USA > Rhode Island > The correspondence of the colonial governors of Rhode Island, 1723-1775, Vol. I > Part 2
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1 See Report of the Lords of Trade, December 21, 1738. Also let- ters of Partridge, June 29, December 20, 1734 ; January 29, 1735 ; No- vember 3, 1738, etc.
2 See letters of June 15 and December 11, 1744.
8 See letter of December 20, 1734.
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perfectly unavoidable failure to secure a share of the parlia- mentary grant of 1756 for Rhode Island. These matters were but incidental. Where policy was in question, the agent and the colony felt that their interests were one. If the agent met with opposition, it came from other colonies or from the crown officials. He had no thrusts from a crown governor to parry. Like himself, the governor feared only the Assembly. A perusal of the agents' letters will show their care for the colony's interests and their sympathy with the difficulties which she encountered; while they en- deavor to bring before their constituents the point of view of the London official circles, and the necessity of combining accuracy, discretion, formality, and untiring diplomacy in dealing with the great personages of court and state.
We turn now to the agents' home correspondents. The eighteenth century was in Rhode Island - as in all the colo- nies - a period of political growth and development. Before its close the fringe of straggling villages and townships lining the shores of Narragansett Bay had grown into a community which recognized the fact that its members had common interests and a common life.
There were certain factors contributing to such a develop- ment as this in all the plantations of the Atlantic seaboard. In the experience of Rhode Island there were, besides these, local causes and circumstances which helped to determine her course of political activity as a colony, and have since been conspicuous in shaping her course as a state. The unconventionality, verging on lawlessness, of the early set- tlers of Rhode Island has become an historical proverb. Pre- cisely as the eighteenth century was about to open, Lord Bellomont described their government as "the most irregu- lar and illegal . .. that ever any English government was," 1 and that reputation it long maintained. Each man did that which was right in his own eyes, and guided his course by
1 W. E. Foster, Stephen Hopkins, I. 3, note.
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the sense of individual responsibility which lives and lets live, even to the point of becoming individual irresponsibility. The force of reason and of long-established custom will not guide a community of men who are thus self-sufficient. They will insist upon maintaining and asserting their right of individual action. They will prefer to act as units, and it is the man of strong personality, or extraordinary audacity, who will attract them and become their leader, never the man who simply embodies a principle, or appeals to the law of the fathers. If, with this thought in mind, we look into the his- tory of the seventy-five years which preceded the Revolution for the individuals who influenced the political life of Rhode Island, we shall find not a few of them among her governors.
In this roll-call the name of Samuel Cranston meets us upon the threshold of the eighteenth century. Chosen to be governor of the colony by twenty-eight successive reëlec- tions (1698-1727), his administration may be fairly looked upon as "the first of that series of influences which made the eighteenth century in Rhode Island a period of develop- ment." 1 Unfortunately none of Governor Cranston's cor- respondence is now in the archives of the state of Rhode Island. Eight letters bearing his signature are published in the fourth volume of the Colonial Records of Rhode Island. One of these is copied from The New York Colonial MSS., LIII. 104, and the others are taken from transcripts of the originals in the Public Record Office.2
One of the perplexing problems of Governor Cranston's time was the definition of the boundary line between Rhode Island and Connecticut. A summary of the case for Rhode Island will be found in the somewhat lengthy letter with which the present volume begins. This document sets forth, in the quaint phraseology of the time, the sufferings of the early settlers, their efforts to obtain a royal charter of incor-
1 Foster, Stephen Hopkins, I. 7.
2 These transcripts are in the possession of the John Carter Brown Library of Providence.
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poration, the guile with which the Connecticut agent, Win- throp, obtained such a charter from Lord Clarendon, " design- ing thereby to Eclips this Colony of all the Lands on the Main Land that was included within our former Charter," and the determination of the colonists to stand by the priv- ileges of their charter, as becomes men who " have a Tinc- ture of the ancient British Blood in their veines."
Testimony, reports, and memorials bearing upon this matter had been amassed in prodigal profusion for the edifi- cation and instruction of the Lords of Trade, who at length, in 1723, proposed that both colonies should cut the Gordian knot of conflicting boundary lines by voluntarily surrender- . ing their charters and annexing themselves to New Hamp- shire. This proposition the contending parties considered with a solemnity which reflects credit upon their appreciation of decorum and is far from belying their sense of humor. Connecticut declined to surrender her charter, but expressed entire willingness to abide by the royal decision. Rhode Island, too, objected to the proposed surrender of her char- tered privileges, and her agent, Partridge, sustains Governor Cranston, saying pertinently, " As farr as I can learn it is not only impracticable to joyne Rhode Island, Connect and New Hampshire together by reason of the distant Situation of the Governments but it would be very Injurious to our Inhabitants."1 The matter was referred to the King in Council, and the point at issue, namely, whether the eastern boundary of Connecticut was Narragansett Bay or the Paw- catuck River, was ultimately decided in favor of Rhode Island.2
Cranston's successor was Joseph Jencks of Pawtucket (then included within the township of Providence), who had served the colony in several capacities before his election as
1 See p. 13.
2 See Order in Council, February 8, 1729, in Col. Rec. of R. I., IV. 370.
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governor. The boundary of this small colony of Rhode Island was in a state of chronic readjustment, and in 1710 Jencks was given extraordinary powers for six months as a special boundary commissioner to come to some settlement with Colonel Joseph Dudley regarding the Massachusetts line.1
His efforts proved successful, and he was then called upon to exert himself in behalf of his colony's claim against Connecticut, by an appointment to act with Partridge, in London, to " manage the affairs of this colony for the set- tling of the bounds between this colony and those of Massa- chusetts Bay and Connecticut, and all other business that may arise or happen." 2 As has been stated, the Connecti- cut claim was adjusted in February, 1727. In April, Jencks, who had filled the position of deputy-governor with satisfac- tion to himself and the colony since his return from England, in 1722, was called upon to take the office of governor, left vacant suddenly by Cranston's death. The action of the Assembly regarding his residence indicates the prominence of the mercantile and trading interest in the colonial govern- ment. It was promptly voted that it was " highly neces- sary" for the governor of the colony to live at Newport, "the metropolis of the government," and that since the removal from Pawtucket would be "very chargeable," £100 should be allowed Governor Jencks "to defray the charges of removing his family to Newport." 3 Jencks's administra- tion was brought to a close by his veto of a bill authorizing the emission of £60,000 in bills of credit. The Assembly voted his dissent null and void, upon technical grounds. Both parties appealed to the home government, which decided that neither the Governor of Rhode Island nor the King had power to repeal or annul an act of the General
1 See Col. Rec. of R. I., IV. 94, for the appointment.
2 See Col. Rec. of R. I., VI. 286.
8 Col. Rec. of R. I., IV. 388.
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Assembly.1 It has been asserted that Jencks had, in the spring of 1731, declared his determination not to accept another reelection. Possibly this decision influenced his uncompromising attitude on the paper money question. Be that as it may, it is certain that in the following May, Wil- liam Wanton, a prominent merchant of Newport, was called to the position. Wanton was the first representative in public life of a family which gave four governors to the Col- ony of Rhode Island. It seems most convenient at this point to depart from a strictly chronological order in speak- ing of the Rhode Island governors whose correspondence lies before us, and to combine in one view the four governors of the name and family of Wanton.2 Those remaining - the two Wards, William Greene, and Stephen Hopkins - may be conveniently taken up as a second group.
The Wantons represented the most attractive phase of colonial life. They were descendants of a Massachusetts settler of the seventeenth century, who was led to embrace the doctrines of the Quakers from admiration and sympathy for their sufferings under the stern religious dispensation of the Puritan colony. Two of his sons - John and William - moved to Newport, established themselves as shipbuilders, and soon became prominent among the enterprising citizens of the town. Their exploits when young men of twenty- two and twenty-four as leaders of a privateering enterprise against a pirate who was devastating the coasting-trade of the port gained them a local reputation for enterprise and
1 See Col. Rec. of R. I., IV. 457-461.
2 The years of administration in Rhode Island ran from May to May. William Wanton served as governor from May, 1732, to December, 1733.
John Wanton served as governor from December, 1733, to July, 1742. Gideon Wanton served as governor from May, 1745, to May, 1746. Gideon Wanton served as governor from May, 1747, to May, 1748.
Joseph Wanton served as governor from May, 1769, to November, 1775.
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daring. In 1697 they equipped and manned two vessels, and rid Narragansett Bay of a French man-of-war whose depredations had driven the traders from the seas, and this affair seems to have secured for them the notice of the Court in London. We find an existing tradition that the venerable father of the family argued and expostulated in vain against an enterprise so contrary to the rules of their society, but finding his sons obdurate he concluded his appeal by saying, "While it would be a grief to my spirit to hear that ye had fallen in a military enterprise, yet, if go ye will, remember that it would be a greater grief to hear that ye were cowards." That grief was spared him. The French ship was captured, proved a valuable prize, and when, a few years later, the brothers visited London, they were received at Court and presented with silver plate and appro- priate heraldic civilities. William Wanton became, in 1705, deputy for Newport and speaker of the General Assembly. He took part in the Canada expedition of 1709, was bound- ary commissioner in the dispute with Connecticut, and served either as deputy or assistant until 1732. In that and the following year he was elected governor. He died in 1734, sincerely mourned by his fellow townsmen. He is described as a " polished gentleman, of easy, polite, and engaging man- ners, very hospitable and fond of entertaining his friends." He was succeeded as governor by his brother, John Wanton, a prominent figure in the political and social life of Rhode Island during thirty-six years. In 1706 he represented Newport in the Assembly, and was appointed colonel of the regiment raised for the Canada expedition of 1709. After- ward, returning to civic life, he represented Newport from 1712 to 1721, in which year he was elected deputy-gov- ernor. In, or about, the year 1712, he publicly joined the society of the Quakers, and from that time travelled much as a religious teacher, and became a powerful and eloquent speaker, whose preaching attracted multitudes, and whose great wealth was devoted to deeds of benevolence. We read
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with interest of Governor John Wanton preaching a sermon on the vanity of earthly greatness before the congregation of Friends in Newport, and so far honoring the dignity of his official position, on the occasion, as to appear before the brethren in his governor's cloak of scarlet lined with blue. It was John Wanton who, as deputy-governor, in 1731, summoned the Assembly (when Governor Jenks refused to do so) that the deputies might dispute the right of the gov- ernor to veto an act of Assembly, and in this remarkable pro- ceeding he was upheld by the officers of the Crown. John Wanton was deputy-governor from 1729 to 1733 ; he was then elected governor and held the office until his death in 1742. The last two years of his administration were filled with preparations for the war with Spain and the resulting expedition against the Spanish West Indies. In this expedi- tion of 1740 against Cartagena, as in that of 1745 against Louisbourg, the most effective service contributed by Rhode Island was through her privateers. Between 1741 and 1743 1 twenty-two ships were sent out by the merchants of Newport. Two hundred of the colony militia were despatched to Jamaica in the summer of 1740,2 where they became vic- tims of the climate and yellow fever. In the following year reinforcements were raised for General Wentworth's attack upon Santiago, and there too failure and hardship awaited the English forces. The lack of harmony and cooperation between Wentworth and Admiral Vernon made it necessary to abandon the expedition.
That John Wanton, the Quaker preacher, should issue military commissions, and take other violent measures as chief executive of the colony, led to outspoken remonstrance from his spiritual co-workers. A visiting committee was sent to point out to the aged governor the error of his ways. They were doubtless politely received, and were briefly in-
1 See lists in Sheffield, Privateersmen of Newport, p. 44.
2 Col. Rec. of R. I., IV. 576.
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formed that in no particular had their governor " done vio- lence to the law of conscience, but in all concerns listening to the still small voice of divine emanation, and being obedi- ent thereto." 1
In 1745 another member of the Wanton family became the chief executive of the colony. This was Gideon, a nephew of William and John Wanton, and like them a prosperous Newport merchant. For ten years he had been the colony treasurer. From 1745 to 1748 he and William Greene (of whom more will be said in connection with another phase of the colony's history) filled, alternately, the position of governor. Their correspondence during these years bears evidence of the part taken by Rhode Island in the Louis- bourg expedition of 1745. Shirley's appeal, in January, with its carefully detailed scheme of attack,2 occasioned a special session of the Assembly,3 wherein it was resolved to equip the colony sloop with all necessary warlike stores, and to man her with one hundred and thirty able-bodied seamen, that "she immediately proceed to join the forces raised by the Province of the Massachusetts Bay," 4 to sail for Cape Breton. The terms of this levy were somewhat changed a few months later,5 when the crew of the sloop was reduced to ninety men, and it was decided to enlist three companies of militia, of fifty men each. One conjectures that the "able-bodied seamen " of Narragansett Bay would prefer to man other vessels than those of the colonial government in these piping times of privateering. An act was also passed "for encouraging soldiers to enlist to go in the in- tended expedition against the French settlements on the island of Cape Breton, in the Pay of the Province of the Massachusetts." 6 In one respect the eager Shirley found
1 Rider's Historical Tract No. 3, p. 55.
2 See Shirley's letter, p. 298.
8 See Greene's letter, p. 306.
4 Col. Rec. of R. I., V. 101.
5 At the regular session, in March.
6 Col. Rec. of R. I., V. 103, 105.
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that his preparations had been already anticipated. He intimated that the "frequent and very large Emissions of Paper Bills of Credit . .. of late made for the Conveniency of the Inhabitants " of Rhode Island would suggest that at least "one Emission for his Majesty's Service, and for the Support of the Common Cause of the Colonies of New Eng- land "1 might be fairly expected. The loyalty of Rhode Island always rose to an emergency of this nature. The Assembly had already voted an emission of £6250 "for defraying the charge and expense of both land and sea forces." 2
The troops thus provided for sailed with the Connecticut detachment in the early spring, and were reported safe within the harbor of Canso, on April 26, by Captain Fones, of the colony sloop Tartar, - having already experienced the excitement of being chased by a French cruiser. Just two months later (on June 26),3 Captain Fones sent home his graphic account of the engagement in Famme Goose Bay, which prevented the relief of Louisbourg by the French.
Much of the patriotic zeal of the Rhode-Islanders was devoted to enterprises which partook of profit as well as adventure. The merchantmen of Newport and Bristol were easily converted into privateers, and more than one fortune was brought home from the Spanish Main. One of these keen-witted patriots was said to have visited fifteen hundred miles of Spanish territory, and the foundations of many a prosperous mercantile house were laid in the course of the reprisals, and the illicit trading, for which the letters of marque afforded so good an opportunity.
Both Shirley and Pepperell were especially anxious to obtain seamen for manning the Vigilant, a 64-gun ship cap- tured from the French, and a most valuable addition to the squadron before Louisbourg. The Assembly was willing
1 See Shirley's letter, p. 320.
8 See letter on p. 349.
2 Col. Rec. of R. I., V. 105.
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that two hundred should be enlisted. Shirley writes from Boston, "I find my endeavors will be to little purpose, whilst all mariners subject to be impressed here into His Majesty's service, fly to Rhode Island to avoid it, (as indeed has been long the practice,) and are there sheltered and encouraged, where (I am credibly informed,) there are at this time many hundreds of foreign seamen daily walking the streets of Newport, whilst scarce one is to be found in Boston ; from whence I am assured in particular, that upwards of twenty have secretly fled towards your colony from my impress warrants, within these last two or three days ; " and he begs Governor Wanton not to permit his colony "to be an assy- lum to all mariners coming into New England, for screening themselves from His Majesty's service." 1 Upon the recep- tion of this indignant remonstrance the Assembly voted to impress forty seamen, should such a measure be necessary in order to fill up the quota already provided for.
Perhaps the Rhode-Islanders felt that their zeal might appear somewhat lukewarm beside that of the enthusiastic levies who had toiled day and night in the trenches before Louisbourg, strong in the conviction that in fighting Roman Catholics they fought idolatry and that the sword of the Lord was in their hands. At all events, the Assembly, in this same June session, "cast an anchor to windward " by appointing a committee "to extract from the records, the several acts and votes passed by the General Assembly, respecting the expedition against Cape Breton, in order to be sent to the agent; and that they write a letter, to be signed by His Honor, the Governor, and to be sent home, with said votes, setting forth the reasons of this colony's conduct in respect to their not joining in the expedition sooner than they did, to be made use of in the defence of this colony, if there be occasion." 2 Before the summer
1 This letter is in Col. Rec. of R. I., V. 136.
2 Col. Rec. of R. I., V. 123.
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closed - as if answering in anticipation the questioning atti- tude of his clients - Richard Partridge writes from London,1 " Here is an Express lately arrived to the Lds of the Admi- ralty from Boston of the Ist June giving Some accot of the progress of the said Expedition, about which the Ministry and People here are mighty Intent and fond off, looking upon it of very great Consequence to this Kingdom as well as to our Plantations, and therefore are very much pleased with the New England People for Undertaking it; but I have had it several times thrown at me as if Rhode Island wou'd contribute very little if anything at all towards it, And very lately as if they were so far from affording their Assistance that when the Sailors belonging to the Kings Men of War or other Ships of War had deserted and got into Rhode Island Government they were there harboured and protected ... if these things shou'd prove true it may make up hill work for me, both at Court and at Parliament." And then the indefatigable Partridge proceeds to write to the Clerk of the Privy Council,2 assuring him of the unswerv- ing loyalty and devotion of the colony to British interests, as attested by the fact that her merchants raised £8000 and equipped a 20-gun ship for the Cape Breton expedition. A summing-up of the case for Rhode Island is given in Partridge's petition for the reimbursement of the expenses incurred,3 but it was not until the April of 1748 that he could write to Governor Wanton that the House of Commons had resolved " that a Sum not exceeding £6332.12.10. be granted for Our Colony's Expence in the Cape Breton Expedition."
The unfortunate little squadron which started to relieve Annapolis Royal, and was wrecked off Mt. Desert, is like- wise the subject of a somewhat voluminous correspondence,
1 See letter on p. 353.
2 See letter on p. 359.
8 See p. 412.
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in which the agent and the governor discuss at length the prospects of reimbursement, and the necessary formalities to be observed.
The administration of the fourth Governor Wanton brings us to a later generation in the annals of the colony, although not in those of the Wanton family. Joseph Wanton was a son of that William who was governor from May, 1732, to December, 1733, and first cousin to Gideon, whose corre- spondence has just been discussed. His first year of office fell at a time when the political feud known to us as the Ward-Hopkins controversy had just been formally closed by a political treaty between the contending factions. Origi- nating some fifteen years earlier in the attempt of the citizens of Providence, backed by the farmers of the outlying dis- tricts, to obtain a portion of the political power and prestige which had been in the hands of the Newport merchants for so long a time that the memory of man ran not to the con- trary, this local struggle for the political leadership of the colony soon degenerated into an exchange of bitter personal abuse, and a series of annual political intrigues. The echoes of the controversy had not yet died away when the last Wanton took his seat in the governor's chair, and a letter of his son, Joseph Wanton, Jr., whose sympathies were with the Providence party, shows how strong was still the dread of a victorious Ward, - a vision which his opponents could only lay by the potent name of Hopkins.
For several years before revolutionary hostilities were actu- ally begun, acts of violence were not uncommon in the colo- nial seaports, where a mob of rough fellows could be easily collected, and where few townsmen felt disposed to venture their persons and property and incur the ill-will of their fel- low citizens in any effort to protect or uphold the customs officials. Newport was, like other ports, the scene of reve- nue riots in 1765, and in the ensuing investigation and re- crimination Governor Wanton seems to have sided with the provincials. He writes to Lord Hillsborough, when called to
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account for the destruction of the Liberty, " how unkind and ungentlemanly-like it is for officers, sent abroad by the crown to reside in the colonies, by every means in their power to traduce and even falsely accuse his majesty's faith- ful subjects of this Colony to their sovereign and his minis- ters of state." 1 His attitude in the affair of the Gaspee is too well known to require elucidation here.2
Joseph Wanton was elected governor for the last time in April, 1775. A few days later a special session of the Assembly was held at Providence to consider the Boston Port Bill. Almost simultaneously with the announcement of this new disciplinary legislation came the news of the fight at Lexington. The deputies promptly passed a resolution stating that whereas they were surrounded with fleets and armies threatening immediate destruction, "to restore peace to the minds of the good people of this Colony, it appears absolutely necessary to this Assembly that a number of men be raised and embodied, properly armed and disciplined, to continue in this Colony as an army of observation, to repel any insult or violence that may be offered to the inhabitants ; " 3 and it was voted to raise fifteen hundred men for that pur- pose. To this measure Governor Wanton and three assist- ants dissented, on the ground that it would be fatal to the preservation of the colony's charter privileges, would pave the way to civil war, and be an open violation of their official oath of allegiance. When the May session opened, the Gov- ernor was too ill to attend. He sent an urgent message to the Assembly, begging the Colony to seek prosperity and happiness in its connection with Great Britain, and to avoid that ruin and destruction which. "some of the orders of the late Assembly must inevitably involve them in." The As- sembly was in no mood to turn back. It forwarded military
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