Glass. Book i THE ORATION AND POEM DELIVERED BEFORE '^ "Cljc Sons 0f |i|ak IshmT IjST NK^V YORIv, ON THEIR FIRST ANNIVERSARY, May 39th, 1863. / t~*' A^N ORATIO]S" ANNALS OF MODE ISLAND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS, REV. FRANCIS VINTON, D. D., A rhyjvie: RHODE ISLAND AND THE TIMES, GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS, Esq., DELIVERED BEFOIiE THE SONS OF RHODE ISLAND IX NEW YORK, May 29, 1863. NEW YORK: PRINTED FOR THE ASSOCIATION, BY C. A. ALVORD. 1863. t']6 ,S6 9 At a Meeting of the Executiv-e Committee of the Sons of Rhode Island, held pursuant to the call of the President and Yice-Presidont, at the Directort^' Room of the American I'lxchange Bank (in the C-ity of New York), on "Wednesday tlie third day of June, 18(;:!, Mr. Engs offered the following Resolution: Resolved, tliat the thanks of this Committee be presented to the Rev. Dr. A'lX- TON for the elo(iuent (Jratiou, and to George William Curtis, Esq., for the excel- lent Poem delivered by them resjjectivel}', on the occasion of the Anniversary of this Association, and that they be solicited to furnish copies of the same to this Committee for publication. The question having been put by the Recording Secretary, at the request of the President, the same was unanimously adopted. The President responded to the vote of thanks in a few well-cheisen and inter- esting remarks, and gave his consent to the rf<]uest of the (Committee with the j)roviso that he should retain the Oration for the present. The Corresponding Secretary also courteously acknowledged tlie request of the Committee ; but hesitated in granting it, on account of what he was pleased to call the transitory nature of his Poem, and because he had written it hastily, for u particular occasion, and with no reference to its permanent preservation. It having been suggested, that this might 1>e explained in a note, Mr. Curtis kindly consented to the request of tlie Conunittee. Upcn motion of Mr. Engs, Resolved, that the Committee of Arrangements for the Anniversary Celebra- tion, have charge of the })ublication of the Oration and Poem, with power. "William J. Hoppin', Recording Secretary. [Extract from the Minutes.] It being desirable that Rhode Islanders, and the descendants of Rhode Islanders, residing in New York and its vicinity, shonld be associated for the cultivation of social intercourse, the promotion of mutual good-will and fellowship, the enlargement of their acquaintance with and knowledge of each other, and for the exercise of beneficence towards needy Rhode Islandei-s, it is agreed that : 1. The name of the Association shall be "The Sons of Rhode Island." 2. The officers of the Assot-iation shall be an Executive Committee of thirteen; the officers of which — namely, the President, the Vice-President, the Treasurer, and the Secretaries — shall be elected annually by the Com- mittee, and shall hold the same ofiices in the Association. The Executive Committee shall have ]>ower to make By-laws for their government and that of the Association. 3. The election of the Executive Committee shall be lield on tlie day of the Annual Meeting, namely, the twenty-ninth day of May, in each year — that being the Anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of the United States by the State of Rhode Island ; and, in the event of such day being Sunday, the election shall be held on the succeeding business day. Vacancies occurring during the current year, may be filled by the Com- mittee. 4. Any person who shall have been a Citizen of Rhode Island, or who is the descendant of a Citizen, may become a Member of this Association, on application to the Executive Committee and assenting to, and subscribing these articles ; paying to the Treasurer an Initiation Fee of Three Dollars and such Annual Dues tliereafter, not exceeding One Dollar, as the Execu- tive Committee may determine. Honorary Members may be admitted by a vote of the majority of the Committee, or of the Association. 5. The President and Vice-President mdi/y in their discretion, or, on the application of three Members of the Committee, shall call a meeting of the Committee or of the x\ssociation, notice thereof being published in at least two of the daily papers of the city. 6. The Executive Committee is authorized, by a vote of two-thirds of its Members, to cause this Association to be incorporated under the General Laws of this State relating to Benevolent Societies, or under Special Charter, at its discretion. 7. These Articles may be altered or amended by a vote of two-thirds of all the Members present at any meeting, provided that notice of such alter- ation and amendment shall have been given at the meeting next previous thereto. (f :c 1 1 tt t i I) t (If' 111 111 1 1 1 c c 1863-4. Kev. FRAXCUS VINTON, D. D., Tuksidknt. JOHN E. WILLIAMS, Vice-President. BENJAMIN a. ARNOLD, Tkeasukek. GEORCJE WM. CURTIS, Coruespoxdixg Secretary. WILLIAM J. IIOPRIN, Re(c)k1)ixg Secretary. (HIARLES 11. RISSKLL, OEORGE S. COE, RANDALL II. GREENE, (UIARLES CONGDON. NEHEMIAII KNIGHT, PHILIP W. ENGS, JOHN II. ORMSBEE, BENJAMIN COZZENS. ('Ommittee of Arra.\(.ements for the Axniversary Celehratiox, and ALSO FOR THE Pi' lil.UATlOX OF THE OrATIOX AND PoEM : Mr. KNIGHT, Mu. ARNOLD, Mr. ORMSBEE, Mr. HOPPIN. '^inuils of 'gljok fslani ani |lrobit)eiice |)lmitatioiis. THE OR^VTIOISr SPOKEN OX THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OP THE SONS OF RHODE ISLAND IN NEW YORK, May 29, ISGG: BEING THE ANNIVEKSAEY OF THE ADOPTION BY RHODE ISLAND OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES IN 1790, AND ALSO (probably), THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE LANDING OF ROGER WILLIAMS OR THE SETTLEMENT OF "PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS IN NEW ENGLAND" IN 1C3C, FRANCIS VINTON, D.D., ASH19TANT MINISTER OF TKINITY rilURCII, NEW YORK, AND PRESIDENT OF THE S0N8 OP RHODE ISLAND. 3bbcrtisenunt to the Jltiitcr. In publishing this contribution ro the Annals of my native State, at the request of the Sons of Rhode Island in New York, I cannot forbear to make public my acknowledgments to Mr. Henry T. Drowne, my fellow- statesman, whose patient and loving interest in whatever concerns the history and the welfare of Rhode Island, as well as his cherished personal friend- ship, has furnished excellence to my manuscript (which he took pains to copy) for the printer's elegant skill. He has likewise so enriched this pamphlet, by his exact erudition, with references to several authentic sources, as to entitle these " Annals" to the dignity of History, and to the confidence of the future scholar. Francis Vinton. Trinity Church, New York, Noveniber 25, 1863. The Oration was delivered also, by invitation Of tlie Long Island Historical Society, in Brooklyn, N. Y., June 11, 1863 ; Of the New York Historical Society, iu New York, June IG, 186:i ; Of the citizens of Providence, R. I., in Roger Williams Hall, June 26, 1S63 ; (If the Redwood Library Association, in Newport, R. I., in Aquidneck Hall, June 30, 18G3. THE OR^Tio:Nr Rhode Island, the smallest of the United States, was the cradle of the civilization of the nineteenth century. This is a bold statement, as well as lofty praise. And yet it is not arro- gant in the sons of Rhode Island to repeat what European Phi- losophers* have asserted, and tlie truth of history confirms. Professor Gervinus,f in his recent " Introduction to the His- tory of the Nineteenth Century,"' says that " Roger Williams founded, in 1636, a small now society in Ehode Island, upon the principles of entire lil)crty of conscience, and the uncon- trolled powers of the majority in secular concerns. The theo- ries of freedom in Church and State, taught in the schools of philosophy in Europe, were here brought into practice in the government of a small community. It was prophesied that the democratic attempts to obtain universal suffrage, a general elec- tive franchise, annual parliaments and entire religious freedom would be of short duration. But these institutions" (the foun- dations of which were laid in Rhode Island), "have not only maintained themselves in their birthplace, but have spread over the whole Union. They have superseded the aristocratic com- mencements of South Carolina and of New York, the high- church party of Virginia, the theocracy of Massachusetts, and the monarchy throughout America; they have given laws to one quarter of the globe, and, dreaded for their moral influence, ''■' See Note I. — Letter of John Milton. \ Dr. (t. G. Gervinus, of Heidelberg, whose " Commentaries on Shakspeare's \Vritings" are liighly esteemed in Europe and America. 8 ANNALS OF RHODE ISLAND tliey stand in the background of every democratic struggle in Europe."* Des Cartes founded modern pliiloso})liy on tlie method of free reflection. But, two years before Des Cartes startled Europe with his discussions on freethiidcing, Roger Williams asserted the intellcctnal liberty of man and the freedom of the conscience. Des Cartes derived his conclusions from douht of Divine Reve- lation : Roger Williams learned his truths from/(//^/i in God's written Word. The unbelieving })liiloso})her exalted the s])ecu- lations of liuman thought ; the humble Christian student yielded lowly reverence to the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Yet, both the Divine and the Philosopher, almost simultaneously, in re- mote parts of the world, witliout collusion or conlerence, enun- ciated the right of conscience "to obey God rather than men." This w^as the echo of the voice of apostles and martyrs bursting from the caverns of the dark ages, where the arrogance of a cor- ru})t Church, conspiring with ignorance and superstition, had choked the soul and suppressed its l;)reathings. Acknowledging, as we do, the Providence of God over the affairs of the world, and seeing His hand in the progress of civil- ization, it is interesting and instructive to observe the instru ments which He employs, often of diverse materials and o])po- site characters, in accomplishing ITis purpose. In the early years of the seventeenth century, Germany was the battle-field for all Europe in the wars for Religion ; Holland was torn by infuriate tactions ; France was arming for a strug- gle with bigotr}^ ; England was gasping under the load of intol- erance. It was the second era of the Reformation, when the emancipated mind was resisting the attempts of the usurper to re-enslave it. It was the after-birth of the new civilization. Europe demanded one course of treatment, America another, to pi-oduce sound health. In the Old Countries, institutions were * Quotod fnuii '-An Arcomit of tlie Writings of Roger Williams,"* by R. A. Guild, Librarian of Brown University. * Th(^ oriijiiial vi>\\\ ii( "Experiments of Spiritual I,ife and Health, and their Preservatives," liy llofcer Williams, is in tlu' lilirary of .John Carter Krown, Ksci., of rrovidciiep, and was reei'nlly r.'prlnled by Sidney S, Kider, of that oity. AND PKOVIDKN'CE PLANTATIONS. 9 to be modified ; in tlie New Country, institutions were to be created. And while the philosopher, living in a i-egion of thought far above that by which he is surrounded, and remote from the strife of common minds, might, without suspicion of party proclivities, announce the principle which was to reform so- ciety and would be accepted by the struggling partisans ; at the same time, the Christian Colonist,* about to found a State, and living amidst the real hardships of savage life, might put in practice the same principle, as the leaven of a fresh Common- wealth, and rear a fabric of society that should become a living pattern to the nations of the world. Des Cartes would have been as much out of place in the wilds of New England, as Roger Williams would have been out of place among the savans of Holland and France. While, therefore, the battle of tlie soul's freedom was being fovrjht in Europe, the Providence of God was cstahlisJnng the freedom of the soul in Rhode Island. It will recj^uire an effort in us, who have been familiar with the civilization of a century, to appreciate the full value of our freedom, and to do just honor to those who gained it for us. The boy who rides on the railway car, at the speed of thirty miles an hour, and reads the telegraphic news from California, of the date of yesterday, imagines that these things have been so always. The history of Commerce will inform him how slow and painful have been the steps of improvement, and what a debt he owes to his fathei's for their gradual and trium|)hant experiments. So the civilization of the nineteenth century owes to the Cartesian school of philosophy, and to the lively demo- cratic experiments of Rhode Island men, the familiar blessings of toleration and liberty of thought, which we prize as our birthright. I trust that it will not be considered presumptuous, there- fore, nor in any measure self-complacent, wliile we talk of Rhode Island's greatness. * Prof. William Gammell's Life of Roger Williams, — .Sparks' American Biogra- phy, vol. xiv., pp. 20G, 207. Tuckermau's Biographical Essays, — '• Roger "Wil- liams, the Tolerant Colonist," pp. ISI-IOO. Knowlcs' Memoirs of Roger AVil- liam.s, pp. 389, 435-437. 10 ANXALS OF KIIODE ISLAND The antiquity of Rhode Island annals, probably exceeds tliat of auv otlicr portion of our country. You will find them in tlie Scandina^•ian libraries of Iceland and Sweden, in the narrative of the voyages of the Northmen, before Columbus discovered America. Its most ancient European name is " Vinland," and its climate is described just as the modern meteorologist describes it, or as the senses of the throngs of modern visitors enjoy it. There stands the mysterious "Old Mill'' in Newport, set up on shafts, or columns, in the architecture of the eleventh cen- tury, a fireplace in it, and window-openings outlooking towards the sea, and in the direction of Seaconnet and Conanicut. The anticpmries of Stockholm and Copenhagen say, with confi dence, that the Northmen built it, after the pattern of their old coast-towers, both as a fortress and a granary, wherein the voy- agers deposited the reserve supplies, and left a garrison, while they prosecuted their explorations. The windows for the look- out of the sentinels, the fireplace for cooking of provisions, and the columns to lift the garrison and stores beyond the reach of the predatory savages, all touch the question and seem to con- firm the theory. Governor Benedict Arnold, in his last Will,* styles the edi- lice his '' Mill." And, doubtless, he used it for a windmill ; for the location of a tower for observation, and a windmill for grinding corn, is the spot highest in the neighborhood ; and the settlers of Aquidncck, in 1638, probably found the structure for their windmill already reared. For, if ('//cy built it, why should they build it of stones?. Why lift it up on shafts? Why open it towards the sea, and not landward ? Why put a fireplace in it? These questions the Archaeological Society of Norway and Sweden have answered, by affirming that the Northmen were the architects. Prof Kafn (in the "Memoires da la Societe Eoyale des Anti- quaries du Nord,'" for 1838-1839), says : " From such character- * Recorded in the Town Clerk's office, Newport, R. I., p. ,'i48, No. 5, Probato Records. AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS. 11 istics as remain, we can scarcely form any other inference than one, in which I am persuaded that all who are familiar with old Northern Architecture will concur, tliat this huilding was erect- ed at a 2)eriod decidedly not later than the tvwlfth century. ^^ Nor is the old mill at Newport the only token of the antiqui- ty of Rhode Island annals.* There are the remains of the civ- ilization of the Middle Ages in " the Skeleton in Armor," which was dug up at Fall River a few years ago (1850), clad in the mail of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, broken and corroded by time. This discovery inspired Longfellow, as you know, to compose the ballad suggested to him " while riding on the sea- shore at Newport," full of poetic fire and historic probability : " THE SKELETON IN ARMOR." " Speak ! speak I thou fearful guest I Who, with thy hollow breast, Still in rude armor drest, Comest to daunt me I Wrapt not in Eastern balms, But with thy fleshles.s palms Stretched, as if asking alms, Why dost thou haunt me ?" Then, from those cavernous eyes Pale flashes seem to rise, As when the Northern skies Gleam in December; And. like the waters flow Under December's snow, Came a dull voice of woe From the heart's chamber. " I was a Viking old ! My deeds, though manifold, No Skald in song has told, No Saga taught thee ! ****** "I wooed the blue-eyed maid. Yielding, yet half afraid, And in the forest's shade Our vows were plighted. ***** * I do not mention the inscription on Dighton Rock, which is not yet satisfacto- rily deciphered. 12 ANNALS OF RHODE ISLAND " As with his wings aslant, Sails tlie fierce cormorant, Seeking some rocky haunt, With his prey laden ; So toward the open main, Beating to sea again, Through the wild hurricane, Bore I the maiden. "Three weeks we westward bore, And when the storm was o'er, Cloud-like we saw the shore Stretching to leeward; There for my lady's bower Built I the lofty tower. Which to this very hotir, Stands looking seaward. He * * •-:< * " Death closed her mild blue eyes. Under that tower she lies : Ne'er shall tlie sun arise On such another." And, as there is mucli of romantic interest in the misty and uncertain story of Rhode Island, which the transathantic Anti- quarian and the American Poet would embalm, in history and in song, so Rhode Island's Annals of Indian Diplomacy and In- dian Wars are full of examples of wisdom, of kindness, of bravery, and of fortitude, to inspire the loftiest strains of poetry and to challenge the eulogiums of the historic pen. Mount Hope was the seat of tlie royal court of Massasoit, and his son Metacomet, or Pometacom,* or Metacom, known and named l)y the English as King Philip. " When Roger Williams left Salem to obtain permission from the Indians to settle at Seekonk,"' says Professor Elton, " it ap- pears that he made his way through the desolate wilderness to Ousame(piin, or Massasoit, the Sachem of the Pokanokets, who resided at Mount Hope, near the present town of Bristol, Rhode Island. This famous Chief occupied the country, north from Mount Hope, as far as Charles River. "f He and his son Pom- * Drake's Book of the Indians, — Life of King Phihp, book iii., chap, ii., p. 13. f Khon's Life of Roger Williams, p. 37. AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS. 13 etacorn gave the title deeds* of New Bedford and other towns. Massasoitf was the acknowledged sovereign of the territory which the Pilgrim Fathers settled; and the original seat of em- pire over Plymouth and Massachusetts was in Ehode Island. The influence of climate on character, which political phi- losophers maintain, is strongly corroborated by the historic fact that Ehode Island has produced the aboriginal lords, and the greatest men, of the barbarous tribes of Indians in New England. The wisdom and power of Massasoit ; the gentle courtesy of old Canonicus ;:}; the discernment, the cautious con- fidence, the fidelity and honor of Miantinomoh ;§ the far-reach- ing statesmanship, and the intrepid valor and fortitude of Met- acomet, were characteristics of the Narragansett race, whose intelligence, virtue, and bravery, not only gave them mastery over the Indian tribes, in war and in peace, but also commanded the unwilling tribute of respect from the Puritan Pilgrims. The Narragansetts were the victors over every tribe in Indian wars, and the tutors of Indians in the savage arts of peace. Tliey coined the Wampum, | both black and white — the money of the tribes^from the shells of the Ehode Island shores. They excelled in agriculture and in the manufactures. They gave the laws. While other tribes were Polygamists, they alone were Monogamists. She who reigned over the Scaconnets, Queen Awashonks, is, both b}^ the famous Captain Benjamin Church and by Drake, the annalists, described in glowing praise, as possessing charms and virtues belonging to high civilization.^ She was the friend of the English, to be sure, but she was the friend and ally of King Philip also : she was faithful to her nation, yet tolerant of the foreigners settled amongst them. The remnant of her tribe remained in Little Compton. * Drake's Indians, book ii., chap, ii., p. 26; also, book iii., chap, ii., pp. 13-15. t R. I. Hist. Coll., vol. iii., — Potter's Early History of Narragansett, p. 78. X Jh., pp. 42-47. Drake's Indians, book ii., chap, iii., pp. 47-52. § lb., p. 42. lb., book ii., chap, iv., pp. 59-67. II Hutchinson, vol. i., p. 406. Knowles' Memoir of Roger Williams, p. 88. % Drake's Indians, book iii., chap, iv., p. 62. Captain Benjamin Church's In- dian Wars. 14 ANNALS OF RHODE ISLAND Strange mutations of liuman fortune ! WitLin tin's present year, the railway from Newport to Fall River has required ex- cavations through the burial places of those famous Narragan- sctts; and the rude spades of Irish laborers have laid bare the graves, and skeletons, and utensils, and ornaments of the In- dians to the gaze of the stolid and curious — of the tourist and the anti(|uarian. Two years ago, in 1861, some antiquaries in Charleston, Rhode Island, opened the graves in " Sachem's Burial Ground ;" and in this city of New York, on this very spot, the skulls of Ninigret* and his maiden daughter, with the copper bowls and implements of the royal Wigwam (evidently manufactured by the Dutch), and the long precious chain of silver reaching from head to foot, and her gold sleeve-buttons, with other ornaments of silk and gold and wampum, that some time served to embellish her royal person ; and coins, bearing date 1650, Ludovicus XIIIL, with other curious things, were exhibited by Rhode Island's learned Archgeologistjf and formed the topic of his instructive lecture before the Historical Society of New York in November, 1862, and will likely be deposited in the Historical Society's Museum in Central Park. Well might our Indian Sachems exclaim, with Hamlet, to the grave-diggers of tlie Nineteenth Century : " To what base uses we may return ! Why may not imagination trace the noble dust of Massasoit, till he find it stopping a bung-hole ?" Imperial Ninigret, dead, and brought to light Has had his skull a topic for a niglit. But, in a higher point of view, we rejoice that the soil of Rhode Island has surrendered her deposits to enrich the history of New York, and exemplify the trade of the Dutch settlers. The story of King Philip's war is too familiar to be recited. But we may say, that, for love of country and the determination to defend it ; for the prowess of the Colonists, like Captain * Potter's Early History of Narragansett, p. 50. f Dr. Usher Parsons' Lecture before the N. Y. Hist. Soc, published in the His- torical Magazine for February, 1863. Dr. Parsons is the last surviving commis- sioned ofiQcer of Perry's flag-ship in the battle of Lake Erie. AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS. 15 Church, persevering to conquer; for the hardships, the vahir, the self-sacrifices, the heroism, which wars of conquest and de- fence evince, for the incidents of hair-breadth cscai)es and skil- ful strategy, the stronghold in the swamp, the fiery assault, the ice-bridge, that bore the assailants to' victory and the Indians to despair, the extermination of the Narragansetts ;* these are topics for the prolonged eloquence of our Poets and Histoiians, not exhausted by the " Yamoyden" of Sands and Eastburn, nor by the narratives of Church and Drake, nor by the histories of Bancroft and Arnold. Alas ! for the Indians ! they had no literature, else the lion would have been painted as killing the man; and not man the lion. But though we may find in the contem}>oraneous annals, only epithets of beast and savage and ■ devil, with cognate characteristics, yet the calm justice of later chroniclers portrays the character and exploits of the Narragan- setts in colors of humanity and heroism. What loftier gTa,ndeur does history narrate than Metacomet's reply to the messenger of the Governor of Massachusetts? — "Your Gov- ernor is but a subject of King Charles, of England. I shall not treat with a subject. I shall treat of })eace only with the King, my brother. When he comes, I am ready. "f It is like that of the captive Porus to Alexander the Great, who, when asked, " How he would be treated," answered, "Like a king.";}: What abundant incidents in King Philip's life § furnish the richest material for poetry, and song, and drama ! His acces- sion to the throne of Massasoit, his patriotic speeches to his young men, his masterful diplomacy with the neighboring- tribes, his secret preparations for the grand ujnising, his fierce encounters and undaunted perseverance when all seemed lost, his pilgrimage to the Mohawks to engage them in the war, the capture and death of his wife, and the selling of his only son * Judge Durfee's "Works, — " Ilistoiy of the Subjection aud Kxtermination of the Narragansetts," pp. 203-271. f Drake's Indians, — Life of King Pliilip, Ijdok iii., chap, ii., p. 21. J Phitarch's Life of Alexander. § Washington Irving's Sketch Book, — Pliihp of Pokanokct, pp. 380-407, Put- nam's most elegant Artists' Edition, from Alvord's press. 10 ANNALS OF RIIODK ISLAND (the last of the family of Massasoit) into slavery in Bermuda, his return to the desolate solitude of his seat at Mount Hope, his desperation and the pathos of his mourning, his massacre by the hand of the traitor, the quartering of his carcass at the com- mand of the otherwise chivalrous Captain Church, and the hang- ing of it on four trees, and the rude spite of the Indian butcher addressing the dead body of King Philip: "You liave been a very great man, and have made many a man afraid of you, but so big as you be, I will now chop your for you ;''* and, finally, the exhibiting of his head on a gibbet, in Plymouth, for twenty years, one hand sent to Boston as a trophy, and the other scarred hand given to Alderman, tlie traitor who shot him, to show, "at a jDcnny a siglit," tliroughout the Colonies of New England ;f these are copious themes for thought and for the muse. " Even that he lived is for his conqueror's toniJ'ue, By foes alone his death-song must be sung.'':j; "The wife of Pometacom, the innocent AYootonekanuske, with her little son, fell into the hands of Captain Church," writes Drake. § "No wonder that Philip was 'now ready to die, and that his heart was now ready to Ijreak,' as some of his traitor- ous men told Captain Church. All that was dear to him was swallowed up. But liis only son, the future Sachem of the Nar- ragansetts, still lived, and this most harrowed his soul. Lived for what? To serve as a slave in an unknown land. Could it be otherwise than that madness should seize upon him, and despair torment him ? Tliat in his sleep he shoidd hear the anguishing cries of Wootonekanuske and his son ? But "we must change the scene." And with him I pass to better spec- tacles in our History. * •• Fulvia, the wife of Anthony, showed her spite against Cicero by boring his tongue through with her bodliin." f .Arnold's History of the State of Rliode Island, vol. i, p. tlfi. Drake's Indians, — Life of King Philip, book iii., cliap. ii., p. 37. Cluireh's Indian Wars. I Charles Sprague. § Drake's Indians, — Life of King Pliilip, book iii., chap. ii.. p. 13. AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS. 1 I There have been four eras in our State : I. — Its Settlement. II. — Its Charter. III. — The Adoption of the Fgederal Constitution. lY.— The Dorr War. I do not intend to narrate the circumstances of the settle- ment of our State, with which the sons of Ehode Island are familiar, furtlier than to trace the effects of the principle of the Civil Polity on the inhabitants, whereby Ehode Islanders are "a peculiar people ;" and also note the reaction of the j^eople on the Civil Polity, which has outlived two centuries. And this discussion will comprehend the first two eras of Ehode Island. The Charter of '' Providence Plantations in New England," obtained by Eoger Williams, was signed Thursday, 14th March, 1643-4,* and was confirmed by Ohver Cromwell, March 29, 1655.f It did not include Ehode Island, but only main-land towns. The Charter of Charles II., procured by Dr. John Clarke,:}: is dated 8th July, 1663, and includes the islands and main-land, and gives the peculiar title to " The State of Ehode Island and Providence Plantations." Amidst all the changes of the dynas- ties of Europe, and of Asia, the Charter of 1663 remained fixed. During the Colonial Period, the Eevolution, the Confederation, the Adoption of the Constitution of the United States, the establishment of New States, and amidst the unsettlements of every other State Constitution, the Eoyal Charter of Ehode Island stood without amendment. It contained three grand principles: 1st. The acknowledijment of Indian Titles. 2d. It alloios liherty of Conscience. 3d. It establishes Repvblican Government. * Arnold's Hist. R. I., vol. i , p. Ill, note. f lb., p. 255. X -'The original projector of the settlement on Rhode Island, in 1638; and the first regularly educated physician who ever practised in the State." — Goddaud's Address on the occasion of the chamje in the Civil Government of Rhode Island, Mav 3, 1843, p. 54. 2 18 ANNALS OF RiroDE I.-^I.AND This old Charter, granted Ijotli by Parliament and by a king, was also the fikst written Constitution in the World. The Royal Charter survived the attempts of demagogues to an- nul and supersede it. It was the fundamental law of the State froiri 1663 to May 2, 1843, when it was superseded by " the authentic act of the whole people." As it was proclaimed at its birth as a " livelie experiment" of a pure "Democracie," with liberty of freemen to ele('t the freemen who should compose the State,* and with "full Libcrtie of Con- science in all religious concernments;" so it "particularly" orders, — before William Penn set foot in Annnica, — "the makiuge of ])urchases of the native Jndians,"f and is the t'r--r(>tf%d o^ nit'rcy ii\\(\ jir!. 1.5: '■ Roger Williams justly claims the honor of having been the first legislator in the world, in its latter ages, that fully and effectually provided for and estaldished a full, free, and absolute liberty of conscience." — .Siei'iikn' HorKiNS. several times Governor, and a signer of the Declaration. For a complete refutation of the rival claims of Maryland, see Judge Pitman's Centennial Discourse, August 5, 1 837 p. 8. AND PKOVIDKNCK I'l-ANTATIONS. 19 Parliament in England, in 1644; and wliicli princi})les were embalmed in tlie lioyal Cliarter of Charles 11., in 1663,* can never be liolden by the bands of death; but they are revived, and live in the Constitution of Khode Island of 1843. On those memorable days in May (1st and 2d), in the State House at Newport, your President was the Priest who oflered the prayers attlio decease of the Charted' and its revival in the Constitution. f There, in that most beautiful spot in Newport, where, on the 24th of November, 1663, the Colonists welcomed the arrival of "George Baxter, the most faithful and happy bringer of the Charter" (as the record quaintly reports) ; we, of this generation, assembled in the balmy month of May, 1843, to resign the parchment and to receive again its recorded principles in the more graceful investiture of a Constitution. The Government of Bhode Island, under the Charter, has been eminently a government of law and order. No State has endured more heat in the strife of political parties, but no profane Uzznh has dared to lay his I'ude hand upon the ark of religious and political freedom in Rhode Island. The men who governed the State owned the State. The State has never interfered with religion, and religionists have been deprivedof every pretext for interfering with tlie State. These are the grand secret causes of the prosperity, and peace, and order which the people of Rhode Island enjoyiHl under the Charter. One of the early colonial documents confesses, in its old-fash- ioned, expressive way, that " we have long draidc of the cup of as great liberties as any people that we can hear of under the whole Heaven.":}: And our most distinguished historian, Mr. Bancroft, exclaims : " It has outlived the principles of Claren- don, and the policy of Charles II. Nowhere in the world have * "Our (jh;irter excels all in New Kii/. of the li'iptisls, vol. i., p. 2St;— Bancuoft, vol. i., p. 427), " the sheet-anchor of Khode Island, was Sir Henry." 20 ANNALS OF RHODE ISLAND life, libert}', and property, been safer than in Rhode Island !"* And well do I remember the pathos of tone and the voice of trembling, when Professor Goddard, the orator, who, on May 3, 1843, made the address to the people of Rhode Island on the occasion of the change in Civil Government, wherein he said : " Fellow citizens ! can we ])ass, without emotions allied to those of filial sorrow, from under the beneficent dominion of the old Charter, the oldest constitutional charter in the world ? Can we take our leave of this ancient and excel- lent frame of Civil Polity, without being penetrated with sentiments of gratitude for the rich blessings of which it has been the parent to this State, through all the vicissitudes of her being ? Can we ever lose the conviction that this Charter con- tains principles destined never to perish? How inseparable, likewise, is the Charter from all our memories, not only of the deeds, but of the men of other times !''f Shall I not, on this occasion, Sons of Rhode Island, recall the names and deeds of your fathers ? The muster-roll of no com- munit}^, not larger than Rhode Island, has enriched history with men wdio have served their generation with conspicuous merit ; or moulded public aflairs at home and abroad ; or acquired a world-wide fame in the annals of Peace and War, superior to the native and adopted citizens of our State. Though her pop- ulation, even now, is surpassed in number by many a single ward in this great city of New York, yet, among the greater and lesser lights that spangle the firmament of national renown and shine throughout the civilized world, Rhode Island's sons, reared under the benignant charter of democratic and relio:ious liberty, have emblazoned her standard with their exploits, and pervaded the nations with their influences. Crowning the list, stands Roger Williams,:}: wdiose teach- ings and experiments in Christian Ethics and Political Organi- zation are acknowledged to have inspired the statesmanship oi * Bancroft's History of the United States, vol. ii., p. 04. See also Note I. f (loddard's Address, p. '2'.'. X See NoTK III.— Sketch of the Life of Roger Williams. AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS. 21 two continents. And passing along the years of our colonial infancy, till we reach the times of the Revolution, when the Colonies were ripening into the manhood of States, we come to the name of Abraham Whipple, tlie commander who first dared to attack and capture the British armed vessel, the Gas- pee, in the Narragansett waters, on June 9-10, 1772, shedding the Jirsthlood of the li evolution^ and lighting, in her burning wreck, the first beacon-fires in the War of Independence ; and who, six years later, being the first Commodore with the commis- sion of the Continental Congress, discharged the first American broadside into his Majesty's navy. All this happened in Nar- ragansett waters. Whipple commanded the frigate Providence. William Jones, afterwards Governor of Rhode Island from 1811 to 1817, was Captain of Marines, and bearer of dispatches to Dr. Franklin, in Paris.* The frigate passed the blockade from Prov- idence to Point Judith, fired broadsides into the British frigate Lark and her Tender, and reached France in safety.f If pos- terity demand the names and deeds of the heroes who were fore- most, and led the van of the patriot soldiers of "the times that tried men's souls," Rhode Island presents her valiant sons who were led by Whipple, and history awards to her the honorable pre-eminence. And next stands Esek Hopkixs, whom Congi'css, in 1775, selected and commissioned as Commodore of the first Fleet, and placed him at the head of the navy of the Republic, before the first year of Independence. It was he who trained John Paul Jones in seamanship, and prepared him for the sailing orders that sent him, in the Ranger;}: and the Bon Homme Richard, to devastate the coast of England and Scotland, and fling defiance to the lion in his lair, and spread before the dismayed populace of Britain, and the admiring eyes of Europe, the fresh flag of the Stars and Stripes, under whose folds he swept the seas of British commerce ; and who has furnished story and song with the * Captain Jones was the first officer of the navy of the United States who ap- peared in Europe in uniform. f See Note IV. — Letter of William Jones Hoppin. X Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution, vol. ii., pp. 640, G41. 22 ANNALS OF RHODE ISLAND theme of heroism, and whose victorious fight with the Serapis* is workl-renownod. The navy of tlie United States was born and nursed and reared in Ehode Island, and organized by her sons. If we turn now to the army of the Revolution, Nathaniel Greexe,! the blacksmith of Warwick, standing next to Wasii- INGTOX, was named by "the Father of his Country" as qualified to succeed him in the su])reme command. lie was the redeemer of the Soutli from their ca[)tivity to the hostile Briton, and received from grateful Georgia both land and citizenship, as the tribute to her champion. And side by side with Greene fought Ca}>tain Stephen Olney:|:, who commanded the Rhode Island Regiment (known as the Forlorn Hope of the army), and whom La, Fayette entitled his brave comrade. At the siege of York- town, which terminated tlie War of Independence, the Rhode Island Regiment, led by Olney, stormed the works, and planted the victorious ensign of the emancipated Republic on the con- quered battlements. I was present, when a boy, in 1824, at the entry of La Fayette into my nati^'e town of Providence, and witnessed the warm embrace of La Fayette and Olney at the west door of the State House, while tlie veterans wept in each other's arms. There was Bakton,§ too, who, at the peril of his life, seized General Prescott while in bed, surrounded by his guards, and bore him away, to be held as hostage for our captured Gen- eral Lee. La Fayette found Barton in jail for debt, in Vermont, for the taxes on his bounty land,I| and released him from prison by i)aying his del)t. Colonel Christopher Greene also, for liis gallant defence of the Fort at Red Bank, deserves honora- ble mention. Tliese were sons of Rhode Island, who, with a numerous company of })atri(>ts, fought the fight of Independ- ence, and who led the arinies of tlie Revolution. Besides these worthy men, Rhode Island gave to New York the first • I,ossin,tr's Field Book of the Revolution, vol. ii., pp. 610. Q\%. f His Life and Letters, edited by his grandson, CJeorge Wasliington Greene, will, when pulilislied, Ijo wclcoaied as a most important contribution to the History of the Revolution. J Mrs. Williams's Life of Barton and Olney. § Ih. \ Barton swore he would not pay a tax for his country's LANTA'J'IONS. 25 While residing in Newport, Dean Berkeley composed tlie stirring lyric that, with prophetic ken, startled into derision the men in the Old World, and now stirs the American people with its truth — the last verse of which Leutze has frescoed on the walls of the new Capitol at Washington, by his inimitable illustration. Though often quoted, yet, as a Ehode Island pro- duction, I may be pardoned for reproducing and reciting it. It is entitled : ON THE Profped: of Planting Arts and Learning in America. THE Mufe, difguftcd at an Age and Clime, Barren of every glorious Theme, In dillant Lands now waits a better Time, Producing Subjeds worthy Fame : In happy Climes, where from the genial Sun And virgin Earth fuch Scenes enlue. The Force of Art by Nature feems outdone. And fancied Beauties by the true : In happy Climes the Seat of Innocence, Where Nature guides and Virtue rules. Where Men fhall not impofe for Truth and Senfe, The Pedantry of Courts and Schools : There fhall be fung another golden Age, The rife of Empire and of Arts, The Good and Great infpiring epic Rage, The wifeft Heads and nobleft Hearts. Not fuch as Europe breeds in her decay ; Such as fhe bred when frefh and young. When heavenly Flame did animate her Clay, By future Poets fhall be fung. Weftward the Courfe of Empire takes its Way ; The Jou7' firft Ads already part, A fifth fhall clofe the Drama with the Day ; Time's noblest Offspring is the last. 2G ANNALS OF JHIODK |Sr>ANl> I conic now to the third era in llie Ilisloi'y of Rliodc Island — tlic A(h)ptioii of the (Jonslit ution of the United States. 'I'lie happv establishment oCthe Independence of tlie Colonies fixed Rhode Island as a State in the; postui-e of sovereig'nty, whei-ein, she, more than any other of the (Colonies, had placed hei'selh Ilei- (Miarter was jjccnliar; hci' ])opulation, at first het- erogeneous, and made np of rclViu'ees ; and her teri'itorj become, what Ho,!j;»'r Williams reekon(;d as its g;lory, the j)la(;e (jf resort of all persons "distressed of conscience," fleein;^; Irom the per- secutions, real or fancied, of tlu; Puiitan brethren. SIk; was sequestered, like her own deal' island, from her nei,iihboi's, and stood aloof, in the drcail of eontact- and in tlu; pi'idc of s(!elusion. All this pritduccd and ibstei'cd a, spirit, ol' indejx'ndenee, both of tliou_u;ht and action. Kevertheless, KIkmIc; Island was fa\'or- al)le to a Confederation, on the basis of her sovereij^'iitv as a State, with hei' sister Colonies. ^I'hc dan.ucrs imjiending in 1774, which threatened the snbj'u^iation of the Colonies, had suglicit movement" of established authority, for the Continental Congress, wdiic-h framed the Ajt'l'lCLKS or CoNFKD- EHATION."^' AV'hcn the Ai-ticles of Confederation weie adoj)ted, which recognized the soycreignty (;f eacdi State, and admitted all on an equality, Rhode Island had attained an ackiK^wlcdged posi- tion, to wdiich her institutions and her education had prom])tcd her to aspire. * Arnold's Hist. R. T., vol. ii., p. .'{34. ANn l'KoVIDKN, that her peo])lc should chug to the Confederation^ wlicn all tlie other States had abandoned it, and that Rhode Ishmd shoukl be the last of the States to adopt the " Fcederal Constitution," whereon the unity of the Amei'ican nation was to be established for- ever. The prevailing tcrn})er of the people of Rhode Island was eminently conservative. They disliked change, and they were suspicious of all propositions to change, which emanated from a foreign source. They were, besides, remarkably prosperous, '^riie hai'bors of Narragansett, not only could float the navies of the world, but the ancient city of Newport saw her wharves thronged with ships; and the town of Providence had sent the first ship to the East Indies which had left an American port. In an article of the Newj^ort Mercury^ about this time, the growth of New York was noticed ; and the far-seeing writer, with evident comphicency, ventured the prculiction of congrat- ulation to th(^ Knickerbockers that New York would one day, far in the future, "rival New})ort in Commercial prosperity and greatness." The countr}^ })eople of Rhode Island were not distinguished Ibi- learning; but, on the contrary, were de- ficient and below the standard of their neighbors in Connecticut and Massachusetts. There were no Free Schools in Rhode Island. And one of the evils of the great principle of re- ligious independence, as })ushed to the extreme latitude of per- sonal jirerogative, was the foncied right of religious indifference; so that the ])ublic teachings of ministers of the Gospel were nowhere held in less re])ute. While in the early Cohuiial History we read of Mrs. Verin, who claimed the right to go as often as she pleased to Mr. Wil- liams's meeting, in spite of her husband (who, finally, was obliged to remove back into Massachusetts to preserve his mar- ital authority, that was jeoparded by the freedom of Rliode Island), on the other hand, at the close of the colonial period, the same principle of religious freedom, abused to licentious- ness and latitudinai'ianism, had brought forth, with the neglect 28 ANN'ALS OF RHODE ISLAND of schools and cliurclies, a profound ignorance, both of things divine and of things earthly. This sad condition of the populace was the dark feature of the country towns, rather than of the towns on the coast. The towns of Provddcnce, Newi)ort, and Bristol were the residences of the merchants, the scholai's, and the mechanics of the State. They were fiimiliar with the ideas which governed the times, and understood the exigencies whicli demanded the develop- ment of the Uiuon of the Confederacy into the full tin/fij of the Constitution.* l^ut the people of the country towns could neither appreciate the crisis nor tolerate the necessity of surren- dering the dignity of the sovereignty of Rhode Island. And the country ruled the State. For, under tlie provisions of the Charter, the ancient village of Portsmouth sent as many Dep- uties to the Legislature as Providence ; and Newport sent more. Moreover, there were politicians, "giants in those days." If the people of Rhode Island knew nothing else, they were familiar witli local politics. And, one man more than any other in the State, though living in Providence, and mingling with the intelligent of the land, was the oracle of the country people, who obeyed his nod. Arthur Fenner, the leading politician at that time, and for many years the Governor, Avas the leader of the opposition to the Constitution of the United .States. When the proposal came from the Continental Congress to the several States to appoint Deputies to tlie Convention " to Revise the Articles of Confed- eration," Rhotle Island, throvigh Fenner's instigation, refused compliance. When that Convention, under the Presidency of George Washington, matured the Constitution, under which tliis Union, till of late, has prospered, Rhode Island, under the same bad influence, rejected it, by refusing to call a convention of the p('0])le, even to consider it. *-' The Representatives, under the Charter, were chosen every six months ; and the Legislature met every quarter of the year. * Letter of Gon. .Tames M. Varnum to Gen. "Washinj^ton, President of tlie Foed- eral Convention. — Ui'DIKe's Memoirs of the Rhode Maud Bar, pp. 300-30U. AND ^u()^■II)KN(.'l<; plantations. 20 Not\vitlistan(Iiiii>- those oft-recurring- 0})portuiiitics, the ])iil)lic sentiment was steadfastly ojiposed to any cx})ression of fa^■()r to the new order ol' things jn'oposed. Kh()(U> Island ehuig to her traditions. South Carol iiui and the modern sehool of rebels ucver, until now, proclaimed State Rights and State Sovereignty like Rhode Island in 1789. And let me admire, with 3'ou, the Providence of Almighty God over our unitv as a nalion, which ])ermitt(Ml Rhode Island to stand aloof from the Union till the f ivorable ojiportunity for amendment of the Foederal Constitu- tion had passed away. in the Congress of 1789 the amendments were ])roposed, lor the most part, which modified or ex})lained the provisions of the Constitution. The State of Rhode Island adopted the Con- stitution ]\ray29, 1790. It is said that there wei-e some amend- ments ])roposed, and lacked but one vote to pass them, wliieh wil:iiiti proposod as a condi- tion of hor acceding to tlio Constitution, was, " Tlio United States sliall guarantee to cacli State its sovereignty, freedom, and independence," etc. 9th. "That Con- f.';ress shall hvy no direct taxes witiiout the consent of the Legislatures of three- fourths of the States in the Union;" and so on to twenty-one amendments. Ex- trat'ted from one of the original .'{OD copies (preserved among the papers of the late Dr. Solomon Drowne)oftho " J-iiitijicaliono/ tlie ConMitatioii of the United States by the Convention of the State of Rhode Inland and Providence Plantations,^^ published by order of the Convention, May 20, 179t. 30 ANNALS OF RHODE ISLAND elation of CoiistitutioiKil Deinocmtic Liberty, and also in pre- serviii^H' its (le\-eloped Cliai'ter to the posterities nnborn. But, to recur to the period of strife, when the Old and the New were stru-XAL5 OF RHODE ISLAN^D the delusive mirage of the political desert. The phantasm which had allured the islanders, in the self-complacency of their seclusion, for more than a century, now revealed its petty mag- nificence. Even the stolid countr\-man, and the determined partisan, and the desperate politician must have shrunk at the ridiculous spectacle. The film from the eye of stupidity, pre- judice, and stublx»mness began to dissolve, and the symptoms of clear sight revealed themselves at the next Legislature : still they jX)Stponed the question, but dared not to reject it. Finally, on Saturday, January- 17. 1790. the subject was debated in earnest till night. Both branches then adjourned until the next morning, which was Sunday. The bill from the Lower House, calling a Convention, was before the Senate (or Assistants, as thev were named in the Charter), when it appeared that one of the anti-Fcederal Assistants, who was also a minister of the Gos- pel, had left town to attend to his parish. This made a tie in the Senate, and threw the casting vote upon the Governor (John Collins ), v.'ho. though of the anti-Fc^deral party, yielded to the necessity, and decided for concurrence with the Lower House in calling a Conventiori. The excitement on that memorable Sunday in Xewjjort was intense : and while the churches vrere deserted, the streets were thronged with a rejoicing assemblage. At the following elec- tion. Governor Collins was defeated, in consequence of his vote for the Convention. The new General A.ssembly met at New- port on May oth. with Arthur Fenner as Governor. On the 24th of May the Co^'VE^^TIO^' met at Xewpon. On the 26th of May. the motion to o.dopt t}'.>: Fosderal Constitution '0:0.8 owe ltd. A test question was made to adjourn, and lost by nine votes. The motion to adopt the Constitution was then in order, and the iristrument was read, " The State House," says Ar- nold. •• could not contain the crowd of people assembled to witness the momentous proceedings. For more ample accom- modation, the Convention removed to the Second Baptist Meet- ing House, where, for three days, the great debate continued. A* five o'clock on Saturdav afternoon, tlje final vote was taken. AXD PROVIDENCE PLAXTATIOXS. 33 Thirty-four members voted to adopt the Constitution, and thir- ty-two voted in the negative. A majority of two votes saved the people of Rhode Ishmd from anarchy, and the State from dismemberment."* The 29 th day of May was thus signalized, Sons of Rhode Island, as among the birthdays of the Republic, and as the day of the new birth of Constitutional Union in our State. As Mordecai M. Xoah. quoting from Peter Wilkins, said of the coal-mines of Rhode Island : •• They are the last place that will be consumed in the general conflagi*ation ;"f but, neverthe- less, the coal is actually preferred for smelting furnaces ; be- cause, when ignited, it bums with fen-ent heat till it is consumed to ashes : so Rhode Island coal is significant of Rhode Island character. It is difficult to excite, but, when inflamed, it burns with enthusiasm and endures until death. It is hard to light it up, but it is harder to extinguish it And as Rhode Island was the latest in adopting the Constitution of the United States, so she will be in ardor foremost to support, and the last to maintain, defend, and preserve the Union established bv the Constitution. This day, the 29th of May. was, perad venture, the date Ul'e- wise of the arrival of Rogee Williams off Slate BocJc at " What Ch^er,''X and the settlement of " Peovidexce Ptav- TATioxs'" in 1636. For the first record of Providence bears date the 16th of the 4th month (June, O. S.)§ And the " An- nals of Providence" relate that Roger "Williams and his five associates embarked in a canoe from Seekonk : and after exchane- * Arnold's Hist. R. I., vol ii.. p. 562. f Bryant, also, in his " Meditation on Rhode Island Coal" thus apostrophizes it: •• Yea, they did wrong thee foully — they who mocked Thy honest face, and said thou wouldst not burn ; Of hewing tliee to chimney pieces talked And grew protaue — and swore, in bitter scorn, That men might to thy inner caves retire. And there, unsinged, abide the day of lire." X This event has been commemorated in stirring verse by the Hon. Job Durfee. late Chief Justice of Rhode Island. — See his poem, - What Cheer; or. Roger Wil- liams in Banishment," Canto IX. § Bartlett's Rhode Island Colonial Records, vol. L, p. 13. 3 34 ANNALS OF RHODE ISLAND ino- salutations with the Indians at Slate Eock, in Seekonk River, thej sailed (or paddled) around Fox Point and up Providence River, where they landed in the month of Mcuj^ or early in June* Another record says it was " In the .^j^ring of 1636 ;"t it was not in June therefore. The 29th day of May, being the just middle date in the last week in May, and June not being in "the spring of the year," may accordingly be reckoned as the era of the founding of "Providence Plantations in JS^ew England." As the f()nnder named the place where he landed " Providence, in grateful remembrance of God's merci- ful providence to him in bis distress,":}: so we may, with filial gratitude, admire and praise the Providence of God, which guided the Commonwealth along the untried paths of j^olitical and religious experiments, and celebrate this day, the 29th of May, both as dutiful Sons of Rhode Island, and as loyal citizens of this Republic of the United States. Indeed, this day (the 29th of May) might be properly a day of sacred joy to all the world, for (in the exulting language of Mr. Bancroft, in his History of the United States), "the annals of Rliodc Island, if written in the s})irit of philosophy, would exhibit the forms of society under a peculiar aspect ; had the territory of the State corresponded to the importance and sin- gularity of the principles of its early existence, the tvorhl woidd have been Jdled ivith ironder at tlw j)henonuna of it a history.''^ What God may have in store for her to do, we will not proph- esy. But if the past be the oracle of the future ; if princi- ples be the seed of ripened conduct ; if the insignia of arms and the blazonry of standards be the proclamation of determined minds, then Rhode Island shall go on to glory in the van of advancing civilization, leading the nations in their march of democratic freedom. For the first act of equality and justice, the basis of demo- * Staples' Annals of Providence, p. 21. f Elton's Life of Roger Williams, p. :!8. X Ih.. p. .-JS. § Barvoft's Ilistory U. S., vol. i., p. 380. AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS. 35 cratic government, was recorded in 1638 in tbe " Initial Deed" from Koger Williams of the lands which be purchased of Ca- nonicus and Miantinomoli, granting to bis thirteen (mystic num- ber) of fellow-citizens, " tbe equal rigbt and power of enjoying and disposing of tbe grounds and lands, wbicb were so lately given and granted by tbe two aforesaid sacbems to him.'"* And note tbe Records of Ebode Island in 1639, when it was ordered " tbat a Manual Scale sball be provided for tbe State ^ and tbat tbe Signett or Engraving thereof sball be a sheaf e of arrows bound up [with a snake's skin,f ] and in the Licss or Bond, this motto indented : Amor yixcet omnia.:}: And again, in 1647, it was ordered, " tbat the Seale of tbe Province sball be an Anchor,"§ under the Charter which Roger Williams procured from Cromwell's Parliament, through the Earl of Warwick. ' And, finally, in 1661, it was ordered that tbe old seal of " the Anker," with the word " Hope" over the bead of it, shall be tbe " Seale of the Collony,"!J under the Royal Charter of Charles II. Is not tbe escutcheon of Rhode Island the demonstration of her principles, and of her detei-mination, and of her progi-ess ? She calls herself a "State"' as early as 1639. ^'- All-con que ring Love^' bestowing equality and justice, with ''■arrows" to defend the rights of all against invasion or insurgency ; tbe '^ Ane/ior" sure and steadfast, tbe emblem of fixedness and conservatism, fastening the ship of state to Wisdom in the past, while " Ilope" inscribed there, to indicate the land of refuge for tbe oppressed in conscience, and being lifted above all, j^oitits upward to Heaven for aid and inspiration, and beckons forward to a future wherein tbe Sons of Rhode Island, obedient to tbe instructions of their venerable mother, shall do further exploits on tbe arena of human life in coming ages, and emblazon fresh pages of Lib- * Initial Deed— Bartlett's R. I. Col. Records, vol. i., p. 19. f R. I. ilistorical Coll., vol. iii., p. 11. Prince's N. E. Chronology, p. 200. X Bartlett's R. I. Col. Records, vol. i., p. 11.'). The motto here referred to has been adopted, and inscribed on the banner of our fraternity, together Avith the " Anchor," and its legend "Hope," of subsequent seals. § Bartlett's R. I. Col. Records, vol. i., p. l.ol. A fac simile of Record. fjFl i lb., vol. ii., p. 41. ^^ r-:^ C': ihr Sr«n5 of Shcde Kkna the sttt.:-:'! oi Ler p'Tixcijles. ■JCCX sso A2fD PROVIDESCE PLA>-TATIOXS. 37 received his education,* till he went to Harvard University in 1796 ; obtaining, as he himself acknowledged- the first impres- sion of painting, and recognizing his own rare capacity, firom his boyish intercourse with Maibone. The Fine Arts and Manu^ctures found congenial soil in Ehode Island. And what of Commerce ? Hexrt Collins, of Neuron. was known and styled as the Lorenzo de Medicis of Rlic-ie Island.f for his enterprise as a merchant, and for his patronage of the tine arts. JoHX Browx.:^ of Providence, a merchant prince, whose ventures compassing the globe, reached the East Indies, whither he dispatched the first American ship § that doubled the Cape of Grood Hope. Christophes CHAiiPLHS- and George Glbbs, of Xewport. these too. with others, were pioneers in commerce. In Law, Hf.xrt TTheatox. born and bre-i in Providence, composed the work on " Intemarional Law," which is now. at this time of controversy, a text book of the Cabinets of Europe and the United States. Mr. Harris, late minister of the United States in Japan, says that " the only foreign author whom the Japanese honor is Henry Wheaton : and the only book which they have translated, is Wheaton on International Law." Hi?; reports of the Supreme Court are. likewise, the masterftil expo- nents of the judgments under the Constitution. And a throng of publicists and lawyers rise up to memory. I stand not on the order of their coming. Sa^iuel Ward. some time Governor, was Chairman of the Committee of the TVhole in the Continental Consrress, when thev made choice of * The salubrious climate and good 3>Aoc^ of Newport broagh; many Carolinian boT? to Rhode Island. General James Hamilton \vas here taught. John 0. Cal- houn Teas at school in Newport, where he counedand afterwards married his eous- ic Floride Calhoun. Did he imbibe his norioos of State Sovereignty here, to impreiraate the Sontb with its virus ? If so. the fable of the easle. shot bv an arrow featlvred with a plume from her own wing, is >"erifi^ by ihe existing Southern Rebellion, instigated by the teachings of Calhotm. f Lener of Pr. Waterhouse. in R. I. Hist. ColL vci ir_ p. 4-L * Hague's Historical Discourse, p. 102. IS2. § The '• General Washinsrton."' 38 ANNATES OF RHODK ISLAND George AVashington "to cominiind all tlic Contineiilal fon^es raised, or to be raised, for the defenee of American liberty."* James Mitciikll Varnitm, i-eno\vncd for o]ofi[uenco at the bar, and for inilitarv talents: lie was Colonel of the Kentish Guards, tliat fiii'iiishcd, as from a military school, twenty-four olfieers for the Continental army, of whom the orderly sei-geant, General Greene, was one. Having served in the Army of the Revolution as Brigadier-General, a,nd in the ( 'ontincnial Con- gress, Varnum was the first Fcederal Judge of the Northwest- ern Territory.f Benjamin Bourne, the gi-and old champion of the Fo3deral Constitution, who renewed the motion in the Convention for its adoption, which was eai-ricd ; I'iikodore FoSTKit, th(> (ii'st Sen- ator, i-enowned alike in law and statesmanship; David J I ow- Ei.L, AV^ii.LiAM Brai)1<'()ri), and Samuel Eddy:}: made their mark on the age. Bkn.jamin irAZARi),§ IIenkyBulu, Samuel W. I^RrixiiiAM (first Mayor of Pi-ovi(h'nce), as scholars and law- yers, are famous. And among the men of this next generation, Nathanikl Searle, Tristam Burges, and JonN Wiiii'I'lk were a triumvirate of ])ari-isters towdiom Judge Story was accus- tomed to yiehl iiomage, saying to the foimer, " You know, sir, as mucli law as T." But, towering above all, in sweet benignity of as])ect, -Iames 1>urrill || was conspicuous and celebrated for both knowledge of law, acutdiess of intebect, retentiveness of memory, grace of diction, eloquence in ])leading, earnestness in convicti(jn and hdelity to Ins clients, with elegant taste and sim- plicity of manners, and purity of character. As a statesman, his sliort career in Congress as Senator, evinced broad, national views of public policy, and his lamented death in Washington, like that of his friend Lowndes, of South Carolina, in the ripe- ness of prime manhood, hushed the voices of beautiful wisdom, and plunged Itoth North and South in grief It is well that his * BiirtlcU's R. T. Col. Reeonl^^, vol. vii., ])]>. '>2U-:,:i2, nok. f Updike's Mcnioiis oftlio R. L Bar, pp. 145-2;!.'',. \ (ioddard's Address, p. .58. s /''., I-. <;-i. i Ih., p. 57. AND IMiOVinKNCK PLANTATIONS. 39 grandson* is our poet to-night, to sing of Rhode Ishmd in liis glowing verse. The Stiite of Rhode Island has given Jonathan RussELL,f the erudite Henry Wiikaton,:}; and the stately William Hun- ter! t'O Diplomacy, as Representatives of our country at foreign courts. In Natural Science, Dr. Benjamin Wateriiouse,| of New- port, Professor in Rhode Island College and in Harvard Uni- versity, has an Eui-opean fame. In 1800 (tlie year Ibllowing its publication in England, and four years after its discovery by Dr. Jenner), he brought Vaccination to the United States, and a}iplied it first in Rhode Island. Dr. Solomon Drowne,^ dis- tinguished for extensive researches in Botany and. Materia Medica, of which sciences he was Professor in Brown Univer- sity, was one of the first to encourage the scientific study of Agriculture, and did much to develop a taste for floriculture and landscape-gardening throughout the State. Amos Atwell, the blacksmith, Colonel in the Revolutionary Army and Legis- lator, was the founder and first elected president of one of the earliest Mechanics' Associations.** Nicholas Brown,! f was the munificent eneourager of learning. Isaac Senter, Levi Wheaton, and Usher Parsons have contributed, with Wil- liam HiiNTER, the elder, to medical science. * George William Curtis. \ Envoy ExtraonJinary to Ghent, witli John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and J. A. Bayard. KNiaiix's Ififf. of Eat/land, vol. viii.. p. 19. :}: Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary to Berlin. — Ilome.s of the American Statesmen, pp. 449-46!). " The most able representative," said the ven- erable Albert Gallatin to the Hon. John Russell Bartlett, "of the American Gov- ernment abroad, during the last forty years." § Minister to Brazil. || Arnold's Hist., R. I., vol. i., p. 52:?, note. T[ Biographical Memoir by the Rev. T. S. Drowne. — Sketches of R. I. Physi- cians, p. 25. New York during the American Revolution, p. 76. ** The Mechanics' Society's Hooms, and tiie Roger Williams Hall, stand on tlio site of Amos Atwell's house. ff Brown University is indebted to him for the greater part of its buildings and endowments, and hence bears his name; — an Institution, the Presidents and Professors of whi(;h have been an honor to learning, among whom may be men- tioned Maiming, Maxcy, Elton, Wayland, Caswell, Sears, etc. — Prof. Ganmieirs article in "Am. Journal of Education," June, 1857. Pres. Wayland's Commemo- rative Discourse, Nov. 3, 1841. Judge Pitman's Alumni Address, Sept. 5, 184;i. 40 ANNALS OF RHODE ISLAND Sliall we step into tlie garden of Literature and Divinity? Eliodo Island points to William G. Goddard, as the elegant writer and hdlcK lettre>< professor; who for years made the " Rhode Island American"' news})aper, the model of good Eng- lish, and sound logic, and just criticism of men and things, to the Press of the United States. She points to William Ellery Channing for all that is chaste in rhetoric, and earnest in ex- pression, and persuasive in eloquence. She tells us of Tristam B URGES, and Asher Robbins, as masters of the classics. She rejoices in George Burgess, Bishop of Maine, as ])oet and theologian ; and in Thomas Church Brownell,* Bishop of Connecticut, and Presiding Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. Would you now emerge from the academic shades, and leave the flowers of thought, for the arena of stern War — Rhode Island turns to her son Oliver Hazard Perry, the vic- tor of the British Fleet on Lake Erie, in 1813, just fifty years ago. His ships, when he, and the Rhode Island boys with him, arrived at the shores of the lake, were tree^, growing in the primeval forest; but which their lusty arms and tried skill fashioned and equipped into vessels of war. His personal valor and calm judgment in quitting the disabled Lawrence, and rowing through fire and shot to the untouched Niagara,f and bearing down in her, breaking the enemy's lines with double broadsides ; plucking victory, for the first time, from a fleet of " the proud Mistress of the Seas," has won for the name of Perry, continuously for half a century, the spontaneous praise of a thankful nation ; who, in Congress assembled, adopted his children as the people's orphans, and enrolled him among the country's heroes. His piety dictated the ofiicial an- nouncement to the Secretary of the Navy, that " It lias pleased the Almighty to give to the arms of the United States a signal * a lineal dosoondant of Benjamin Church, the hero of King Philip's T\'ar. \ This passage of I'erry is portraj'ed in the magnificent painting by Powell, ordered by the State of Ohio, and now being finished in the city of iS'ew York. AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS. 41 victory over tlie enemies on this lake.""* But tlic haste and ardor of the hour of battle, prompted him to indite, on a leaf of a memorandum book, resting on the top of his naval cap, a phrase like that of Caesar's, and shall live as long: " We have 7net the Enemy^ and they are ours.'''' And in humbler rank, but with as heroic devotion, the Navy, in the second War of Independence, exulted in "Wil- liam Henry Allen, the valiant son of Ehode Island, whose death on the deck of the Argus, amidst the shouts of the victory he had helped to win, subdued the rejoicing of the nation. In the war with Mexico, as colleague of General Scott, Chief of the Army, the Commander-in-chief of the Naval Forces was Commodore Matthew Calbreth Perry, born in Newport, and one of the most filial sons of Ehode Island. The crowning act of Commodore M. C. Perry, which has created an era in the world, and has made his name historic among the nations, is his opening of Japan. That sequestered people, for centuries, had embargoed all political communication and commercial in- tercourse, except with the Dutch on the small island of Desima, in the port of Nangasaki. But the acquisition of California made manifest a new route to China and the East, by ocean steamers. The islands of Japan, fixed midway in the route, and containing coals, rendered the opening of her ports a com- mercial necessity, besides promising fresh rewards to com- mercial enterprise. The prudence and sagacity displayed in this great political success of recovering an Empire to fellowship with the fimiily of nations, while acknowledged by all men, is particularly demonstrated in the ofiicial letter published by Congress, and in the narrative of the expedition, written by Commodore Perry himself The language of the narrative is remarkable for its Saxon strength and clearness. Its style is Addisonian in elegance and purity. It was my good fortune to read the * Inauguration of the Perry Statue at Cleveland, 0., Sept. 10,1860. Perry's Dispatches, p. S7. 42 ANNALS OF RHODE ISLAND maniiscnpt in Commodore Perry's handwriting; and wlicn I asked liim, "why lie liad spoken of himself in tlie third 2^<^r- Kon^''"' he replied that "he covdd not endure the egotism of the /;"' and when he I'ound himself, in consequence, tempted to sup- press the truth of history, and when he reflected that his country- men had a right to know the facts exactly as they occurred, he resolved to write in the tJii/'d person with just freedom, and to ask some friend to edit the volumes, as the quas! historian of the expedition. And in this aspect they are published to the woi-ld. Such was the modesty of the author, matched l)y his integrity as a man, his accomplishments as a writer, his braver}^ as an officer, his untiring industry as a public servant, his loyalty to the whole country, and his love to his native Rhode Island. One of the happiest hours of his useful life, was in receiving, after a long absence, the public approbation of the State, through her official organs, in the presence of his towns- men in Ncwpoi't. And his last wish, expressed to me, was, to be buried by his father and mother and brother, in the ohl burial ground, to mingle his dust with his native soil lie even chose his grave there. But New York, the com- mercial emporium, has claimed his body, and tlie country his fame. Yet Rhode Island will ever cherish his memory as her son. And shall T refrain from naming, because he was m^^ brother, a son of Rhode Island, John Rogers Vinton, who at Vera Cruz, after having advanced to tlie walls to repel any sally of the foe, and while commanding the trenches on the opening of the fire, on the iirst da}' of the siege, fell the foremost sacrifice on the altar of his countiy, in the trium})hal march of the army from Vera Cruz to Mexico ? By permission of the War De- partment, he spent many months in drilling the citizens of Rhode Island, after "The Dorr War," and was signally' instru- mental in acquainting them with the military art, which they have so well put in practice during the present rebellion. His native State of Rhode Island honored his name in her Legisla- tive annals; procured his body, ordained a puljlic funeral, and AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS. 43 lodged liis remains in the soil lie loved so well and truly.* And had his life been spared to bis country, General Scott has said, " Jolin R Vinton would have borne an early and })romi- nent part in commanding the armies of the Union and Consti- tution, "f All these men grew up under the old charter and the Foede- ral Constitution, inhaling the spirit which they inculcated of law and order, of conservative prudence and progressive ardor, of Loyalty and Patriotism. Like the Roman Matron, our dear mother leads forth her sons, proclaiming, " These are my Jewels." There are many others in her casket, but she reserves her wealth, as a prudent mother should. How many are here present, strayed or purloined for the benefit of New York, I wall not say. But considering the narrow bounds of our State, and its small population, I am bold to challenge the display of more shining lights, who have irradiated the pathway of our country's progress, in the various walks of Peace, among the Manufac- tures, the Fine Arts, the Sciences, the Literature, the Professions of Law and. Medicine, the employments of Statesmanship and Diplomacy, the calling of Divinity, and the enterprises of Con: - merce, or on the Arena of War l>y Sea and on Land, than Rhode Island has contributed to our country's advancing great- ness. It is said, facetiously, in Rhode Island, that her people are less civilized the nearer you approach to Connecticut. But Connecticut retorts that she has observed the same phenomenon in her border population. As to Massachusetts, since they banished Roger Williams, and sent a force to seize him at Re- hoboth to carry him back to England, and he crossed the Seekonk River to escape them, the sons of Rhode Island are suspicious and jealous of much intercourse with them, except in the way of supplying them with just sentiments of tolera- * Buried in Swan Point Cemeterj^, in June, 1847, beneath an appropriate monu- ment, surmounted by the unexplodcd sliell witli wliich lie was struck. f See KoTE V. — Letter of Hon. Henry B. Anthony, U. S. Senator of R. I. 44 ANNALS OF RHODE ISLAND tie)!!. But, on tlic soiitliern Ijoundaries of tlie State, the sons of Rhode Ishuid hold ghid I'ellowship with the ocean^ whose waves chip their hands all round its coast, and whether resting on its calm bosom, or lifted in its outstretched arms, the winds of neaven are sure at last to bring them on the ocean into com- munion with the world. Rhode Island is small, but 23roud. " Which is larger, Delaware or Rhode Island ?" said a tall Hoosier to a Rhode Island lady;"- who replied, scanning him from hat to l)Oots, " We do not^ In Rhode Island, 'measure hy the foot, hut hy the head."'' Rhode Island is small, but very important. An anecdote is current there. f interesting to the philosopher as a matter of faet, and illustrating how small agencies produce vast effects ; or how a Cranston man produced the war of 1812, with England. James Rhodes, of Providence, owned a farm in Cranston. Ilis neighbor, Reuben Perry, owned a pig. The pig broke into Rhodes's "clover meadow," and did damage. Rhodes sent two boys to chase the pig, and the pig died from overheating. Perry sued Rhodes for the price of the pig, and employed James Bur- rill as his counsel. James Burrill gained the case, and Rliodes was mad, and Avowed revenge on James Burrill. An election oc- curred in 1811, for Senator in the Congress which declared war with Great Britain ; James Burrill, a Foederalist, was a can- didate ; wdiom Rhodes procured Judge Mathewson, of Scitu- ate, a representative to the General Assembly, to oppose, although both Rhodes and Mathewson were of the same party with Bur- rill. Burrill was defeated l)y one vote. Jeremiah B. Howell, a democrat, who was elected, was in favor of the war ; and the war was declared Ijy Congress by one vote in the Senate.:}: If Bur- rill had been elected to the United States Senate, there would have been no declaration of war. So the controversy of the Rhode Island })ig jn'oduced the war with England. '• Tall oaks from little acorns <>,tow, Large streams from little fountains How." * Mrs. Joseph L. Tillinghast. f See Note VI. — Letter of George C. Arnold. X See latter part of Note V. AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS. 45 I rniglit suggest further examples of Rhode Island influence on the country.* Let your orator to-night not be charged with suppressing truth, or with exalting overmuch the civilization of Ehode Island. The inllnence of the old Charter, we have seen, produced in- tense conservatism in the sons of Ehode Island. This disposi- tion was felt as an evil in the oft-defeated attempts to establish public schools. When a society of benevolent ladies, in Provi- dence set themselves to establish Schools in Foster and East Greenwich, they were much hindered by the suspicion of doing something dangerous to the freedom of the inhabitants. Pos- terity owes it chiefly to the zeal and pertinacity of Joseph L. TiLLiNGHAST and John HowLANDf for the system of public schools Avhich now honors and elevates her })eople. Dr. Hubbard, of Pomfret, Conn., used to illustrate the plain fare of the Rhode Islanders on the border, worthy of the hard living of our brethren of the secession army. Attending a pa- tient in Rhode Island, he stopped at the tavern in Chepachet, where he beheld against the wall a huge pile of what seemed hoards. He asked the landlady what they were for, who re])lied that "they were cold johnnycakes for the Town Council, who were to meet there the next day." What would our city fathers say to such fare ? Without doubt, an envious person might find other matters to blame or ridicule in Rhode Island ; but, so likewise, he would . see the spots on the sun, or the flaw in the diamoncL Charity, like the bee, sucks honey from every herb. Envy, like the spider, extracts venom from the sweetest flower. Rhode Island ! there she stands ! with her histoiy before the world, her sons and daughters by her side. Her record, under the first Charter of human liberty, framed by men's hands, is her sufficient eulogium. She is not perfect. She is human. Slie claims no more. * Rliode Island clam-bakes are growing; into an institution. Perhaps T ought to add tliat John B. Chace was always great on advertisements, and the Corypheus of modern trumpeters of their wares. f Life and Recollections of John Howland, by E. M. Stone. 46 ANN.VT.s OK unonio isr.ANi> 'Wc now enter llie I'imiiIIi period -when '' lli;it V(MUM';il»le C'liar- ler" e\|iii-i'(l, in IS-I-"., :iiiil ie\i\cil in the e.\i^li^;^■ Coiistit iitioii. I*'e\v liei'soiis e;iii eoiiil ireheml th;it: el'isis. It VVIIS the liisl. orsjani/etl sti'iiiiLile ol' i;i(he;il (h'ni()ei-:ie\ with eon^erviil i \'e (h'- moeraey, ol' mass nieetiii'j; with eoiistit iited ;_'(iveiiiiiieiit, of an- ai"eh\' with hiw and oi-der. It was, iheri'l'ore, a tiial of the stahihtN iifeonstiliilitinal fiecddin ajjaiiist the assauHs of ])as- sioiiiite will. 'The lardinni prineiple of pohlie;d wisdom ineoi'porated in the ( 'h;il'tei' of Ivhixle Ishind, \\;isthis: that. " TheN \v ho owned the Soil of the State, should l'o\ ei'n the State/' hlvery \'oter posscssetl the freehold (pi;dlli<'at.ion of lauded estali', woi'lh, at least, $Ui-t, or was the eldest, sou of such freeholder. An intei'- est in till' soil was the pled'jc of attaehuieul to the State. Mveii under the ('oust it utiou of IS-J-'t, no loreiioi horn eiti/.eu may \(ite, unless he owns A///r/. The pro\ ision of l.uided pi-operty fpnililieation in persons (TiL'ihle for oHiee, \\;is universal and a..\iir Im' |iir|i|i||(c ;iiii| di niiiiri:il k in. A I Icii^ulli il lirvv |iitllt ii'iil [iliilti: rl nlitr, |.'-v||. 'Tin- I ,i-;'l: l;il illr nl" Rlntdc ImIiuhI IijuI nlitM'ly (nilrrnl ;i, ( 'i iii\ ml n in |i i IV;inic ,i hiw- I'll! ( liin.sl iliilimi, in Nnvrinlii'i', lM|.|, wliirli, ld inni and y<'niii^ * Dim Kiuh'h I.iI' I'H'I 'rumri ol Kmii, |i|i, (ill, 'iH-l -2'.»:i. I At I'lilily'rt r>iiiil, liiiovvii un Kullrr'rt Ii'ihiihIij', m1iii'cjUii«Ii'<>>''iI \>) Urn. 48 ANNALS OF RHODE ISLAND men sliiit themselves in the arsenal, determined to defend it with their lives. The faction of Dorr, tlie yonnger, dragged the artillery which they had stolen, to the arsenal plain, and put it in battery, — son against father. It was too fearfnl an experiment, and the insur- gents quailed. In the morning, therefore, they estal)lished themselves on Federal Hill, rent by conflicting counsels. The Legislature of the Charter had just adjourned in Newport. The Governor (King) sent messengers everywhere, and rallied the military forces of the towns. In Newport, at midnight, the bells tolled the tocsin. People rose from their beds and prayed. The young men hastily put on tlieir soldiers' uniform and gath- ered together to go to battle. Mothers and sisters, in tears, em- braced them, and fathers grimly gave them their blessing. At dawn of day the steamboat took the Ancient and Honorable Ar- tillery Company, as it was supjjosed, to death. Every town, in like manner, responded to the summons of the Government, and sent their armed men to Providence. But here the woful lack of military science was made manifest. Who should command the forces ; how to attack the enemy ; what to do and when to do it, were questions not readily answered. The foe was on Federal Hill, with artillery loaded with slugs from machine shoi)S, posted at the head of a deep cut (now Atwelhs Avenue), to defend the passage. William Blodget, late Colonel of the Providence Cadets, was chosen to command the troops. He knew no artifices of strategy, nor comprehended the merit of flank movements ; but, taking counsel of his l)rave heart, he marched the little army, the Newport artillery at the head, in column, up the causeway, in face of the cannon's mouth.* One discharge would have dealt death to hundreds of those Rhode Islanders. The very intrepidity of that rash movement ap- palled the leaders of the insurgents. They dreaded to spill the first bloocL But not so did some of their infuriated followers feel. WillkDii P. Dean (known as "one-arm Bill"), who held * Prvfldence Journal AuA Evenimj Chronicle, May 18 and lit, 1S42. Also Xcw York Journal of Commerce, vol. xxvi., No. 5431, May 20, lS-i2. AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS. 40 the lighted linstock, was pinioned, it is said, in the arms of Marshal Burrington Anthony, as he was about to fire ; and then, in desperation, attempted to throw the burning fuse upon the cannon. That delay was propitious to the loyal cause, and fatal to the rebels. Colonel Blodget's column gained the hill, and seized the guns, and scattered the insurgents. Dorr's Legislature was now fugitive, like his army, lie left the State, and sought for allies from the notorious Empire Club, of New York, Meanwhile, the women of the insurgent party were furious.* They upbraided the men for cowardice ; they held secret meetings to provide cartridges for future use, and to devise methods for fresh attempts. The loyal men of the State began in earnest to prepare for civil war. All the common occupations of life were suspended. The State was about to be invaded. The assistance of the Gen- eral Government, in Washington, was invoked. At length the storm burst. In the last week in June, 1842, Dorr returned with an armed escort, chiefly of the " Spartan Band," of New York — political scallawags — headed by Mike Walsh, attended by a Colonel Hopkins, keeper of the Pewter Mug, with the fre- quenters of that low porter-house ; with which force he in- trenched himself at Acote's Hill, Chepachet. In this desperate effort Dorr was joined by other desperate men, armed with pikes, scythes, fowling-pieces, a battery of six cannon — in all, nearly 1,000 men, combined in foul conspiracy to overthrow, by force of arms, the regular government of Rhode Island. The whole State, as one man, arose in martial guise. Rhode Island was a camp, Iler arsenals had been filled ; her men trained ; her sentries were placed in the streets of Providence ; and the studies of the University were suspended ; her wealth and her skill had been voluntarily subsidized, till she presented a front that dismayed the invaders. The whole number of the loj^al forces, infantry, artillery, cavalry (two companies), and staff actually in service, is estimated at 3,800. * Mrs. Catharine R. Williams, authoress of the Lives of Barton and Olney, has related to me, with professions of compunction, the violence of the insurgent women. 50 ANNALS OF KUODE ISLAND On Saturday, 25tli June, a meeting* was held of the sons of Rhode Island resident in New York, at which it was resolved that all, who could, should proceed at once to Providence to aid in vindicating the lionor and maintaining the laws of their na- tive State. Quite a number left that evening, and assembled on the following morning, with several of the citizens, at the City Hotel in Providence, and formed the Company of " lihodc Island Carbiniers," of which James N. (_)lney was Captain. ^riie sons of Rhode Island in other cities and towns, hastened home to otfer themselves for the defence of the State, and were immediately enrolled among the forces. 'l^lie loyal troops marched on Chcpachet, and the enemy fled away. The following announcement of victoryf was ])ul)lished 1)V Cencral William Uibbs McNeil, commander-in-chief in Pi'ovidcuce : '•Orders No. 54, Headquarters, Jum 28t!i, 1842. '• The villago of Chcpachet and furt of the insurgents, were .stormed at a quarter before eight o'clock this morning, and taken, witli aliout one hundred prisoners, by Colonel William W. Brown. Xone killed ; none ■wounded. Dorr lias fled. By order of Major-(!eueral MrNKIL. K LiSHA Dyeh. Jr., Adjt.-General." Dorr was im])eached for treason and coniined in prison. 'V\\q. Stiitc then adopted the present Constitution in 18-13. "The Dorr War" was the school which has made Rhode Island and her soldiers foremost in suppressing the present great rebellion. It (pienehed in shame and ignominy the flames of j'adit'al democracy, which were threatening the direst calamities to the free republican institutions, not only of Rhode Island, but of the United States. As in bombardment, the safest place is wluM-e a cannon ball has passed through, so Rhode Island is heneefoi'th the place of security against the assaults of faction within the battlements of Law and Order, '^fhe noble determi- nation of the citizen soldiers of Providence, and the gallant yeo- ]nen of Rhode Island, amid the confusion which reigned in that civil war, has been celebrated in beautiful and spirited verse, in the lyric poem of George Burgess.:}; * Tlie oilicers, Randall H. Greene, Chairman, and John 11. Ormsbee, Secretary, f Providence Morniwj Courier^ Vol. VII., No. 57, July 19, 1842. X Seo Note VII. — Bishop Burgess' Poom on Rhode Island, in 1842. AND ruOVIDKNOK PLANTATIONS. 51 Sons of Kliotlc Ishiiul ! The last era in llic annals of onv State is the present epoeli of civil war. 1 shall not propliesy. We are making history now. It must sullice to sa}' that the Oov- ernor (Sprague*) of Rhode Island dispatched the first telegraphic message to tlie President of the United States, oiferingthe whole strength of the State to maintain the Foederal Constitution, and union of the country, against the rel)els, M^ho have lifted unholy hands against the best government in the world. Although Massachusetts dispatched men, wlio made the 19th of A})ril, 1861, memorable for the first blood of the war for the Union, shed in Baltimore on the same calendar that commemorates the first Massachusetts blood on the 19th of April, 1775, at Lexing- ton, in the war for Inde})endence, yet Uiiode Ishmd was second in the field ; while showing herself Pallas-armed, she was the FUi'&T fully equipped and readij for i'lnmediate servlce.\ lihode Island has contributed soldiers to suppress this rebellion of the slave States, in proportion greater than any of her loyal sisters, except Kansas. The ratio of Khode Island soldiers to popula- tion, is 1 to llrVo 7 of Massachusetts, 1 to 17^^;; 5 and of Maine, 1 to 20^V1: Her BURNSIDE§ has led her forces|| to battle at Bull \l\m ; and to victory at Roanoke, and Newbern, and Fort Macon ; while her RoDMAN,^[ and Slo(;um,'^"* and other soldiers have sealed their patriotism in death. Her sons, with their swoi'ds, arc carving immortal historyff on the fortresses of rebellion, and diffusing, with their bullets, the seeds of a free civilization in the plantations of slavery. * See Note YIII.— Letter of tlie TToii. Win. Sprague, U. S. Senator of R. I. f See Note IX. — Tlie Tliree Telegrams — " War News in other cities." X See Note X. — Ratio of soldiers to popvilation in twenty-four States. § Ambrose Everett Burnside, Major-Geiieral, and Commander of the Army of the Potomac at the battle of Fredericksburg. II See Note XI. — Reminiscences of the Sons of Rhode Island in New York. ^ Brigadier-General Isaac P. Rodman, of South Kingston, Rhode Island, fell mortally wounded while gallantly leading a Division against the enemy at the bat- tle of Antietam, Md. — Major-General George B. McClellan being in command at the time. ** .lolin S. Slocum, Colonel 2d Rhode Island Regiment. — Woodbury's Cam- paign of the 1st Rliode Island Regiment, p. 151. ••The Fallen Brave," pp. 81-87. f f Vide Frank Moore's Rebellion Record. 52 ANNALS OF KIIODE ISLAND, ETf. Tt is quite sufficient for licr glory, that the sons of Rhode Island in tliis generation, are faithful to the traditions of the State, and loyal in following the example of their fathers. We are here gathered together in the Halls of the Historical Society (^f NeAV York, on the anniversary of the landing of Roger Williams, and of the adoption, by Rhode Island, of the Constitution of the United States (at the end of the first year of our association), in State fellowship and in national lu'other- hood. We have been reviewing a past career of more than two centuries, and gathering up the great lesson of Liberty and Law, of Cdiarity and Truth, of Independence and Toleration, which, under God's Peovidence, has influenced the civilization of the world. While American citizens, true to the glorious old flag that synd)olizes and protects the Union as one nation, yet we are not aliens from our native land. We repudiate State Sover- cnjnfy, but we cling to State Fellowship. Yes ! Yonder is Rhode Island. Her streams are vocal with the rattling of the spindle ; her forges resound the clangor of the anvil ; her hills are crowned with the seats of learning ; her shores are lined with cottages and with villas; her beach is pop- ulous with citizens of all States, in search of health and recrea- tion ; her rocks are memorable as the resort of Philosophy and of Poetry; her coast is kissed by the warm touch of the (lulf Stream of the Atlantic; her breath is the genial air of heaven ; lier l)osom is adorned with the emerald grass and the golden corn; her cities are the emporium of industries ; her homes the happy saTictuarics of Love, and Liberty, and Contentment. '^i'lie Sons of Rhode Island look to her through pleasant mem- ories and with filial hearts. And the citizens of no State love each other more wisely and well, nor cling closer together, "for better ior worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health," than the native-born people of "The State of Rhode Island AND PliOVIDENCE PLANTATIONS." N OTE,S, NOTE I.— Page 7. LETTER OK JOHN MILTOX. The intimacy of Roger Williams with the historic men of liis gener.'i tioii, and the lofty liopes of the future grandeur of America, which tliebold thinkers of that age cherished, are set forth in the letter of John Milton to Count Palavicini de Saluces, the noble C4enoese envoy into England (ijuuted in "The Piedmontese Envoy," pp. 292-294). '■'' Mil iJear Count :■ — You remember my worthy friend Livingstone. * * We s]iokc of our mutual friend, Mr. Roger Williams, of Rhode Island, a colony in the New World, founded by that noble confessor of religious liberty, who, with many others, fled from tyranny, in the latter part of the reign of Charles I. We rejoiced in the zeal of that extraordinary man, and most enlightened legislator, who, after suffering persecution from his breth- ren, persevered, amidst incredible hardships and difficulties, in seeking a place of refuge for the sacred ark of conscience. Mr. Livingstone made refer- ence to a tract of land he had bought in that colony just at the beginning of the late conflict, thinking to transport himself thither, if the cause of the Parliament failed. The hand of mercy hath now saved him from the evil to come, by translating him into the kingdom of everlasting peace and joy. It might almost be called a translation, so sudden was the stroke which, in the midst of a green old age, snapped asunder in a moment the golden cord of life. He hath bequeathed to you this tract of land, that thus, as he ex- presseth himself, 'if you are an alien from your country, and your patri- mony, for conscience sake, you mayfiud an inheritance in a land of liberty, and provide an asylum there for your i)ersecute(l bi'ctliren in Euroi)e.' It is also his desire that you will adopt his name, in addition to your own. "I expect, my noble friend, that you will not hesitate to seek, in another hemisphere, the ])rime blessing of man — liberty ; since I fear your endeavor to serve this sacred cause, eitlier in France or Italia, would now, alas! be in vain. (Jo then, and join the bands of ])atriots and confessors beyond the broad Atlantic, to whom my spirit looks with hope, as the conservators of those immortal principles which have here been crushed in their bud. The deep-rooted prejudices and selfish ends of the old (Jovernmeiits of Europe, will, I fear, long retard the growth of these principles in this hemisphere ; Jjut^ ill the Colonies of America, the Allwise Governor oj' the world seems to have prcjjared a soil for their further deDelo2)nient, and, us Ihelieoe, their 5-1 NOTKS. vlthnate frit/mph. In the visions icliieh often elieer my spirit, amidst tJie darkness of a precious external sense^ I behold these little Colonies expanded into great andprosjierous Jiej)uhlic>i^ ir/iere eacJi man shall possess the fullest measure of ciril freedom, and religion, no longer degraded and defiled hij her state bondage, will renew her mighty youth and soar in her pristine vigor and glory. In tliese days may the honored deseeiidants of Count de Salxices LiTiNGSToxE and of lioGEK WiLi.iAMs rejoice in the fruits of their ances- tors' principles and lahors. ***** ^'^ If I cannot remain in safety in this land, where I am too deeply rooted eaxily to bear transplantation, I shall, j'/'rcl'ttnce. follow you to (he land of HOPE, whither you go. =^ :;:*** =■= ■• Foriiet not, as you will never he forirotten hy, yonr devoted friend, '' Jonx MiLTOX." X(3TE II.— Page 19. THE LAST DAYS OF THE CHARTER LEGISLATURE, AND THE ORGAXIZATIOX OF THE GOVERNMENT UNDER THE CONSTITUTION. The General Assemldy, under the Charter, convened on ^fonday, ^fay 1, 1^43, agreeahly to a vote of adjournment passed at the session in January. The session was oj^ened at three o'clock, P. M., hy prayer, by the Rev. Fran- cis Yinton. Rector of Trinity Church, Newport. The two Houses, in Grand Committee, then appointed a Special Committee to he present at and witness the organization of the government under the Constitntion adopted by the people of the State in Xovember, 1842 ; and it was resolved '• tluit said Ct)mmittee make report, in conformity to the provision of said Constitution, in order that this General Assembly may know when its func- tions shall have constitutionally passed into tlie hands of those who have been legally chosen by the people to receive aud exercise the same."' The Grand Committee then adjourned till tive o'clock next day, Tuesday, May 2, 1843. The General Assembly, under the Constitution ado])ted by the people in November, 1842, convened at the State House, in Xewj)ort, on the first Tuesday in May, 1843, at 11 o'clock, A. M. The members of the new Senate and House assembled in separate chambers for tlie puri)ose of organizing the government. His Excellency, Samuel Ward King, the last Governor under the Charter of 16G3, presided in the organization of the new Senate; and the senior member from the town of Xewport, the Hon. Henry Y. Cranston, and the clerks of the old House, acted as otficers of the new House, until it was organized. The Secretary of State, the Hon. Heni-y Bowen, administered the oath prescribed by the Constitution, to the Sena- tors, and afterwards to the memliersof the House of Representatives. Hon. Alfred Bosworth was the elected Speaker, and Thomas A. Jenckesand Joseidi S. Pitman, Clerks. The Governor and Senate then joined the House in Grand Committee, and the session of the General Assembly was then opened by prayer, by the Rev. Francis Yinton. NOTES. 55 The votes for freiieral officers were then received, and a committee was appointed to connt them. Tlie (irand Committee then ajonrned till five o'clock in tlie afternoon of the same day. Tlie Grand Committee met at five o'clock, liis Excellencv, Governor King, in the chair. The committee appointed to count the votes reported, and it was therenpon RenoheJ, that James Fenner be declared elected Governor; Byron Dimon, Lieutenant-Governor; Ilenrv Bowen Secretary of State; Joseph M. Blake, Attorney-General; and Stephen Ca- hoone, General Treasurer. Governor King, who, during this august ceremony, was seated in tlie identical oaken chair in which, one hundred and eighty years before. (Gov- ernor Arnold received the Charter of Charles II., from Baxter's hands, re- signed his seat to Governor Fenner. Then the Speaker of the House, according to ancient usage, called out: ''Sherift". clear the way ; Sergeant, make proclamation that his Excellency, James Feimer, is elected Governor, Oai)tain-General, and Commander-in-chief of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plant^itions for the year ensuing." The .sheriff, with his mace of office, cleared the way, and the town-sergeant of Newjjort followed to the balcony of the State House, and made the customary proclamation. After ])roclaiming the Governor, and the other general ofiicers, the sergeant added the i)ious deprecation of our forefather.s : " God save the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.'' The shouts of the people and the roar of artillery followed the ])roc]ama- tion. A committee was a{)pointed to announce the organization of the new Government, to the General Assembly \mder the Charter. The two houses then separated. After the adjournment (on Tuesday) of the General Assembly under the Constitution, the General Assembly, under the Char- ter, convened in Grand Committee, Gov. King in the chair. The com- mittee appointed by the General Assembly, under the Constitution, ap- peared, and announced that the Government under the new Constitution was legally organized. The conuuittee api)ointed by the Charter Assembly, on Mcmdav, to wit- ness the organization of the new government, re])orted the fact, concludini.' their report with the declaration that "thci)ower of tlie government, as organized under the Charter, has ceased." Whereupon, the following reso- lution was adopted : "In General Assembly, Tuesday, May 2. 1843. '■'■ Ecsolrcd^ That the foregoing report be accepted, and that this General Assembly be and the same is hereby declared to be dissolved." The last General Assembly, under the old Charter, ■which had withstood the vicissitudes of two centuries, ceased to exist. 50 NOTES. Js^OTE III.— Page 20. SKICTCII OF TIIK LIFE OF KOGER WILLIAM.'?. • i;o(iKR "Willi A^Ls was a probyi' of Lord Coke. He was Lorn in Wales, bnt it is uncertain wlietlier in 1599 or ]()()(;. * Mrs. Sadlier, the (laughter of Sir Edward ("oke, in a note to one of Roger WilHains's letters addressed to her- self, wlierein he attenipts to ])roselyte her, says: "This Roger Williams, when he was a youth, would, in short hand, take sermons and speeches in the Star Chamher, and present them to my dear father. He, seeing so liojiet'iil a youth, took such a liking to him that he sent him to Sutton'.s Ilosi»ital; full little did he think that he Avould have jiroved such a rebel to (lod, the King, and his country. If ever he has the lace to return into liis native comitry, Tyburn may give him welcome." This MSS. letter of Roger Williams to Mrs. Sadlier is in the library of Trinity College, Cam- l>ridge. and is copied in Professor Elton's Life of Roger Williams, cliapter viii., with otlier corresi>ondenee between them. The records of Sutton's Hospital, now the '^ Charter Ilonse," show that Roger Williams was elected scholar June 20, ir)2I, and that he obtained an exhil)ition -Tuly 9, 1(;24. The records of Jesus College, Oxford, register his matriculation as follows: '• luxjcrieus Williams, Jilim Gul'iehni Wil- ludns^ de Cdiiirclfjdio, Pld). an. nut. 18, ent< red at Jesus {Mler/e Aj/iu'l oO, Ti24. After his graduation, he commenced the study of the law, under Sir Edward Coke. He was afterwards admitted to Holy Orders in the Cliurch of England, and served a parish in Lincolnshire. While there, he became ac(juainted with Cotton, Dudley, Hutchinson, and the leading- friends of the Puritan fathers. I' At length, turning Puritan, lie eudiarked, at Ihistdl, for America, and arrived in Boston, February 5, lfi:!I. He was baiiislied from Massachusetts, '• as a disturber of the peace, botli of the Church and Co)iiinnii wealth.'" in ir(;;.j. In the course of two or three years after the settlement of Providence in KioG, Williams eml)raced the views of the Bajjfists. '■ lUit,"' says Professor Elton, " there being no liap- tist )ninister in New England, Ezekiel llolliman, a pious and gifted indi- vidual, who afterwards l)ecame a minister, was selected to baptize Roger M illiam>, and Roger Williams then administered the ordinance to Mr. llol- liman and ten others."]; Such was the remarkable origin of the Baptist denomination in America. The Baptist meeting-house in Providence is uuicli venerated by the Baptist peo])le, as the mother of churches. Its first hell rang its hiudation. That old bell was made in London, and weighed 2,515 jiouiids. Upon it was this motto, in rhyme : '•Fur frfcdiim of coiiscicnco tin.- tuwri was first iilunted; Porsiiasion, not t'on'o, was used by the iicnplc ; This Cliui-cli is tlic ol.lost. and lias not recantrd : Knjoyiiij; and iri'anlinf; ln-ll, ti.niiiU'. and .st>'ci>Ic.'"«5 * Arnold's Hist, of E, ]., vol. i., pji. 47-r)0. t ■■ It jileasfd tlu' Lord to call tiH' for sonio tiiiU'. and with some jiersons. to jiraotise the Itelirew. the (heck, T.atin, Freneli, anil Dutch. The sei-retary of tlie council (Mr. Milton), for my Dutch I read liim. read me many more lani:ua>res."— Letter of IIoLrer Williams to .lohn Winthroi). — Kiuiirl, .V- :,U iJttilr of Ii'<>isseuters, in Knglaiid, of steeple or bell. NOTES. 57 Roger Williams died in April, 1083, at liis residence in Providence, R. I. " He was buried," says Oallender, " with all the solemnity the Col- ony was able to show." " His remains were interred," says Elton, p. 149, "in a spot which he himself had selected on his own land, a short distance from the place where, fort\'-seven years before, he first set his foot in the wilderness." In a i)apcr read before tbe Rhode Island Historical Society, May IS, 1800, Mr. Zachariah Allen has detailed the interesting experiments to identify the grave of Roger Williams. It is curious that an old api)le-tree* had spread its roots around his body and absorbed his bones. lias that old ap- ple tree, in despoiling his phosphate*, exhausted likewise Rhode Island's pride, and sucked up Rhode Island memories? In 1771 the town of Providence voted " to erect over the grave of the founder of this town and colony a monument, "t Where is that monument ? Is it not discreditable to the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, that echo an- swers MEANT ! Only " meant," but not done ! Is this Rhode Island con- duct? No ! Sons of Rhode Island, let it he done.\ IS'OTE IV.— Page 21. letter of william j. hoppix, esq., of xew york. Rev. I)r. F. Vintox : Mij Dear Sir : — The taking of the frigate Providence to sea on tlie 30th of April, 1778, was one of the most T)rilliant exploits of the war. She was lying in Providence, where she had been built nearly two years before, but as British ships of war were stationed in various i)arts of the bay, it was almost impossible to go out without being intercepted. It became neces- sary, however, to send important dispatches to France, probably in relation to the treaty with that nation, the news of which had just arrived lierel Captain Whipple determined to run the risk of the blockade, and, by bis energy and skill, succeeded in the undertaking. My grandfather, William Jones, afterwards Governor of Rhode Island from 1811 to 1817, com- manded the marines on board the Providence, and kept a journal of the cruise, which is in my possession. I send you extracts in relation to this exploit which have never been published : "On the oOth of April, 1778, at or near high water, at night, we got under way, with the wind at or near X. E., and very thick. Stood down the river, and on the middle ground, a little below Pawtuxet, struck the bar, where we lay perhaps three quarters of an hour until full tide. * Stfiihen IlaiKlall, Esq., of Rhode Island, a di'sceridant of Roger Williams, showed nicthc roots of this tree, which followed the form of the skeleton ; and tbe pocket compass of Roger Williams now belonging to Mrs. Harriot Brown, of Providence ; also a lineal descendant. + See Letter of Theodore Foster to Williams Thayer, Jr., in Rhode Island ^«if7'»cff« of July 16, 1S19, and Knowles' Memoir of Roger Williams, itp. 4:10-432. Also p. .3S'J, '-Si Monnmentuin quseris circunispiee." Judge Pitman, in his Ceiitennutl Discourse^ in 1S:3(), eloquently pleads for a monument for " the man who has given us a name and a place, but has no place for his name among us," p. 60. X A recent movement has been made, under the auspices of "The Roger Williams Monument Association of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations," which was incorporated by act of the General Assembly of Rhode Island, in May. 1S60, and was duly organized on the 5th of June, in that year ; the Rev. Francis Way land, B. D., being its first President. ns NOTE^. Passed over the Lar and sliaped oiir (■ourse for Warwii/k Xeck, and liet'ore wo arrived near Mament I'dint, discovered a siij,-nal, by li.dits, from a ten- der to tlie shi|i T.ark, of tliirty-two ii'uns, \viii(di lay Just below Warwick Neck Point to receive ns. We kejit onr conrse, and very siK)n received a shot (|iei-ha|is of information, as it was at some distance). "We, of coni-se, ■were soon at onr (piarters — this to effect, however, was not very liard, as we were, in men and boys, only one hundred and tifty-three in number, and, many of them at most but wcrcJiantalle. The Lark was a slii]) ot thirty-two a-uns to our twenty-eii^ht. Tier men were ])icked for the pur- pose — tliree hiindi-ed in nundier. Our men wore much inferior, a fi'roat proportion of them boys, and very few wore seamen. Wo, however, ko])t onr course, durini;- which the Lark, under way, with her foreto])sail aback, kept up ;i scattorinn- tire upon us until nearly alonu'sido, when slie a-avo us i> broadside. This civility obli,n'ed us to answer, and it was done to effect. By this time, the i)assai2:o beinij narrow, we came close in contact, whicdi enabled us to hear the g:veatest confusion of swearing; etc., I ever heard; they, however, soon recovered, and gave us a second liroadside within talk- ing distance, whicdi was promjitly returned; and she, the Lark, was so cut to i)ieces, and with a, number of killed .and wounded men, as (d.)liged her to round to, all standing I AVhat a cruel disappointment to a commander who had solicited the station f<> fair the relu^l friijnfe intu Xeirjiort. It afterwards ajjpoarod that her tender fared but little better, as she sunk the next day. We proceeded a, little farther, when we wore saluted with a broadside from the frigate Hound, and two liroadsides were exchanged, but her com- mandei', not pleased with Yankee civility, let us alone, and we jiassed on. it since apjieared the Lark had eighteen poor fellows Icilled and wounded, and was nnndi damaged in sails, rigging, and spars; the Hound not (piiteso niucli so; but. through theever-to-be-adored goodness of Heaven, we had not a man wounded, and but little damage to the ship. AVe stood on. ]iassed the light-house, the weather extivmely tliitdc. In the morning, about daylight, and with, 1 think, eleven souls on deck (for, as the weather was i-ougli, m.any of our new sailors were sea-sick, poor creatures), Ave saw a sail under o\ir lee bow, close or lu/ar by. She, it appeared, was a sixty- foiu' gun shij), stationed near Point -ludith to take (diarge of us, if we shoidd escape the two frigates before mentioned — (noble fellows!). We soon had all hands on de(d<, aiul made all sail ; and the enemy was (piite as expedi- tious; but we had the wind of her. Not a, shot was exchanged, each crowding all sail. It soon a]>peared we g.ained from her, and by eleven o'clock, A. M., we ran her hull down; and not a little pleased were we, he assui'ed."' 'I"he i'rovideiice proceeded on her voy.age witlmut further dithculty, and on the ;;otli May, 1 T78, arrived at Paimbo'uf, near Nantes, in France, and Cajitain Whipple immediately sent Captain dones with the dispatches to Dr. l-'ranklin, and the other American Comnussioners, in Paris. 1 think the above account of the exploit of Ca])taiii Whip[)le will he interesting, as it occnrre(l in u\w own waters, and no jiarticular description of it whatever has ai)peared, so tar as I can learn, in print. Truly yours, WlI.l.IAM J. IIOJTIX. 87'^ iJroadwav, /««r2o, 18G3. NOTES. 59 NOTE v.— Page iP,. LETTER OF THE HON. IIENUY I!. AXTIIONY. riioviDENCE, (/rfohrr 12, 18G3. My Dear Sir : — I have yours of the 9th, reinhidiiig me of my promise to re])eat to you the remark that General Scott made in my hearing- about the late Major John 11. Vinton. It was at the table of the lion. Henry S. San- ford, now our minister at Brussels, that the eonversation took place, during the last session of the Thirty-sixth Congress. General Scott was giving some account of the siege of Vera Cruz; and in the course of it, said: "John K. Vinton was the most accom])lished man in the American Army." I expressed my ])leasure at the remark, and said that I had enjoyed the lionor of Major "N'inton's friendship; and the General repeated it in his pe- culiarly emphati*! style. He also gave an interesting account of the death and burial of Major Vinton. 1 think 1 mentioned to you my doubt about Dr. Vinton's ])ig story. The pig part of it is true, but not the war part. War was declared in the Senate by a considerable majority. There may ha\e 1)een some i)relim- inary question decided by one majority, but I do not remember what it was. (Jeneral Ilickey, the i)rincij)al clerk of the Senate, could settle the question. I do not remi-mber tliat Dr. A'iuton, in his learned and delightful dis- course, included Jemima Wilkinson among the characters of Khode Island. \'ery truly yours, Henry B. Anthony. Henry T. Drowne, Esq., New York. NOTE VI.— Page 44. letter of GEORGE C. ARNOLD, ESQ. Providence. Majj 28, 1863. I)<^ar Sir : — I am in receipt of yours of yesterday. James Rhodes, of Providence, in 1811, or about that time, owned a farm in Cranston, a few rods over the city line, and lived there during the summer mouths. On a liot day in July, he discovered a pig in his " clover meadow." HecalleatU'ry of filli'il (Miinon in the service of tlie Uiiitcil Sliites, eitliei- viiliuiteei- oi- ivguhu-."— Wooiiuruv's ••Cdnj/iiiijii 0 \ Massachusetts 1 Jthode island 1 to 11.10 ' New Y(M-k 1 illinois . 1 to 12. (Jo | New Hampshire 1 liiiliana 1 to 13.15 1 Wisconsin 1 Ohio 1 to 13.15 i Kentucky 1 Jowa 1 to 13.511 Pennsylvania 1 to l-l.S-l- Mimiesota 1 to 14.t)5 Michigan I to 15.(11 Connecticut 1 to 1(>.12 \'ermont 1 to 1(5.58 Western Virginia 1 to 1G.75 Maine 1 New Jersey 1 Delaware 1 Missouri 1 Oregon 1 California 1 Maryland 1 to 17.01) to 17.53 to 17.s() to 18.23 to 20.21J to 20.24 to 22.40 to 21.44 to 31.02 to 51.5() to 54.35 to 03.70 NOTES. 63 NOTE XI.— Pa(je 51. I!KM1MS( EXCES OF T(IE SONS OF KllODE ISLAND IN NEW YOKK. Tlie First Rhode Island Regiment, coniinanded by Col. .Vnihroso E. Runi- side, and uoconipanied by Governor Spragueand statt", arrived at New York, en route for the defence of Washington, in the steamer p]mpire State, on Sniiday morning, April 21st, ISGl. They were visited during the day by many of the sons of Rhode Island residing in the city and vicinity; and among the tirst was the Rev. Dr. Francis Vinton, of Trinity Church, New York, whose friendly greetings and j)atriotic counsels were warn)ly received by otticers and men. As the Regiment left the pier, at the foot of Canal street, North liiver, late in the afternoon, on board the transport Coat/a- coalcos, patriotic speeches were made by the Governor and others, as also enthusia-stic cheers exchanged between the sons of Rhode Island, on board and on shore. Another incident afterwards, on March '29th, l(Sr)2, called together the sons of Khode Island in New York, when the bodies of some of her lament- ed dead — the gallant Si.oouM, Bali.ou, and Towek, who fell in the tirst bat- tle of I)ull Run — were borne through the city. This led to the organiza- tion of The Sons of Kiioue Island as a ])ermanent association. On the day of the ])ublic obsequies, a meeting was held at the Astor IIou.se, and a committee appointed, consisting of John H. Ormsbee, Benjamin G.Arnold, Charles Congdon, Henry Jacobs, Henry T. Drovvne, Dr. Francis Vinton, and Randall H. (xreene, to draft the Constitution, which was adoi)ted May 2.'5d, 18(52. The Association at present numbers upwards of one hundred resident Tthode Islanders, and has enrolled as its Honorary Members William Sprague. Geokge Banckoft, Samuel G. Aknold, W^illiam R. Staples, Geouge H. Calvekt, John Russell IJakilett, IIknky B. Anthony, Usiier Parsons. .J^ A. imYJNIE OF RHODE ISLAND AND THE TIMES PRONOUNCED BEFORE THE SONS OF RHODE ISLAND IN NEW YORK, AT THEIR FIRST ANNIVERSARY, HELD IN THE Hall of the K" e w Yorlc Historical Society, May 29, 18G3, BY GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS. r>ELrv'Ei;ED, also. In Brooklyii, N. T., before the Long Island Historical Society, June 11, 18G:!. To the fitizcns of Providence, II. I., in Roger Williams' Hall, June '26, 18G3. To the Redwood Library Association, Newport, R. I., in Aquidueck Ilall, June 30, 1SG3,. TI-IE liHYME. Sons of Ehode Island ! liow could I refuse At your command to woo the unwilling Muse? To me unwilling, for she knows that I To climb Parnassus' steep no longer try ; That my accounts with Helicon are closed, And I for many a year have only prosed. Yet had I said what dear Rhode Island knows, Seed sown on barren places never grows ; If I had sto]Dped to doubt, delay, demur, You would have said, "//r \v no Rhode Islander." Therefore, if you had bade me think in Greek, Or plaiit our flag on Dhawalagiri's peak ; To sail tlirough Symmes's hole, or straightway lay An undisputed railroad in Broadway ; If you had ordered me to keep gold steady, Or for this night to have an epic ready ; To think Rhode Island's record could be straighter, Or that Vallandigham is not a traitor; Or to call hliii a Union man, indeed, Who wished the Empire City to secede ; A kind of Unionist by small Brooks bred, A ^Vood-en body and a copper-liead ; f 0^ A RHYME OF KIIODK ISI-AND If you li;i(l told ino tliat I must believe The London Ti/ncs- would o'er our ruin grieve ; Wliose corresjiondent week'ly writes to sa_y, " This sick man won't sui'vive another day," And, winking- to John Bull, keeps gayl_y humming, " There's a good time coming, John, a good time coming ;" Or, if still harder tasks 3'our will requires, Tell ni(! to find by yonder bright camp-fires One son of Greene who in the crashing fray Knows how to yield or how to run away ; Or one of Hopkins' brothers on the sea Where heart does not compel the victory. Tell me from out my heart to raze each name That consecrates anew Rhode Island's fiime. Or lind upon the globe another State In soil so little and in soul so great; Or in ;i wilder fit of pure caprice. Should some one sigh at any price for peace, And ask rae for peace arguments in song As good as Orierson's or half as long, Or likely to convert our rebel kith Like those that General Gillmore argues with, Or l)id me name, if such a man they want, A better peace man than Ulysses Grant, Who says with emphasis that never ceases If you want })eace then knock your foe in pieces. — However ho})cless any task might be That Narragansett wisdom laid on me, This, though despairing, should be my reply, "Sons (.)f Ehode Island, I, at least, will try." But no such serious duty falls on me. You only ask a sound of minstrelsy ; A little singing after sober sense; A little jingling after clo(pience. AND THE TIMES. 69 Indeed, the duty jon invite me to Is what all honest men would gladly do : For if his hands were large as his desire, Who would not strike — yes, and knock down, the lyre. I wish all lyres were struck, — then should not we The sport of special correspondents be ; Nor they alone, — for though we've heard it said Baron Munchausen long ago was dead, "Who does not know, — alas, 'tis true, 'tis jjity. He edits every paper in the city. Do you upl^raid me that my idle rhymes Jar on the solemn measure of the times ? Do you reprove the wanton mind that strays From the continuous dirges of these days? Nay, friends and l)rothers, at this moment, we Think the same thoughts and the same visions see. Admonished by life's fluctuating scene Of all he is and all he might have been, — Man toiling upward on the dizzy track, Still looks regretful or remorseful back, Paces old paths, remembering vows that I'olled In burning words from lips forever cold, — Bows his sad head where once he bowed the knee, And kissed the cheek that no more kissed shall be. So the sad traveller climbing from the plain, Turns from the hill and sees his home again, And sighs to know that, that sweet prospect o'er, The boundless world is but a foreio-n shore. Thus, dear Rhode Island, on thy shrine to-day Thy children pausing hang this votive lay; No other song upon their lips shall be, For it is music to remember thee. 70 A KTIYME OF RHODE ISLAND Thougli far our feet have wandered since they plaj^ed Beneath the trees tliat thy green meadows shade, — Though many a wave has wet our lips since lirst At Roger Williams" spring we quenched our thirst, — Thougli SVC have seen with foscinated e_ye, The Syrian shore and the Italian sky, — Yet such the magic that in memory dwells, Such the soft hue that o'er the distance swells, That not in Asian vallej^s could we view A fairer landscape than our childhood knew; Nor in the deep Sorrento heaven find A tenderer beauty than we left behind. Though we huvc stood by classic Tiber's side, And watched the darkly rolling Danube glide,-— Or that benignant Bacclius, Father Rhine, Reel seaward garlanded with endless vine, — Or farther, broader, grander, the bright smile On Africa's dark flice of her calm Nile, — Yet dearer to ouv hearts the smiles that play C)n thy bright waters, Narragansett Bay ! Nor these alone, but eager memory pours Poetic light on other streams and shores, Thermopyhe, heroic Afai^athon, Fields where the prizes of the world were won. And wandering beneath the ha])py sky Where art trivnnphant piles its trophies high, In that })ure clime wlierc^, ruined though it be, The Parthenon still smiles across the sea; And every moon the traveller looks u})on Herself Dian wakes him Endymion, — From the rich dust of the ^gean shore. Waked by our longing, Greece revived once more Mercurial France we saw, whose rivers fl(_)w Through sunny vineyards and by old chateaux. AND THE TIMES. 71 Vainest of nations ! yet its greatest joy Not its own child, but an Italian boy ; Home of the Graces, who, with pouting mouth, Jeered at the Muses who preferred the South. Shrewdest of Savans ! most decorous Sinner, Ready for your dissection or your dinner,— With witty lip and calculating heart, Academy of sciences and art But vain its colleges and wit and schools J Once more in France a silent despot rules. The nobler France, with melancholy eyes, Sees the strange pageant played beneath the skies, Sees, as in some grotesquest fever dream, A wild adventurer seizing power supreme, And murdering Frenchmen till liis terrors cease. Then gravely dubbing his frail empire " peace ;" While the gay cock that froze in Russian snow, Burns his clipped wings in torrid Mexico, And nobler France dishonored hangs its head, Its master perjured, and its heroes fled. And we have crcvsscd to that delightful isle Where dwells a gentle people without guile. Modest and mild, unselfish and polite, A race in whom all noble traits unite : A frugal people doing good by stealthy Disdaining empire and despising wealth ; The Dollar worship gives them huge oftencc, For all their piety is pounds and pence. They chide the wars of others, for they know No civil broils their virtuous annals show. They never fought for conquest or for gain. Their sternest song is a bucolic strain. They never rammed with supercilious cant Dovfn China's throat what China did not want. A RHYME OF RHODE ISLAND From 1)l;i sting cannon's moutli tliej never blew The hopeless, helpless, ignorant Hindoo, — Nor on the bleak Crimean hills engaged In tlie most needless war men ever waged. Hail, great John Bull ! warm, generous, sincere I Pious and just, to all the virtues dear! All nations love you, dohn, 'tis sweet to see, Tliat in their view of you tliey all agree, — But their affection to express most fully. Bull is too cold, and so they call you bully ! Your neighbors love you! from the earliest day, France doated on her dear "god-dam Anglais." Erin, whose years in prosperous progress glide, Sits fat, content, and happy at youi* side, While shaggy Russia sucks her ursine paws, And watchinsf her dear friend, unsheathes her claws. Well, moral John, since your loud mouth declares That you are corn and other peo}tle tares, — Since j^ou delight your portly form to draw As champion of Liberty and Law, Faithful to friends, to foes a fearful fellow, — Cease, for a moment, your tremendous bellow. And tell us why, when trampling on the law, A band of desperate men their weapons draw. Pleading no cause but that it suits them well To turn tlieir country into vei-y hell, That they may have the unrestricted pleasure Of selling men and babies at their leisure, — ■ Contending that the Constitution meant They might whip women to their hearts' content, And everywhere this must be guaranteed, And for all time, or else they would secede, AVliilc this God-given privilege to gain TlicyM ))i]e the land with heaps of brothers slain, — • AND THE TIMES. 73 Why at that moment, friend of freedom, why To Liberty one word did you deny ? Champion of justice, wh}^ did you decide, To take the wretched women-whippers' side ? And when a friend was struggling with both hands Against the onset of assassin bands, Why did you snivel that in your opinion. Your friend was lighting only for dominion, — Sharpen j'our nails, and cry, " though I may rue it, I'll scratch his back, and now's the time to do it, — " Why did you sneer so sourly that yon knew We'd undertaken what we could not do ? And smile contemptuous, as you shook your head, *' Kicking's no use, for you're as good as dead ?" Had mountains swelled or oceans rolled between, If separating deserts there had been, If any natural barrier indeed. We might have said, " in God's name do secede." It could not be, no force the State can sever, God made us one, God keeps us one forever ; Union's an instinct, John, and so you see Disunion cannot, will not, shall not be ! Beloved Bull, you tossed j^our angry horn With such a lofty roar of moral scorn. We knew you meant some special mischief, and We saw you stretching out a stealthy hand To seize, and burn, and ravage eagerly, A friendly nation's helpless ships at sea. Declaring, as you loosed your pirates on her, That British law could not save British honor. Once in our Senate, John, a stealth}^ blow From a dull ruffian laid a good man low. The country shuddered ; every man from far Scented the hideous breath of civil war. — 74 A RHYME OF RHODE ISLAND The deed Wcas fearful, and yet History A sadder sight in your record will see ; For ever in yovu- Parliament there stands A British Senator who says, " these hands, British Lawgivers, bi'oke and break your laws," And seats himself 'mid England's loud applause. Why is all tliis ; Beloved of nations, why ? Though WE might answer, what is yoai' reply? Why, friend of law, do you its soldiers slander ? Why, Freedom's Champion, are you slaver3^'s pander? At least be manly. Since we know why, — speak 1 If you are false, why also be a sneak ? Could you for once w^ith your line moral air. Could you for once be honest, frank, and fair ? John Toodles Bull ! we know your ancient whine — " I reelij can't ; it isn't in my line." But, better England ! our indignant rhymes Do not confound you witli the London Tiines^ England of Bright and Cobden, Cairnes and Mill, You are the England of John Milton still. Sir Roundell Palmer cpiibbles ; Palmerston Sneers at an ally in his smartest tone, The little Lords make merry at our name. And mark with rebel badges their own shame. Their loud ap[)lauses pirate bands inspire, That waste the sea and light their course with lire. But, nobler Britons ! still to justice true. From gross and dull John Bull, we turn to you. O, toiling hands ! 0, sympatlietic hearts ! Our love from you no rolling ocean jxarts, Tlirough every cloud the mighty truth you see, We light the battle of your Liberty. AND THE TIMES. 75 When in our fields the holj war shall cease, And from its sacred blood spring perfect peace, No tyranny can then hope to endure, No rank or privilege will be secure. Then the full splendor of that flag unfurled, Will light with all its meaning all the world ; The meteor flag of caste will droop and fall, God and the people will be all in all. These have we seen, and yet, Rhode Island, we Would not exchange the fairest land for thee. Thy vines ai'e few ; thy Alps are very low ; In thy judicious soil no almonds grow; On thy green shores when grateful olives shine, They're wisely pickled in a foreign brine ; If " Torno's cliff and Pambamarca's side'' Thy gentle undulations should deride, Philip's Mount Hope thou bast for solace still, And thou hast what is left of old Smith's Hill. If Marathon, Marengo, Waterloo, Should ask thy famed historic fields to view, Show them, Rhode Island, with a high disdain, Thy Dexter training-ground, and Seekonk plain. If proud cathedrals in their Gothic style, Pronounce Rhode Island architecture vile. Calmly reply, '' 'tis true we have no great house. But we've a Baptist Cliurch, a Newport State house.'^ And when some Frenchman, pert and debonnaire, Asks to inspect Rhode Islandsbill of fare, Since all his pride upon a frog's legs leans, Show him a dish of John B. Chace's beans. The case of one who boasts of British prog Treat with a firm, but delicate tautog, And if his boasting louder grows, and louder. Stop his broad mouth with green corn and a chowder. 76 A EIIYMK OF RHODE ISLAND Ehode Island geese ! — kind friends, it is not you, Nor I, who need their praises to pursue ; — Nor will I hint that any listener here Was e'er laid out on Carpenter's spruce beer. We are thy sons, Rhode Island, and we know Why all thy children love their mother so ; Thy form is slight, but we remember well The tale thy ancient gossips love to tell, — How when a statesman, to deride thy size, Asked a Rhode Island girl, with laughing eyes, How many square feet in the State might be, — Her ready lips responded instantly : " In our beloved Rhode Island, sir," she said — " Not by the foot we measure, but the head."' Or better still, a story of the day, IIow when, last year, our troops near Yorktown lay, A young Rhode Island picket, on the hill, Heard from the enemy the summons shrill, '' And to what regiment do you belong ?" — Promptly his answer echoed clear and strong, " The hundred fourth Rhode Island," — for he knew That what he said was of her S])irit true ; The little mother, by instinctive art. Not by the head lie measured, but the heart. And still again ; of late the lal-jorers found Near Newport an old Indian burial ground. Uninjured in the grave the relics lay, The bodies buried in the white man's way ; But, wondering, the explorers saw in spots. Some heads were cased in solid copper pots. AND THE TIMKS. TT 'Tis strange that liurnan beings any wliere, For their hist night-caps copper pots shoukl wear ; That they, as 'twere, in their deep graves should be So copper bound for all eternity : — But stranger, that live men should be such sots As to plunge their heads into copper pots — Seeing not, hearing not ; but butting blind At every thing they find or think they find, Trying to prove to every man and woman, That copper heads are better than the liuman. These Newport relics show us what we knew, Rliode Island to the human head is true ; And the last copperhead her soil below She buried deep, two hundred years ago. native State ! thy praises while we sing, Through our light song the shouts of battle ring ; On our bowed hearts the blows of battle fall, — And in each blow we hear our country call, So while on thee our lavish praise we pour, We love thee much, — but love our country more. All that we are and have, how well we know. Our native land ! to thee thy children owe. And since each State, as prospering it stands, Draws its importance from thy fostering hands ; Since in the nation's doubtful, threatening hour, There is but one supreme, one sovereign power ; This the chief glory of our State shall be, Rhode Island taught us how to lionor thee. For when assassins, skulking on thy track. Fawned in thy face, and stabl)ed thee in the back. While all thy children heard the startling cry, Rhode Island answered first : " Lo ! here am I." For, by her founder's hand, tlie little State To every liberty was dedicate ; A RHYME OF RHODE ISLAND And in the ardent van of Imman rig-hts Old Roger Williams naturally lights. Through the loud tempest of the mighty strife, Where, undismayed, the country strikes for life, I hear his joyous summons pealing clear Across the stormy field, "What cheer! What cheer?" And from each quarter echoing through the sky Perry's proud music gives the glad reply, — "The fight is sharp, but the foe plainly cowers, We've met the enemy and they are oursy We've met the enemy, but on the field Lie the brave boys who' died, but could not yield. Rhode Island boys ! you only marcli before. Your tents are pitched upon the heavenly shore ; And never eartlily storm or battle rain On your young sacred heads shall beat again. Beloved and blessed ! the unextinguished fire That warmed your hearts, our hearts shall still inspire : Your victory won,, your perfect peace secure, Your glory with your country's shall endure. And brothers, you who in the fight still stand, Battling for liberty and native land, While down yO'Ur ranks peals Perry's bugle note, Above your heads two sacred banners float : On one the anchor, fiirm 'mid hissing seas,'^ Holds by the centre till the storm shall cease — A flag above it hangs, the colors of the Mother Our fathers knew, and we will know no other. Our best beloved, our pi'ide of song and story, God save the stars and stripes, our common glory ! Lift up your eyes, Rhode Lsland soldiers, see ! Our State says " Hope," our country " Liberty !" * The device upon the flag of the State of Rhode Island is an anchor, with the inscription " Hope." AND THE TIMES. 79 At last, at last, each glowing star, In that pure field of heavenly blue, On every people shining far, Burns, to its utmost promise true, Hopes in our fathers' hearts that stirred. Justice, the seal of peace, long scorned, O perfect peace ! too long deferred, At last, at last, your day has dawned. Your day has dawned, but many an hour Of storm and cloud, of doubt and tears, Across the eternal sky must lower, Before the glorious noon appears. And not for us that noontide glow, For us the strife and toil shall be, But welcome toil, for now we know, Our children shall that glory see. At last, at last ! O, stars aud stripes. Touched in your birth by Freedom's flame 1 Your purifying lightning wipes Out from our history its shame. Stand to your faith, America ! Sad Europe, listen to our call! Up to your manhood, Africa ! That u'racious flag floats over all. ^ 80 A RHYME OF RnODE ISLAND AND THE TIMES. And when tlie liour seems dark with doom, Our sacred banner lifted higher, Shall flash away the gathering gloom With inextinguishable fire. Pure as its white the future see ! Britrht as its red is now the slcv ! O 'J Fixed as its stars the faith shall be, That nerves our hands to do or die. rro-i