and yet it was there that Commo- dore Perry first trod on the soil of Japan, and for the first time awoke the country from three centuries of slumberous seclusion, and there first gleamed the rays of her new era of progress."
An American appreciation of Perry, from the pen of Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, follows :
The early services of Matthew Calbraith Perry foreshadowed his illustrious career. He was entrusted with the delicate mission to Japan because he had shown constructive statesmanship as a naval officer. He was privileged to choose the location for the first black settlement in Liberia. He is called "The Father of the Steam Navy." He revived the use of the ram in naval warfare. He founded the naval apprentice system. He was active in suppressing the slave trade on the Guinea Coast. He adjusted the Canadian fisheries dispute in 1852. He helped greatly in removing duelling, grogging and flogging from the navy. In 1847 he commanded the largest squadron which up to that time had ever been assembled under the Stars and Stripes. It was the first American fleet governed without a lash, flogging having been abolished by Secretary Graham. It was that fleet which decided the day at Vera Cruz and started General Scott on his victorious way to the City of Mexico. The triumph of Perry upon which his fame chiefly rests was the opening of Japan to the world, one of the most important events in our history. The story of Perry's voyage to Japan has all the glamour of the stories of the orient, and is fascinating beyond the imagination of the most fertile novelist. Armed with a letter from the President of the United States to his Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Japan, saluted as a "Great and Good Friend," Commodore Perry made a thorough study of Japan and the Japanese character before starting on his epoch-making voyage. He carried as presents specimens of the products of the farm and factory which he thought by their novelty and usefulness would interest the people of Japan. A miniature locomotive, with tracks and rails to be laid down, one mile of telegraph line with Morse instruments, photo- cameras, printing presses, puzzles and toys, some of the newest things in America, were in the cargo. The story of his wisdom, his patience, his consummate diplomacy, going into weeks and months and years, the employment of every art that statesmanship and strategy could invent, is as thrilling today as when it was first told. He had gone to Japan with a friendly key to open the door for the furtherance of trade, the pro- tection of life, and to obtain a treaty with a power destined to occupy a large place in the world. Hurrying nothing, observing every ceremony that would appeal to those he would win as friends, Perry's success marked him as a diplomat of the first water. . . . Does not the achievement of Perry class him with the great men "as a natural luminary shining by the gift of heaven, in whose radiance all souls feel it is well with them?" It is to the glory of America that, though Perry had a powerful fleet and could have enforced the treaty by persuasion of big guns, there was never even a thought of conquest or of obtaining any advantage over the people of Japan. Our friendship was disinterested, our methods were those of diplomacy, and our policy was far removed from the thoughts of those nations which seek to dominate other people and bring them under their sway.
CHAPTER XVIII. THE SECOND REVOLUTION IN RHODE ISLAND.
HE Rhode Island General Assembly, during the colonial period, (I) authorized proxy voting to relieve freemen of the journey to Newport at each election; (2) delegated to towns its own function under the Charter of admitting freemen ; (3) prescribed a property qualification for the admission of freemen to suffrage, and, from time to time, modified, by increasing or decreasing the amount thereof, the property qualification; (4) resolved itself into a bicameral legislature by separation of Assistants and Deputies ; (5) assumed the jurisdiction of a court of chancery or equity ; (6) asserted and sustained its own exclusive authority as a lawmaking body by disregarding attempted veto of laws by the Governor; (7) dealt with the problem of adjusting representa- tion in the General Assembly to population by dividing towns and creating new constituencies for electing Deputies ; (8) sustained a decision of the Superior Court that English statutes were in force in Rhode Island only by enactment of the General Assembly, and selected cer- tain English statutes for enactment; (9) maintained Rhode Island's exclusive right to control the colony militia both in peace and war; (10) administered summary punishment for alleged contempt, thus enforcing respect for the dignity that it assumed as the government of Rhode Island; (II) denied, and was sustained in its contention, that the crown had power to veto or suspend a Rhode Island statute; (12) enforced the colony laws, and sustained the Gov- ernor in enforcing such laws, against civil, military and naval officers of the crown while within the territory of Rhode Island; (13) entertained appeals from courts of justice created by itself and reversed the decisions of such courts. In the exercise in these instances and others of what might be styled a "constitutional prerogative" the General Assembly was in part exemplifying the American genius for creating political machinery or extending funda- mental law by devices to adapt it for practical operation, and in part asserting, by practice and precedent, that the General Assembly itself was the repository of sovereignty. Such it was unquestionably, as a matter of law, under the Charter; in the colonial period there appears to have been never a doubt that the General Assembly was sovereign in fact; the Governor, on occasion, disclaimed legal authority to act without direction from the General Assembly. Yet the General Assembly (I) frequently cited, in resolutions and statutes, the Charter as the source of its extraordinary powers; (2) remained closely in contact with the people and responsive to the wishes of their constituents by reason of semi-annual elections of Deputies ; and (3) in the instances of significant questions involving policies of major importance, had recourse to a modified type of popular referendum, by continuing matters over the recess between sessions, in order that the Deputies might seek instructions in town meetings. Thus Rhode Island colonial history furnished a unique demonstration of democracy made effective and efficient by certain location of sovereignty, and popular by frequent consulting of the people's wishes. The General Assembly considered itself the "organ of the people"; the exact words were used in a resolution in 1796 sustaining President Washington in reference to Jay's treaty with Great Britain.
THE OMNIPOTENT GENERAL ASSEMBLY-With the approach of the Revolution the Gen- eral Assembly continued to exercise the "constitutional prerogative" in the assumption of fur- ther extraordinary powers; thus it (1) suspended the Governor-elect by refusing to permit him to take the oath of office, 1775; (2) deposed the Governor-elect by declaring his office vacant and recognizing the Deputy Governor as Governor, 1775; (3) refused to permit appeals
R. I .- 30
.
466
RHODE ISLAND-THREE CENTURIES OF DEMOCRACY
from the courts of Rhode Island to the courts of England, by repealing the statutory proce- dure for taking appeals, 1775; (4) raised an army and equipped naval vessels for defence of Rhode Island, 1775; (5) enacted a statute prescribing penalties as punishment for "traitors" who supplied the "ministerial army or navy" with provisions or acted as pilots, 1775; (6) declared the independence of Rhode Island, May 4, 1776, by renouncing allegiance to the King of England and repealing a statute guaranteeing and facilitating enforcement of English statutes in Rhode Island; (7) confirmed its own Declaration of Independence by agreement to adhere to it, June, 1776; (8) ratified the Declaration of Independence by Congress, 1776; (9) changed the name of Rhode Island from "English Colony of Rhode Island and Provi- dence Plantations" to "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations," July, 1776; (10) reduced the quorum of the General Assembly prescribed by the Charter, as a wartime measure to meet the exigency of British occupation of part of Rhode Island; (II) prescribed an oath
of allegiance to the state, as a qualification for suffrage, holding office and jury duty; (12) entered the Confederation and Perpetual Union for achieving and maintaining independence by force of arms, 1778; (13) submitted the ratification of the Constitution of the United States to popular referendum, 1787; (14) called a convention for ratifying or rejecting the Constitution of the United States, 1790. In the paper money case, Trevett vs. Weeden, the General Assembly asserted its own right, in the absence of a bill of rights, to determine at discretion the extent of the legislative power, untrammelled by constitutional limitations, and called to account the justices of the Superior Court, who, by sustaining a plea in abatement, had refused to enforce a statute.
Did the Charter bind the General Assembly, or had the General Assembly become, after a successful revolution, omnipotent? What were the status and force of a royal Charter granted by the King in 1663, after Rhode Island had renounced allegiance in 1776 and had been recognized as independent in 1783? These questions were in issue when, in March, 1787, in the midst of the paper money controversy, a bill was introduced in the General Assembly providing that each town in the state should send two Deputies to the General Assembly. The effect of the bill would be to reduce the representation of Newport, Ports- mouth, Providence and Warwick, and the strength of the party in the General Assembly opposed to paper money. In early colonial days, in the instance of Westerly, which sent four Deputies to the General Assembly, the delegation was not seated, and the town was instructed to choose two, the number prescribed by the Charter for towns incorporated after 1663. The proposition for equal representation in 1787 was referred to the town meetings for discussion and instruction to their deputies. In Providence a committee consisting of David Howell, Nicholas Brown, Jabez Bowen, Paul Allen and Levi Hall, to whom the bill was referred, pre- pared an elaborate report against the bill, urging that it was a violation both of the Charter and of right established by long practice. The report recited that the committee had "been led to inquire into the constitution or fundamental laws of this state relative to the doctrine of representation . . . . and find that in the Charter .... the principles of which they pre- sume themselves authorized to consider as forming the outlines of the present constitution, saving only such as were necessarily done away by the Declaration of Independence, among other things," representation is established at "not exceeding six persons from Newport, four persons from each of the respective towns of Providence, Portsmouth and Warwick, and two persons from each other place."* The report continued :
In virtue of this clause your committee are of opinion that the town of Providence hath a constitutional right to send four Deputies to the General Assembly of this state. Your committee also find that four deputies have been in fact chosen in this town, and have taken their seats in the legislature from the date of said Charter down to the present time, and they do not learn that it is even suggested that said grant, privilege or franchise is or ought to be forfeited either for non-user or mis-user, or for any other
*The exact language of the charter would permit a reduction and forbid an increase in representation.
467
SECOND REVOLUTION IN RHODE ISLAND
cause or pretext whatever. Your committee proceeded in the next place to inquire into the powers of the General Assembly, and of the freemen, by towns and individually, to alter the constitution of this state rela- tive to this particular, so as to deprive this town of half the number of its Deputies. . . . And here your committee humbly apprehend that the General Assembly are restrained and limited in all their legislative acts by the constitution. They are, in fact, the creature of the constitution; they are brought into existence thereby, and empowered to act agreeably thereto for a certain term, and then sink back again into the mass of their fellow citizens; all their acts are liable to examination and scrutiny by the people -- that is, by the supreme judiciary, their servants for this purpose-and those that militate with the fundamental laws or impugn the principles of the constitution are to be judiciously set aside, as void and of no effect. Here is the safety of rich and poor ; here is a rampart thrown up against arbitrary power where it is most to be dreaded, as well as soonest to be expected, viz .- in the hands of a sovereign. Precarious, indeed, would be the tenure of life as well as of liberty and property held at the mere will of a popular assembly, sole judges of their own powers, of their own acts, and of the people's liberties. Six months is a short term, but it would be long enough to enable a wicked and corrupt set of rulers, not only to enrich and aggrandise themselves on the plunder and ruin of the people, but also to take eventual measures to perpetuate their power, by passing legislative acts taking out of the hands of the people every means of redress. Wherefore your committee are decidedly of opinion that the General Assembly have no power adequate to the object of this bill. The powers of the free- men in town meetings, by instruction, are to be considered in the next place. Let it be here noted that town meetings are also held under the constitution and present laws, and they are also restrained thereby. It is of dangerous tendency to let down the bars of the state and countenance town meetings in voting innovations in the constitution. It may be asked, what power the General Assembly has to throw out such a plan, by a legis- lative act, to the towns? The Charter gives them no such power, and if they have it, as a grant from the people, let it be shown. . . . It may be proper, in the third and last place, to consider what power the free- men at large have to alter or establish a constitution. Now, it must be acknowledged, we have arrived at the true source and origin of power. The people can make or alter these fundamental laws at their pleasure. But here it is proper to ponder and deliberate on the momentous undertaking. To effect this great object different methods have been adopted in different countries. The United States afford rare instances of the voluntary formation and adoption of free constitutions by the people. But no instance has occurred to your committee of a constitution being formed by General Assembly of any state and sent down to the freemen of the several torons and districts to be adopted by their instructions, nor has any instance occurred of any alterations being attempted in any of their constitutions in this way.# . . . If a constitution is to be formed, or an alteration therein made, common prudence would suggest that the business should be committed into the hands of men specially appointed for that purpose, and who are not connected or interested particularly in the administra- tion for the time being, or disposed to make arrangements to favor the purposes of any faction or party. Such an arduous and momentous affair should be considered and digested in a convention of the more wise, cool and independent freemen of the state, specially appointed and assembled for that purpose, before it even ought to be laid before the freemen at large for their approbation. . . . Your committee conceive that if ever any alterations should be made in the constitution of this state, they ought to originate in a state con- vention, appointed for that special object, and not otherwise.
The committee then urged as reasons against the reduction in representation ( I) a vested right in the representation granted by the Charter; (2) the population and wealth of Newport and Providence; (3) unfairness in the demand of towns created by the original towns in for- warding a claim against the original towns; (4) that "the idea that all towns in a state, great and small, are entitled to an equal voice in the General Assembly is chimerical, and unfounded in reason and good sense, as well as against the usage and custom of all places," because "no sober man would risk his reputation for common sense on the assertion that 200 freemen ought to have the same weight in the legislative body as 400, or that £200,000 property is of the same consideration as £ 400,000 in point of legislation." The committee suggested, if any change were to be made, representation proportional to taxable property. Equal voting power in the Congress of the Confederation was explained by the committee as just because "the individual states are all sovereign," the committee holding that to consider the towns as sov-
#Proposal by legislature and adoption by the people became the American method most common.
468
RHODE ISLAND-THREE CENTURIES OF DEMOCRACY
ereign "would be too extravagant to require a serious refutation." The committee expressed a hope that the General Assembly might have in mind the provision of the Articles of Con- federation that no amendment could be permitted without the consent of the legislature of every state, and apply this "wise provision" to the extent that no change be made in the con- stitution of the state without "the consent of every town." While the committee report raised and discussed questions that have been debated in the politics of Rhode Island for nearly a century and a quarter since, for the time being the matter of principal importance was the power of the General Assembly under the constitution, or what was the constitution of Rhode Island in 1787. Had the threat to reduce the representation of Newport, Portsmouth, Providence and Warwick ripened into action, the issue might be brought to focus. As it was, the controversy was abated, yielding place to the three-year discussion of ratifying or reject- ing the Constitution of the United States. The failure to press reduction of representation left the question as to what was the constitution of Rhode Island unsettled.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.