PROPOSITION FOR THE UNION OF THE COLONIES.—ACTIVE MEASURES TAKEN LOOKING TOWARDS INDEPENDENCE.—DELEGATES ELECTED TO CONGRESS.—DESTRUCTION OF TEA AT PROVIDENCE.—TROOPS RAISED.—POSTAL SYSTEM ESTABLISHED.—DEPREDATIONS OF THE BRITISH.—“GOD SAVE THE UNITED COLONIES.”
The 22d of June, 1772, was memorable in the history of humanity, for it was on that day that Mansfield solemnly declared as Lord Chief-Justice of England that slavery could not exist on English soil. This declaration met with a hearty response in Rhode Island. On the 17th of May, 1774, the citizens of Providence met in town meeting to take counsel together upon the questions of the day. Two resolves of this meeting stand fitly side by side. An intestate estate comprising six slaves had fallen to the town. In the meeting it was voted that it was “unbecoming the character of freemen to enslave the said negroes, that personal liberty was an essential part of the natural rights of mankind, and that the Assembly should be petitioned to prohibit the further importation of slaves, and to declare that all negroes born in the Colony should be free after a certain age.”
In the June session of 1774 the question was brought before the Assembly. “Those” says the preamble, “who are desirous of enjoying all the advantages of liberty themselves, should be willing to extend personal liberty to others.”... Therefore, says the bill, “for the future no negro or mulatto slave shall be brought into this Colony.” To perfect the act clauses were added defining the condition of slaves in transit with their masters, and protecting the Colony against pauper freedmen.
Having taken this high ground concerning the individual, they took ground equally noble concerning the Colony, “resolving that the deputies of this town be requested to use their influence at the approaching session of the General Assembly of this Colony for promoting a Congress, as soon as may be, of the representatives of the general assemblies of the several colonies and provinces of North America for establishing the firmest union, and adopting such measures, as to them shall appear the most effectual to answer that important purpose, and to agree upon proper methods for executing the same.” Thus in Rhode Island the condemnation of slavery and the call for union went hand in hand.
The time for hesitation was past. Event came crowding upon event. Virginia, also, called for a Congress. But it was on Boston chiefly that all eyes were fixed. Her example had strengthened the hands of the discontented, and both theKing and his Parliament had resolved to make her a warning example of royal indignation. For this the bill closing her port and cutting off her commerce and known in history as the Boston Port Bill was passed. It was to go into operation the 1st of June, 1774. Never did a great wrong awaken a more universal resentment. Old jealousies and rivalries were forgotten in the sense of a common danger. On the 1st of June the voice of mourning and commiseration was heard throughout the land. Virginia set it apart as a day of fasting and prayers. From every Colony came contributions in sheep and oxen and money. Rhode Island sent eight hundred and sixty sheep, thirteen oxen, four hundred and seventeen pounds in money. Boston in this day of suffering was for her no longer the Boston of the Atherton Company and disputed boundary lines.
But intelligent as Rhode Island had proved herself in her political measures, she could not altogether raise herself above the ignorance of her age in sanitary measures. The small-pox was in Newport, and inoculation was still an undecided question. Should the legislature be asked to declare for it or against it? After four days of discussion it was decided in the negative by a close vote.
We have already seen that a special tribunal had been organized to follow up the question of the Gaspee. In its instructions directions were given to send their prisoners to England for trial.Hutchinson, the renegade Governor of Massachusetts, proposed to annul the charter of Rhode Island. The committee applied to Samuel Adams for counsel. “An attack upon the liberties of one colony,” was his answer, “is an attack upon the liberties of all.”
The new year, the eventful 1773, began amid anxious doubts and firm resolves. The Assembly was sitting at East Greenwich, the Gaspee court at Newport. “What shall I do?” asked Chief-Justice Hopkins. The Assembly bade him follow his own judgment. “Then for the purpose of transportation for trial,” said the brave old man, “I will neither apprehend any person by my own order nor suffer any executive officers in the Colony to do it.” The question fortunately never rose, but questions equally important were at hand.
The burning of the Gaspee was a sudden outbreak of popular indignation. To thoughtful minds it was a still more alarming indication of popular feeling that the senior officer on the station, Captain Keeler, of the Mercury, should have been seized and verdicts of trespass and trover found against him in the colonial courts. But England did not heed the warning.
But the great work was done by the Committee of Correspondence, already formed in Massachusetts and Rhode Island in 1764, but more effectively organized in Virginia in 1775—the railroads and telegraphs of those days. They bound thecolonies in a union which doubled their strength and fanned their zeal into a flame. Through them the earliest and “most authentic intelligence of all such acts and resolutions of the British Parliament, and measures of the ministry as may relate to or affect the British colonies in America” was obtained, and a correspondence concerning them kept up with the other colonies. In all these preparations for the struggle, now so near at hand, Rhode Island bore her part. And while they were going on, and as if his part had been done, her faithful agent, proved by fourteen years of assiduous service, Joseph Sherwood, died.
In October, 1773, the tea act went into operation, leading the discontent still more directly to action. But as no tea was sent to Rhode Island, and the story is well known I shall not repeat it here, only saying that public meetings were held in all of which it was resolved to confirm the Philadelphia resolutions. Rhode Island had another grievance to complain of.
The story of the Hutchinson letters is well known to every reader of American history. Some unknown friend of the colonies had put them in the hands of Franklin, and Franklin had sent them to America. “Among them was a letter of George Rome, written six years before, denouncing the governments and courts of Rhode Island.” It was immediately published in newspapers and on broadsides, and in every formwhich could give it circulation. Everywhere it was read with the strongest expressions of condemnation. The author was brought to the bar of the house of deputies, and refusing to plead, sent to jail for the remainder of the session.
Among the acts of revenge which disgrace the English legislation of this period, was the removal of Franklin from the responsible office of superintendent of the American post-office. In his hands the post-office had become a trustworthy institution, paying its way and meeting the wants and commanding the confidence of the country. As a means of communication it had become a bond of union. To suppress it would be a serious blow to the social and commercial relations of all the colonies. The blow fell, but not according to its aim. We have already recorded the name of William Goddard as founder and editor of theProvidence Gazette. When Franklin was removed Goddard conceived the idea of a colonial post-office adapted to the new relations between England and the colonies. To secure the concurrence of all the colonies he visited them all, explaining his plans and awakening everywhere that confidence without which all his efforts would have been vain. It was another step towards union.
On the eve of such a contest it was wise to count heads. A census was ordered and gave as its result fifty-nine thousand six hundred and seventy-eight, of whom fifty-four thousand fourhundred and thirty-five were whites, three thousand seven hundred and sixty-one blacks, and one thousand four hundred and eighty-two Indians.
Two events of grave significance mark the month of May, 1774. General Gage entered Boston as Governor, and a town meeting was held at Providence wherein it was resolved, “that the deputies of this town be requested to use their influence at the approaching session of the General Assembly of this Colony, for promoting a Congress as soon as may be, of the Representatives of the General Assemblies of the several colonies and provinces of North America for establishing the firmest Union, and adopting such measures as to them shall appear the most effectual to answer that important purpose; and to agree upon proper methods for executing the same.”
In the same meeting it was recommended to break off all trade with Great Britain, Ireland, Africa and the West Indies till the Boston Port Bill should be repealed. Everywhere the warmest sympathy with Boston was expressed and effective measures taken to assist her by contributions of provisions and money. East Greenwich was the first to open a subscription for her. The example was promptly followed by Newport, Westerly and other towns in which her name had never awakened kindly feelings before. Some of the poor sought refuge in neighboring colonies,and found work and sympathy. Some Tories, alarmed at the prospect of a siege, removed to Providence, but found it a dangerous residence for men of their political creed. One of these, a hardware dealer named Joseph Simpson, seems to have been particularly obnoxious to the Whigs, who of a Saturday night covered his doors and windows with tar and feathers. A public meeting was called to protest against allowing the town to be made a receptacle of the enemies of the country and request the council to have such persons legally removed. Some indications of disorder appearing, another meeting was called to “insist upon the supremacy of the laws.”
Measures of defence, also, began now to attract the attention of the Assembly. The stores at Fort George were examined. Some thirty years before an independent company had been chartered under the name of the Providence County Artillery. This name was now changed to Cadet Company and the corps formed upon a regimental basis, taking its position field days on the right. The Light Infantry Company, of Providence, was chartered at the same session. It was to consist of a hundred men and be stationed “in front of the left wing of the regiment.” A day of fasting and prayer was appointed and religiously observed. But the most important step of all was the election of Stephen Hopkins and Samuel Ward for delegates to that Congress towards which all eyes were anxiously directed. ThusRhode Island had been the first to propose a Congress and the first to take action upon the proposal. In the same session six resolutions were passed “counseling Union and an immediate meeting of Congress to petition for redress, and to devise measures to secure their rights.” And as if they foresaw how entirely government was passing away from the King and Parliament, they recommended also that Congress should meet annually. Copies of these resolves were sent to all the colonies.
On the 5th of September, 1774, Congress met in Philadelphia, and after careful deliberation adopted a Declaration of Rights, and recommended the formation of an “American Association,” the chief articles of which were “non-intercourse with Great Britain till their grievances should be redressed, abolition of the slave trade, encouragement of home industry, and the appointment of committees of inspection in every town and district to see that its terms were kept inviolate.” To these were added “a petition to the King, letters to the other British colonies, addresses to the Canadians and to the people of Great Britain, and votes of thanks to the friends of America in Parliament.” The tone through all was decent, earnest and resolute. As they circulated through the country the people felt that their convictions had been faithfully represented.
In this agitated state of the popular mind ariot was stirred up in Providence by the license question, and in East Greenwich by the Tory question. The first was put down by the citizens, but the second called for the intervention of the military.
The attention of the General Assembly was largely given to measures of defence. The colonial fire-arms at Newport were distributed by counties in proportion to their tax rate. Simeon Potter, of Bristol, was chosen major-general, a new office created for the occasion and subject to annual election. The militia law was carefully revised, and provision made for the “manner in which the forces within this Colony shall march to the assistance of any of our sister colonies if invaded or attacked.” The cannon and powder at Fort George were removed to Providence for greater security and more convenient use. Independent companies were formed and carefully trained. Among the Kentish Guards were Nathanael Greene, the future liberator of the South; Christopher Greene, the future hero of Red Bank; James M. Varnum, a future brigadier, and others whose names reappear in higher grades as the progress of the war brought superior merit to view. In Providence County the militia was divided into three regiments under the command of a brigadier.
Among the recommendations addressed by Congress to the people, was a recommendation to stop the exportation of sheep to the West Indies,for domestic manufactures were growing daily in importance and wool was wanted for colonial looms. The recommendation was promptly acted upon, and a temporary committee of inspection appointed to see it carried out. The manufacture of fire-arms was successfully begun.
In February, 1773, the day for suspending the use of tea came. In Providence three hundred pounds of it were publicly burned, the fire being lighted with ministerial documents and other obnoxious papers. While this was a doing by the “sons of liberty” in Market Square, some other sons of liberty went round from store to store, effacing with lamp-black the word tea on the signs.
In April there was a general muster of the militia, when it was found that Providence County had two thousand infantry and a troop of horse under arms, and Kent County nearly fifteen hundred. The returns of the other counties have not been preserved.
The day of decision came. The battle of Lexington was fought. The tidings reached Providence in the night. By the next day a thousand armed men were on the road to Boston. But before they could reach it expresses met them announcing the retreat Of the British.
The Assembly met. They voted to raise an Army of Observation of fifteen hundred men, in spite of the protests of the Governor, the Deputy-Governor and two assistants. Nathanael Greeneand William Bradford were appointed a committee to confer with the Assembly of Connecticut about this raising of arms. The public ammunition was distributed—to each town its proportion. For greater security it was voted to hold the election session of the Assembly at Providence. A day was set apart for fasting and prayer.
The May session for the election of officers came. The dividing line between Whig and Tory was more sharply drawn. Several changes were made in the board of assistants. Deputy-Governor Sessions gave place to Nicholas Cooke. Governor Wanton himself was suspended for having in various ways “manifested his intentions to defeat the good people of these colonies in their present glorious struggle to transmit inviolate to posterity those sacred rights they have received from their ancestors.” A Committee of Safety was appointed, which, with the two highest military officers, was to superintend the paying and furnishing the troops and direct their movements when called out of the Colony. The public offices were removed to Providence.
“The army was formed into one brigade of three regiments, each regiment consisting of eight companies, with a train of artillery.” Of this little army, called Army of Observation, Nathanael Greene, who had never held military rank before, was placed in command with the rank of brigadier-general. To anticipate jealousies of rank and position it was provided that “each regiment should occupy the flanks in rotation.”
Paper money with all its evils now became a necessity, and bills of credit were issued to the amount of twenty thousand pounds. To give them the character of an investment they were to bear an interest of two and a half per cent., and be “redeemable by taxation at the end of two and five years.” An embargo was laid on provisions.
Another battle, the battle of Bunker Hill, was at hand. Collisions between the King’s troops and the people were frequent. By the 1st of June nearly a thousand men of the Rhode Island Army of Observation with their artillery were encamped on Jamaica Plains. The committees of inspection for enforcing the American Association were very active. Articles of war were framed. Tories were jealously watched. The suspension of Governor Wanton was a bold step resolutely persevered in. He attempted to explain and defend his conduct, but his explanations were not accepted.
The persecutions of the Gaspee were renewed by Sir James Wallace, Captain of the Rose frigate, and brought on an action between a tender of the frigate and a colonial sloop commanded by Captain Abraham Whipple. After some sharp firing on both sides, the tender was driven ashore under Conanicut and captured.Wallace already owed Whipple a grudge for his part in the burning of the Gaspee, and wrote him: “You, Abraham Whipple, on the 10th of June, 1772, burned His Majesty’s vessel, the Gaspee, and I will hang you at the yard-arm. James Wallace.” To which Whipple replied: “To Sir James Wallace, Sir: Always catch a man before you hang him. Abraham Whipple.”
This was no longer a sudden uprising of popular indignation against insufferable wrong, but a conflict between two regular armed vessels—the first naval battle of the War of Independence. It led directly to the equipping of two vessels, the Washington and the Katy, for the defence of the Colony—the largest carrying ten four-pounders and fourteen swivels, with a crew of eighty men—the smallest with thirty men.
In this June session in which the foundations of the navy were laid, William Goddard’s postal system went into operation six weeks before its adoption for all the colonies by Congress.
During this same eventful month of June the waters of Narragansett Bay were the scene of another bold enterprise. The Rose frigate, Swan sloop-of-war, and a tender were lying with five prizes in Newport harbor. Other vessels came in sight and the royal squadron set out in pursuit of them, following them up the bay and leaving the five prizes unprotected. No sooner did the people of Newport see the opportunity than they seized it, boarded the prizes and carried them off in triumph.
The next event of general interest was the battle of Bunker Hill. An extra session of the Assembly was called. Committees were appointed to take account of the arms and ammunition in the Colony and report it to Congress. Saltpetre and brimstone were sent to the powder mills of New York. Fort George was dismantled. A signal post was established on Tower Hill, and a beacon at Providence, on Prospect Hill. The Colony was put upon a war footing, every man able to bear arms being required to hold himself in readiness for active service. A fourth of the militia were held for minute men and drilled half a day every fortnight. The independent companies were drilled with them. The Army of Observation, which now numbered about seventeen hundred men, was placed under the command of Washington. Everywhere were sights and sounds of war.
The national fast day came, July 20th. From every pulpit, from every family altar, rose fervent prayers for Almighty guidance and protection. For Newport it was a day of terror, for Wallace, enraged at the desertion of some of his men, threatened to bombard the town. Two days he lay in position before it. On the third he sailed away.
Providence harbor was now fortified between Field and Sassafras Points, and a battery of six eighteen-pounders erected on Fox Point. The Beacon was proved and found to shed its lightover an area extending from Cambridge to New London and Norwich, and from Newport to Pomfret. All through August the preparations for war continued. The live stock was removed from Block Island and the islands of the bay. The incipient navy was enlarged and the Rhode Island delegates in Congress instructed “to use their whole influence for building at the Continental expense, a fleet of sufficient force for the protection of these colonies, and for employing them in such manner and places as will most effectually annoy our enemies, and contribute to the common defence of these colonies.” This recommendation led to the appointment of a committee of which Governor Hopkins and John Adams were members, and which presently laid the foundation of the Continental Navy.
From time to time there were sudden alarms. Once it was given out that Providence was to be attacked, and the works in the harbor were manned and the troops called out. But Wallace, contenting himself with taking a brig from the West Indies and plundering the shores, retired down the bay. In October he was reinforced, and after holding Newport in suspense bombarded Bristol. Domestic enemies also were to be guarded against. George Rome reappears and is sent to Providence “to be dealt with according to his demerits.” Furnishing supplies to the enemy or holding correspondence with them was made punishable with death and forfeiture. Exception was made in favor of Newport on account of her exposed situation. The sufferings of the poor both in Newport and on the islands were so great that the Assembly found it necessary to come to their assistance, helping some to move away and supplying others with provisions. How business suffered may be seen by the repeal of the statute of limitations. In November Governor Wanton was formally removed from office and Nicholas Cooke elected in his stead. With the burning of the Gaspee the sword was drawn, with the deposition of Governor Wanton the scabbard was thrown away.
Meanwhile new emissions of bills of credit were made and the overwhelming debt overwhelmingly increased. But it was no longer the debt of a single colony but a part of the war debt of all the colonies, and therefore Congress assumed forty-five thousand pounds of it as such. Of this forty-five thousand pounds a hundred and twenty thousand dollars were presently paid. One more battle was fought in Narragansett Bay, and one more day set apart for fasting and prayer.
We have seen that Rhode Island had called for a navy. In November Congress took the subject up, appointed a marine committee and voted to arm and equip four vessels. Esek, brother of the Governor, was put in command of them with the title of commodore. Two hundred and fifty Rhode Islanders followed Arnold through the wilderness, and none of all the invading armybore with greater fortitude the privations of the weary march or fought more gallantly under the walls of Quebec than Christopher Greene, Samuel Ward and Simeon Thayer, all of whom we shall meet again on the ramparts of Red Bank. Over a hundred were sent to Philadelphia under Captain Whipple, to serve in the new navy.
Meanwhile at Newport and on the islands the presence of the British squadron held men in constant alarm. A considerable force was encamped at Middletown, and a constant watch kept up to guard against the secret machinations of the disaffected. Row gallies patrolled the bay and a night guard was established. But in spite of every precaution the trees were cut down on Hope Island, twelve dwelling houses were burned and their occupants plundered on Conanicut, and the live stock carried off wherever a secure landing could be effected. General Lee, who had been sent from Cambridge to direct the fortifying of the island, made his entrance into Newport at the head of eight hundred men, and after imposing upon the suspected a comprehensive oath and giving instructions for the erection of fortifications, returned to the army. To express their sense of his services the Recess Committee voted “that one of the best beds, with the furniture taken from Charles Dudley, be presented to General Lee.”
In the last days of December there was a riot in West Greenwich to prevent the enlistment of minute men. In the middle of January therewas some sharp fighting on Prudence Island. In the course of the first day the British, who had come up in twelve vessels, landed two hundred and fifty men, drove off a body of a hundred minute men, burned seven houses and carried away a hundred sheep. Next day reinforcements arrived from Bristol and Warren and the fighting was renewed. This time the victory was with the Americans, and after a battle of three hours the enemy were driven to their ships with a loss of fourteen killed and many wounded. War in one of its worst forms raged at all the most vulnerable points of Narragansett Bay.
And thus the gloomy days went by, slowly but surely bringing nearer and nearer the now inevitable problem of independence. Rhode Island, with her hundred and thirty miles of coast line, her two navigable rivers, and triple passage from the ocean, was in constant exposure. We have seen how she was harassed by Wallace in January, 1776. In February more houses and a windmill were burned and more stock plundered on Prudence, and a descent for plunder made on Point Judith. With this last the names of several persons suspected of being Tories were mixed up, giving the Committee of Safety much to do. Difficulties between the citizens of Newport and the soldiers under General West, encamped on the island, arose in a measure from the same cause. West resigned because men whom he had arrested as Tories had been set at liberty by the Assembly. Among them was Governor Wanton.
The first act of the eventful drama closes with the evacuation of Boston, on the 17th of March. For a day it was believed that the British fleet was entering the bay, but the alarm proved false. The American army went to New York, passing through Rhode Island on its march.
While these events, so grievous in the present, so full of a glorious future, were passing, Samuel Ward, who had so nobly represented the highest conscience and culture of Rhode Island in the Continental Congress, was dying of small-pox in Philadelphia—the advanced post of civil heroism. An upright and conscientious man, who had drawn from books and men those lessons which make men wise in judgment and firm in principle and bold in action. Had he lived a few weeks longer his name would have been foremost among the signers. A marble monument was voted him by Congress, “in testimony of the respect due to his memory, and in grateful remembrance of his public services.”
The last Colonial Assembly of Rhode Island met on the 1st of May. On the 4th, two months before the Congressional Declaration of Independence, it solemnly renounced its allegiance to the British crown, no longer closing its session with “God save the King,” but taking in its stead as expressive of their new relations, “God save the United Colonies.”
RHODE ISLAND BLOCKADED.—DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE INDORSED BY THE ASSEMBLY.—NEW TROOPS RAISED.—FRENCH ALLIANCE.—UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT TO DRIVE THE BRITISH FROM RHODE ISLAND.
From the 4th of May, 1776, the Declaration of Independence of Rhode Island, to the battle of Tiverton Heights, on the 29th of August, 1778, she lived with the enemy at her door, constantly subject to invasion by land and by water, and seldom giving her watch-worn inhabitants the luxury of a quiet pillow. For months, as we already have seen, British ships of war had infested her shores, driving off the stock, plundering the inhabitants and burning their houses and barns. In November a still greater calamity befell her, a British fleet took possession of her waters, a British army of her principal island. The seat of government was removed to Providence. The points most exposed had already been fortified as well as the means and military science of the Colony permitted. These were strengthened and other points fortified. A battery was erected on the southern projection of Warwick Neck, commanding the entrance of Coweset Bay. The women and children of the seaboardtowns were advised to take refuge in the interior. The militia were called out. The troops on the island, about seven hundred in number, were removed to the main land, part under Colonel Cook taking post at Tiverton, part under General West at Bristol. Massachusetts and Connecticut sent immediate aid to their imperilled sister. And thus Rhode Island entered upon the humiliating life of a district held by its enemy.
The story of these three years should either be told in detail, or told very briefly. In detail it presents some striking pictures and some important lessons. The pictures are for the chief part marine views, most of the fighting having taken place on the water. The lessons are to be found in the skill or want of skill with which legislation adapted itself to new wants and new means. Our limits do not admit of detail. We shall glean sparingly from the statute book.
The first duty of the Assembly was to draw out the resources of the State and give them efficiency. The census of Providence in February gave a return of four thousand three hundred and fifty-five souls, with about five hundred stand of arms. Of this population one-sixth were effective men. The other towns furnished their proportion, and the distribution and equipment of them received the constant attention of the Assembly and fills a large space in the schedules. In the new arrangement of the Continental Army the three Rhode Island regiments were formedinto two battalions. We shall not attempt to follow the schedule through the various changes which were made in the quota furnished by Rhode Island to the main army. The fuller page of history gives it a noble record, and the names of Christopher Greene, of Angell, of Thayer, of the two Olneys, of Samuel Ward and their companions, stand very high in the regimental history of the war.
Another subject which occupied from time to time the anxious attention of the Assembly was the treatment of the small-pox. How could its ravages be staid? How could the prejudice against inoculation, which still prevailed so widely even among the intelligent and well informed, be overcome? The question was brought before the Assembly in June, when it was resolved, though not without opposition, to establish an hospital for inoculation in each county. It was resolved also to ask Congress to establish a uniform system of inoculation in the army and navy.
There could no longer be any doubt as to the treatment of Tories. Rhode Island was an independent state, and justifiable in employing, to protect herself against treason, the same means which other independent states employed. A test oath was framed, which all who were suspected of Toryism were required to subscribe. Yet, even in this dark day of trial she did not forget her fundamental principle, and the conscientious scruples of the Quakers were respected. Commerce was permitted with all parts of the world except England and her dependencies.
The Declaration of Independence by Congress was received with general satisfaction, and proclaimed with a national salute and military display. At Providence the King’s arms were burned, and the Legislature assumed its legal title, “The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,” and voted that “we do approve the said resolution, and do most solemnly engage that we will support the said General Congress with our lives and fortunes.”
Congress, as we have seen, had voted to build a navy at the original suggestion of Rhode Island, and directed that two of the thirteen frigates that were to compose it should be built there. Ship building was one of the arts to which the Colony had directed its attention on its first planting, and Rhode Island workmen had grown skillful therein. The direction first taken by her maritime enterprise was privateering, which not only made the fortunes of individuals, but met many wants which the regular commerce of the country was unable to meet. To this great fleet Rhode Island contributed sixteen vessels, manned by men in the prime of life, and animated by love of adventure, love of country, and love of gain. Sometimes their numbers were kept full at the expense of the army, and it was found necessary to lay a general embargo till the Continental quotas were filled.
In December the Assembly met at Greenwich, but finding that place too exposed, adjourned to Providence. The chief subject of discussion was how to raise an army, and the New England States were invited to send committees to Providence to concert some general plan of action. The Recess Committee gave place to a Council of War, composed of ten members. The dangerous system of short enlistments still prevailed and a brigade of three regiments, two of infantry, each composed of seven hundred and fifty men in eight companies, and one of artillery composed of three hundred men in five companies, were voted for fifteen months. The command was given to General Varnum, and Malmedy, a French officer, recommended by General Lee, was appointed “Chief Engineer and Director of the works of defence in this State, with the rank of Brigadier.” When brought to the test of enlistment its roll filled up very slowly.
The Convention of the Eastern States met in Providence. Each state was represented by three delegates. Stephen Hopkins was chosen President. After long and frequent consultations with the Assembly, it was recommended that an army of six thousand men should be concentrated in Rhode Island, of which Massachusetts was to furnish nineteen hundred men, Connecticut eleven hundred, New Hampshire three hundred, and Rhode Island eighteen hundred and a thousand Continental troops.
Other questions called for equal attention. Men no longer dared to look to paper and a printing-press for their money, but to taxing and borrowing. A loan of forty thousand pounds at five per cent. was voted. But the borrowers were many, the lenders few, and taxes hard to collect. With less wisdom it was voted to prevent monopolies and regulate prices. All of these questions recur from time to time till men grow weary of contending with the natural laws of trade. Meanwhile the army was almost naked, and more than once on the brink of starvation and mutiny. The plans of the convention for concentrating a large force were never wholly carried out, and the army of the State, like the army of Congress, was too often an army on paper.
Yet one great step was taken at the suggestion of General Varnum. Colonel Christopher Greene, Lieutenant-Colonel Olney and Major Ward were sent home to enlist a battalion of negroes for the Continental service. When the question came before the Assembly in the form of a resolution to enroll slaves, compensate their masters and give them their freedom, it met with some opposition upon the ground that it would be disapproved of in other states, that the masters would not be satisfied with the compensation, and that there were not slaves enough to make a regiment. But the wiser opinion prevailed, the regiment was raised, and when the day of trial came the freedman proved himself an excellent soldier.
In February, 1778, the Articles of Confederation were adopted, not as perfectly satisfactory, but as the best that could be had. Certain modifications were proposed. “Obtain them if you can,” were the instructions to the Rhode Island delegates, “but in all events sign the articles.”
In April came the happy tidings of the French alliance, joyfully received everywhere with ringing of bells and firing of salutes and military display. The 22d of April had been appointed for a fast day. It was changed to a thanksgiving. The hopes of the country were raised very high. “Surely,” men said to one another, “now that France has declared for us, the end must be near.”
In May Governor Cooke, who had served diligently since the beginning of the war, withdrew from his laborious office, and William Greene, son of the late Governor Greene, was elected in his stead, and with such general acceptance that he continued to be reëlected eight years in succession. Four delegates instead of two were sent to Congress.
We have seen how the islands of the bay had suffered. In the same month of May an expedition was sent by the British commander at Newport against Warren and Bristol on the main. Three churches and several private houses were burnt, and seventy flat-boats, together with the galley Washington and a grist-mill, were destroyed. There was loss of life and destructionof property, but not a step made towards the decision of the contest. Soon after an attempt was made on Fall River, but repulsed by the judicious choice of position and gallantry of Colonel Joseph Durfee.
The presence of the enemy in Narragansett Bay was a constant menace to the Eastern States, and to drive them out was the constant aim of the commander of that department. Under General Spencer great preparations had been made and great hopes entertained of success. But one of the brigades failed to be up with their boats in time, and a second attempt was prevented by the weather.
At last the favorable moment came. Sullivan, an active and intelligent officer, was in command of the Continental forces, and the coöperation of D’Estaing with the French fleet was secured. On the 29th of July twelve French ships of the line and four frigates arrived off Newport. The English were effectually blockaded, driven from their outposts, and compelled to destroy their vessels.
Preparations were made for an immediate advance. At no period of the war had greater enthusiasm prevailed. Volunteers came pouring in from Boston, Salem, Newburyport, Portsmouth—not merely those whom pay or bounty could call out, but men of wealth and position. John Hancock led the militia of Massachusetts. Greene and Lafayette came on from the main army. By the8th of August Sullivan found himself at the head of ten thousand men. The right wing took post at Tiverton. The French fleet under D’Estaing held the outer harbor. The morning of the 10th was fixed upon for the attack. On the 8th the fleet ran up the middle passage in face of a heavy fire from the enemy’s batteries, and secured the command of the bay. Sir Robert Pigot drew in his forces and stationed them in strong positions near the town. They numbered about six thousand in all.
Sullivan seeing that the British commander had abandoned his strong works at the head of the island, thought that no time was to be lost in securing them, and without waiting for the day agreed upon with the French admiral, set his right wing under Greene, in motion on the morning of the 9th and began to cross over to the island. D’Estaing felt the breach of etiquette, but had little time to dwell upon it. For about two in the afternoon a fleet of nearly twenty-five sail came in sight, standing in for Newport. It was the fleet of Lord Howe. He lay to off Point Judith for the night, and next morning began a trial of seamanship with D’Estaing for the weather-gage. The Englishman stood out to sea; a sudden change of wind enabled the Frenchman to follow him, and the whole of the first day and part of the second were passed in manœuvring. Meanwhile the wind kept rising, and in a few hours it blew a gale. Soon it was no longera question of victory, but of life. The work of destruction by mortal hands ceased. The big ships were tossed helplessly about by the yawning billows. The invisible winds snapped the strong masts—once the pride of centennial forests—asunder. The Languedoc, with her ninety guns, the French admiral’s own ship, lost masts and rudder. The shattered fleets made their way to port as best they might, the English to New York, the French to Newport, with occasional encounters on their way.
The tempest had raged with as much violence on shore as at sea. Nothing could withstand its rage. Trees were torn up by the roots. Tent poles were snapped asunder like reeds. Marquees were torn and dashed to the ground. The rain fell in torrents, swelling the brooks till they overflowed their banks and spread over the fields in ponds and pools. Men crouched under the stone walls. When the tempest ceased, horses and men were found dead together. Then was the time for Pigot to draw out his men from their snug quarters in the town and lead them against the exhausted Americans. The American general feared this, and anxiously watched the dangerous hours go by. But the Englishman let slip the golden occasion and it never returned.
It was not without many misgivings that Sullivan had seen the French fleet make sail and stand out to sea. But D’Estaing had pledged himself to return, and when on the 20th a swiftfrigate, and soon the Languedoc herself, hove in sight, he dispatched Greene and Lafayette to confer with the French admiral and his officers and secure their coöperation. But whatever D’Estaing’s own wishes may have been, his officers, who were jealous of him as a landsman, pointed to his instructions and called upon him to repair to Boston. The Americans felt themselves deserted, for it was only by the aid of the fleet that the town could be taken. “There never,” they said, “was a prospect so favorable blasted by such a shameful desertion.”
Still Sullivan resolved to persevere in his attempt, and giving partial vent to his indignation in the order of the day, took up a position within three miles of the town and began to erect batteries. It was soon evident that it would be hazardous to attempt to hold it. On the 28th it was resolved to fall back and establish a fortified camp at the north end of the island. But already the army was melting away. Three thousand militiamen and volunteers went off in twenty-four hours, and presently the assailants scarcely outnumbered the assailed. The British fleet also would soon be back, while the French fleet could no longer be counted upon. D’Estaing indeed gallantly offered to bring up his land forces to the support of his allies. But now the only question was how to retreat without loss. A sharp battle was fought on the 29th, in which both sides contended obstinately for the victory.Then in the night, men, baggage, artillery and stores, were transported across the ferry without the loss of a man or beast, or a single munition of war.
ACTS OF THE BRITISH TROOPS.—DISTRESS IN RHODE ISLAND.—EVACUATION OF NEWPORT.—REPUDIATION.—END OF THE WAR.
The Americans were sorely disappointed. They had taken up their arms with such confidence of success that they could not bear to lay them down with so little done. Their murmurs were loud and deep. Some were ready to lay all the blame upon their allies. Nothing but the good sense of Greene and the good feeling and generous nature of Lafayette could have prevented an outbreak. The old leaven of English animosity toward France still lay deeply rooted in the colonial heart. It was an unfortunate beginning of the alliance that was to give them victory.
For still another year the principal island of Narragansett Bay was to remain in the hands of British soldiers, and its other islands and the shores of its mainland lie exposed to the ravages of British cruisers. It was a year of suffering. There was no more fighting in regular battles, no more laying siege by regular advances, but many plundering excursions for the wanton waste of property and the wicked waste of life. Houses were burnt from mere wantonness; woods andorchards cut down to serve for fire-wood, and for this the cold winter furnished a good excuse; but when at last the enemy withdrew, little was left of the sylvan beauty of Narragansett Bay.
The adventurous fighting was chiefly done on the water, and the hero of it was Silas Talbot, of Providence. Talbot had already distinguished himself early in the war, both on land and on the water. Nothing suited his adventurous spirit so well as the leadership in enterprises which to other men seemed hopeless, and his judgment and skill equaled his daring. Of these bold exploits one of the boldest was the capture of the Pigot galley, a vessel of three hundred tons, mounting eight twelve-pounders, protected by strong boarding nettings and manned by forty-five men. The force with which Talbot took her was a small sloop carrying two three-pounders and manned for the occasion by sixty men. As a recognition of his gallantry Congress sent him a commission of lieutenant-colonel, and not long after that of captain in the navy.
Among the miseries of these years was a scarcity of food, almost amounting to a famine. Speculation was active and remorseless, getting control of the market and growing rich on human suffering. An appeal was made to Connecticut for a suspension of her embargo on provisions in favor of Rhode Island. The question how to counteract “engrossers and forestallers,” was one of the most difficult questions which Congress and statelegislatures and special conventions were called upon to meet. Two thousand helpless poor were scattered through the State, dependent upon public and private charity for bread. Five hundred pounds were voted for the relief of the poor of Newport. The appeal to Connecticut for a relaxation of her embargo was met by permission to export seven thousand bushels of grain, and a recommendation of a general contribution by her citizens. The recommendation called forth gifts of four thousand three hundred pounds in money, and five hundred bushels of grain. The recommendation was extended through Congress to other states, and South Carolina assumed through her delegates fifty thousand dollars of Rhode Island’s Continental quota.
It was in this year also that the storm, long known as the Hessian storm, from the number of those wretched mercenaries who perished in it, occurred. Sentinels froze at their posts—some were suffocated by the whirling snow. The roads were blocked up by it. Never had such a storm been known.
New taxes were regularly called for and voted, both for Continental and State expenses. But the currency was deranged and the sources from whence taxes were drawn well nigh exhausted. The treasury was empty. To enlist a new brigade,—the term of the old one having run out,—it was found necessary to borrow twelve thousand pounds from Connecticut for a month. Therewas not time yet for constitutional reforms, although attention was frequently called to the inequality of representation. But the more important reforms were the reforms of the army, and the great event of 1779 was the introduction of Steuben’s Tactics.
The derangement of the currency made itself felt everywhere. Colonel Crary, of the First State Infantry, an excellent officer, was compelled to throw up his commission because he could not support his family on his pay. With many others it was merely a question of time—whether they should resign at once or wait a little longer till they were ruined utterly. As paper depreciated taxes were increased. Confidence, the basis of national prosperity, was gone. In June, 1778, two heavy taxes were levied, one of two hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds for Congress, and one of sixty thousand pounds for the State. Almost the only channel through which goods and money still continued to come was through privateers.
The vital question was the question of finance. Congress appealed to the states and the states to the towns. A convention met at East Greenwich and attempted to fix upon a maximum scale of prices for articles of consumption. The establishment of rates for labor and board and manufactures, was left with the towns. The fatal effects of a false system of political economy fell heavily upon both town and country. Trading in goldand silver was discouraged and desperate efforts made to relieve the country from the pressure of present debt; but the root of the evil lay too deep, and bankruptcy was already at the door.
One act, however, of these days of trial, we can still dwell upon with satisfaction. In spite of the manumission act an attempt was made to sell some slaves to the South. The Assembly interfered for their protection and forbade the sale.
The Greenwich Convention had left its work unfinished. A new convention was called in September to finish it, and every effort was made to raise the loan recommended by Congress. At the suggestion of Massachusetts a convention of the five Eastern States was called to meet at Hartford and take these difficult questions into consideration. And thus the days and months passed away, monotonously sad, with little of present enjoyment and still less of promise for the future. Men lived like those who carry their lives in their hands and have no hold on the morrow. At last the long looked for day came. Fifty-two transports entered Newport harbor and immediately the work of embarkation began. Six thousand men with their baggage and military stores and a melancholy train of Tories were to bid goodbye to their pleasant quarters. When all was ready the inhabitants were forbidden to venture into the streets on pain of death, and the march to the place of embarkation at Brenton’s Point began. Then was heard for the last time in the streets of Newport the British drum and themeasured tread of an enemy’s march. All day long the boats were plying to and fro, and at sunset the fleet set sail. Forty-six Tories, with such property as they could carry, and a large band of liberated slaves went with it. The last act of the troops was to burn the barracks at Brenton’s Point and the light-house at Beaver Tail. When the inhabitants began to look about them and count their losses, they found that over five hundred houses had been destroyed and property to the value of nearly one hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds ruined in the Town of Newport alone. The population had been reduced by more than half, and among the emigrants were the Lopez, and Hays, and Riveiras, and Touros, rich and enterprising Jews. One outrage it is difficult to explain, the robbery of the town records, which were put on board one of the transports and sent to New York. This alone would have been a great injury, for they contained the history of the Colony from its foundation, and as parts of that history the record of sales and grants of land. But to complete the loss the vessel on board which they had been put sunk in the passage of Hell Gate, and it was not till they had lain three years in the water that they were recovered. Parts only were legible.
The Assembly which met on the very day of the evacuation, found much to do. Many expenses which the presence of the enemy had made necessary, ceased. The coast-guard was dismissed. The ferries from Newport to South Kingstown were reöpened. The four island towns resumed their charter administration. The non-intercourse act was repealed, and New Shoreham restored to the exercise of her corporate rights. To meet the embargos laid by the neighboring states, an embargo was laid upon all articles of exportation. The militia was reörganized. In August acts had been brought in confiscating the property of Tories, and forbidding the sale of slaves out of the State against their will. They were passed in October.
We come now, and reluctantly, to a disgraceful page of our annals, the Revolutionary debt of Rhode Island. In the December session of 1779, the State acknowledging “the proved fidelity, firmness and intrepidity in service, of its soldiers,” pledged itself through its constitutionally elected representatives, to make good at the close of the war, “to them or their legal representatives, the wages of the establishment of Congress, wherever they engaged.” Upon the strength of this solemn engagement many of the men and officers of the three Rhode Island regiments of the line, whose terms of service were about to expire, reënlisted for the war.
This pledge was broken, leaving an ineffaceable stain upon the shield of Rhode Island. Nor does it lighten the disgrace to say that other states also were untrue to their pledges. Other states persecuted for opinion, but in this Rhode Island did not follow their example.
A bitter winter followed the evacuation. The bay was blocked up with ice. Seaward the ice extended as far as eye could reach. Government had to come to the relief of the starving and freezing poor. Corn cost four dollars a bushel, potatoes two—famine prices, as prices ordinarily ruled.
We have marked the first appearance of theNewport Mercury. During the three years of British occupation it was published at Rehoboth, but at the evacuation was brought back to Newport, and resumed its original influence under the editorship of Henry Barber.
As time wore on things gradually assumed a more hopeful aspect. In April, 1779, Lafayette returned from France with the cheering assurance that a French fleet would soon follow him. Preparations for effective coöperation immediately began. The militia was called out for three months. Rhode Island’s quota of men was one regiment of six hundred and thirty men; of supplies, seventy one thousand six hundred and seventy-five pounds of beef, thirty hogsheads of rum, and twenty-two hundred and eighty-five bushels of forage grain; of transportation, two hundred draft horses.
The promptness with which the little State met the heavy calls upon her limited resources was warmly acknowledged by Washington in a letter to Governor Greene. And at the same time one of her regiments was winning high honor atSpringfield, under the guidance of one of her best officers, Israel Angell.
The arrival of the French fleet and army under Ternay and Rochambeau was the signal for universal rejoicing. The hopes and confidence of the first year of the alliance were revived. But this time the efforts of the combined forces were to be directed against the enemy’s strongest post—New York itself. Some apprehensions were still felt from the secret machinations of the Tories, and an act was passed banishing them.
Meanwhile preparations were made for quartering and feeding the troops. In Providence, University Hall was set apart for a hospital. The barracks at Tiverton and a farm near Bristol were assigned to them for the same purpose, and Pappoosquash Point was given to them for a burial place.
To meet the expenses imposed by these preparations new taxes were assessed, founded upon a new estimate of taxable property, and designed to sink the remaining portion of the State’s quota of old Continental bills and meet present and future expenses. Taken altogether the taxes voted in the July session of 1780, reduced to a specie standard, amounted to one hundred and twenty-six thousand three hundred and sixty-nine dollars and fifty cents. It was a heavy burden, and the good spirit with which the people bore it showed how thoroughly their hearts were enlisted in the cause of their country.
But suddenly there was a new alarm. An English fleet of sixteen ships of war appeared in the offing, staid just long enough to spread a general apprehension of invasion, and after a second alarm took up its station in Long Island Sound and blockaded the French from the sure position of Gardiner’s Island. Thus for a time French coöperation once more failed.
In September the Assembly met in Newport, the first time in four years. The State House had been used by the British for a hospital, and all the churches except Trinity for barracks. The Assembly held its sessions in the Redwood Library.
Money was still the primary object of attention. Congress called on the states for three millions of dollars. For the first time Rhode Island was unable to meet her portion. She had also a large proportion of the French troops to provide for, whose headquarters were at Newport, where Rochambeau established himself in the Vernon House, which still bears his name. But the French brought hard money with them, and spent it freely.
In December Ternay, the French admiral, died, without having had an opportunity of doing any thing important for his allies. His tomb is still seen in Trinity church-yard.
We enter upon 1781, the decisive year of the war—and decisive also by its political significance. Connecticut and Virginia ceded their westernlands to the Union, and Greene’s successes in the South, and Washington’s capture of Yorktown, virtually put an end to the war. In the same year the confederation was completed by the accession of Maryland. Rhode Island could not perform all her federate duties as heretofore, but the presence of the French fleet made her for a while an object of especial interest. Her daily quota of supplies was two thousand rations of fresh beef, besides rum and other stores.
In the same year she lost by surprise two of her best soldiers, Colonel Christopher Greene and Major Ebenezer Flagg, both distinguished by their part in the defence of Red Bank, in 1777. Peace was at hand, and with peace a new experiment in political life. The confederation had been tried in war and found wanting. How would it meet the requirements of peace?
ARTS OF PEACE RESUMED.—DOCTRINE OF STATE RIGHTS.
Great were the rejoicings over the surrender of Cornwallis—public balls, firing of cannon and display of fire-works—for close upon that surrender came the longed for peace. As a more enduring expression of gratitude to the man who had led in this great work, the Assembly decreed that “in order to obliterate, as may be, every trace and idea of that government which threatened our destruction ... the same county, (King’s), shall forever hereafter be known and distinguished by the name and style of Washington.”
And soon the war-worn troops who had so gallantly borne their part in the burthen and heat of the day, came home rejoicing in their victory, but trembling for their future. Then came pressing the urgent questions of the hour, and first of all the question of finance. The Bank of North America had been established to strengthen the hands of the superintendent of finance, though not enough to make him listen to the appeal of Rhode Island to be allowed topay part of her quota in army supplies. To ascertain on what ground the State stood for taxation a new census was ordered, which gave fifty-one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine for the whole number of inhabitants, Newport returning five thousand five hundred and thirty-one, and Providence four thousand three hundred and ten. A new estimate of taxable property also was made, which was found to amount to nearly three millions of pounds in lawful money. Taxation had borne heavily upon this capital, but with peace war expenditures ceased, and productive industry began to return to its natural channels.
And very soon a Federal question arose. Congress resolved to levy an import duty of five per cent., but could not do it without the consent of the states. Here dawns upon us the question of state rights, soon to assume a more menacing aspect and delay for years Rhode Island’s entrance into the Union. Nearly all the states but Rhode Island had given their consent to it, but she foresaw in it future danger to her liberties and persisted in her refusal. Two of her delegates, Howell and Ellery, held out vigorously against it. “Howell undertook to prove that the State, by adopting the impost, would lose four-fifths of its revenue collected upon it. Mr. Ellery went upon the common danger of altering the constitution, and frightened the people with the loss of liberty.”
Varnum and Marchant used many arguments “to remove these prejudices, but to little purpose. The general spoke two hours and a half; his arguments were learned, sensible and conclusive; but they were unavailing.” Such were the reasonings in the Rhode Island Assembly. “The truth of the matter is,” wrote General Greene, “a large majority of the members are incompetent judges of so complicated a question.... What is to become of us and our national honor God only knows. No people ever had brighter prospects shaded so unexpectedly.”
In the midst of these exciting discussions it is pleasant to see what early attention was given to education. The college returned to the use for which it was built, and in September, 1782, seven students received their degrees.
In that same year and month died Nicholas Cooke, who had filled the Governor’s chair so worthily at the beginning of the war. More than once before peace was declared an armed enemy was seen in Narragansett Bay. Two vessels were cut out of Newport harbor in the night by Tory privateers, and at another time an armed party took possession of Hope Island and held it for several days. One of the most menacing signs of these troubled times, was the armed resistance to the collection of taxes which had threatened Massachusetts with civil war, but was sternly put down. Yet even when the strong arm of the law was raised to enforce, they whowielded it most firmly could not but feel that there was much ground for complaint.
I shall not attempt to follow step by step the progress of Rhode Island in her return to the life and arts of peace. New laws were called for and made. New fields of enterprise were opened and entered upon. The errors of the past were to be bitterly atoned for. But her resources were great, her will strong, and her courage unabated. From the mass of detail I select a few characteristic points.
The financial embarrassment made itself felt everywhere, endangering contracts, paralyzing industry and checking enterprise, and undermining both public and private credit. Eight millions were required for the Federal quotas of 1782. Less than half a million had been collected. Four states had paid nothing, nine next to nothing. The impost act failed, and Howell, who by his opposition to it had made himself numerous enemies in Congress, had greatly added to his influence at home. Rhode Island was looked up to as the champion of state rights. With time she will grow wiser.
We have seen that slavery became the subject of legislation at an early period of our annals. It reappeared at the return of peace, when gradual emancipation was minutely provided for, and the introduction of “slaves for sale under any pretext whatever, forbidden.”
Among the purely local acts was the incorporation of Newport, and the regulation of the Pawcatuck fishery, and an attempt to annex Potowomut to East Greenwich. Among those which belong to the history of thought was that by which Sabbatarians were “allowed to pursue their usual avocations on Sunday.” Among those that bore directly upon business was the revival of the statute of limitations, and an act for encouraging the manufacture of certain articles of general demand. Patents and copyright laws followed soon after the adoption of the Constitution, though not with a full recognition of an author’s right to the product of his brain. For the support of government a tariff act was passed.
But the most historically interesting act of the February session of 1783 was the enabling act, by which the original harmony between the digests and the charter was restored. Into these digests, but when or how nobody could tell, the phrases: “Roman Catholics excepted,” and “professing Christianity,” had been interpolated in direct violation of the royal charter. Neither under Charles nor under James could this have been done. But in 1696 a plot against William had been discovered, which led to the formation of “associations of loyalty” in all the colonies but Rhode Island. Practically, the exception had no effect, and Catholics and Jews were admitted to the full rights of citizenship as they had always been. But as an historical question it is pleasant to know that the principle of universal toleration was never practically violated in the home of Roger Williams.