CHANGE OF THE EXECUTIVE.--ACTS OF THE ASSEMBLY.--JOHN BERKELY'S
RESIDENCE IN NEWPORT.--FRIENDLY FEELING BETWEEN THE COLONISTS
AND THE MOTHER COUNTRY.
Nearly a generation had passed since a new governor had been chosen,
but the place made vacant by death was now to be filled. The choice
fell upon Joseph Jenckes, (May, 1727.) He was a resident of Pawtucket,
and in those days of irregular communication Pawtucket was too far from
the seat of government for the prompt transaction of public business.
It was voted, therefore, that it was "highly necessary for the Governor
of this Colony to live at Newport, the metropolis of the government,"
and a hundred pounds was appropriated for the expense of his removal.
While the Colony was passing into the hands of a new executive a
similar change was taking place in the mother country. George I. died
suddenly, and George II. succeeded to the throne.
But the change of sovereign brought no change with it in the policy of
the mother country. The act of navigation was still the rule by which
she measured her relations to the colonies. They were still to supply
the raw material and she the profitable manufacture.
The first eight years of George II.'s reign were years of peace. Party
spirit in England ran high under the names of court and country, the
first as supporters of the ministry, the second of parliamentary
opposition. But Sir Robert Walpole did not love war, and in the cabinet
his voice was supreme.
In the Colony we find the same indications of growth and development.
The records of the Assembly are still our principal guide. The criminal
code, the surest indication of the moral condition of the community,
was revised. Intemperance, in spite of repeated attempts to suppress it
by legislation still seems to prevail, and in 1728 a new license law
was passed. Unforeseen crimes, also, sometimes call for special action.
An Indian lad attempted to kill his master, a crime unforeseen in the
code, and was branded on the forehead with the letter R., whipped at
the cart tail at every street corner in Newport, and ordered to be sold
out of the Colony for his unexpired term. A slanderous pamphlet was
publicly burned by the town sergeant in front of the Colony House and
the author compelled to make a written confession of his fault.
The unsettled boundary lines though still causes of uneasiness and
vexatious delays, are gradually approaching final decision. The
controversy concerning the western boundary had lasted sixty-five
years. More effectual means are employed to enforce the registry of
births, marriages and deaths. Peddlers, the field of whose industry
had already been reduced by previous statutes, were forbidden to sell
any kind of goods under pain of forfeiture. Early attention is paid to
the preservation of deer and the protection of fish. The planting of
hemp and flax, and the manufacture of duck are again the subject of
legislation, and receive increased bounties. James Franklin sets up a
printing press in Newport after having failed to establish a newspaper
in Boston. Not discouraged by his failure, he made a similar attempt at
Newport with a similar result. He was in advance of his time. Important
laws were enacted for the encouragement and regulation of trade.
Special officers were appointed for special departments. Lumber of
every kind was placed under the protection of surveyors. Packed meats
and fish were examined by viewers. Casks were measured by official
surveyors. The whale and cod fisheries were encouraged by bounties.
And to incite the efforts of honest but unfortunate men, bankrupt laws
equally useful to creditor and debtor were established.
Roads and bridges continue to call for legislation. The Pawtuxet bridge
had fallen to decay, and Rhode Island and Massachusetts united, first
in pulling it down and soon after in building it up again. A new ferry
was established between Portsmouth and Bristol. Lands in Westerly were
set apart for an Indian house of worship.
The fortifications of the Colony were not neglected. "A regular and
beautiful fortification of stone" was built at Newport and the new King
petitioned to give forty cannon for its armament.
The records of the time tell of an earthquake which in October, 1727,
was felt through New England, exciting much alarm but doing little
damage--far less indeed than the attempt to build up commerce upon
public loans and paper money. To this period also belongs the first
appearance of the Palatine Light, a curious electric phenomenon
according to some, produced according to others by hydrogeneous gas,
but believed by local superstition to be the phantom of a wrecked
emigrant ship whose passengers had fallen prey to the avarice of her
captain and crew.
The Legislature continues its labor of law-making, and among its
provisions is one prohibiting the manumission of slaves without bonds
from the owner to prevent them from coming upon the town. Another
act sets bounds to the authority of moderators in town meetings, and
requires that any motion supported by seven freeholders shall be put to
vote. Another requires that all money questions shall be announced in
the call for the meeting.
Among public annoyances we find Indian dances especially mentioned and
the regulation of them referred to the town councils, and the selling
or giving of intoxicating drinks upon the dancing ground strictly
forbidden.
To meet the growth of the Colony a new division of it into three
counties was made, and the judicial system altered to meet the change.
"Each county was to have its court house and jail." The responsibility
of public officers increases with the increase of the Colony in wealth.
The public treasurer was required to give bonds to the amount of twenty
thousand pounds and his salary raised first to one, and two years later
to two hundred pounds. A distrust of lawyers found expression in the
October session of 1729 in an act forbidding them to serve as deputies.
At the next session it was repealed and though never reënacted was more
than once brought up for discussion.
Among the eminent Englishmen of the first half of this century was
George Berkeley, Dean of Derry, better known by his later title of
Bishop of Cloyne, and still better by Pope's line:
"To Berkeley every virtue under Heaven."
He had taken high rank among the philosophers of his age by his new
theory of vision and other writings in which he denied the existence of
matter. Advancement in the church made him master of a large income,
which he resolved to employ in the service of religion by founding a
college in the Bermudas for the training of pastors for the colonial
churches and missionaries to the Indians. The benevolent object
failed through the failure of Lord Carteret to give him the aid of
government. Instead, therefore, of establishing himself in Bermuda, he
purchased a farm near Newport and built a house on it, which is still
known by the name of Whitehall. He brought with him a choice library, a
collection of pictures and a corps of literary men and artists, among
them the painter Smibert, who thus became the teacher of Copley and
West.
The influence of such a man is quickly felt in a young community,
and Berkeley soon gathered around him a body of cultivated men, who
joined with him in the discussion of questions of philosophy and the
collection of books. These books became the basis of the Redwood
Library. Not far from his house among what the modern tourist knows
as the hanging rocks is a natural alcove, which opening to the south
and roofed with stone commands an extensive view of the ocean. Here,
tradition says, Berkeley wrote his Alciphron or Minute Philosopher,
which was printed in Newport by James Franklin. But Berkeley had lived
too long among men of letters and in large cities to be contented with
the limited resources of a colonial town, and after a residence in
Newport of two years and a half, he returned to Europe and a broader
field of usefulness and honor. His library of eight hundred and eighty
volumes he left to Yale. Brown University was not yet established.
Legislation begins to take notice of charitable institutions. Attention
had already been called to the condition of the insane, and now a
fund was formed for the relief of disabled sailors and their families
by deducting sixpence a month from the wages of every seaman in active
service. This money was paid over to the town in which he lived and
which was bound to support him.
The respect for the rights of conscience which forms the fundamental
principle of the colonial polity, still meets us from time to time in
some new application. In 1730 the militia law was modified for the
protection of the Quakers. Provision was also made for the protection
of the Indians by an act requiring the assent of two justices of the
peace to give validity to any bond of apprenticeship in which they were
concerned.
In 1730 the Board of Trade called for a census. The population was
found to have increased six thousand in ten years--numbering fifteen
thousand three hundred whites, sixteen hundred and fifty blacks, and
nine hundred and eighty Indians--nearly eighteen thousand in all,
almost equally divided between the three counties. Of these eighteen
thousand nearly nine hundred were enrolled in the militia. Providence
was divided into four towns.
The question of paper money still excited the Colony. Governor Jenckes
was against it, but it was upheld by a majority of the Assembly. By
September, 1731, one hundred and ninety-five thousand three hundred
pounds had been issued in bills of credit, of which one hundred and
twenty thousand pounds were still outstanding. Silver had risen
from eight to twenty shillings an ounce. Yet such was the general
infatuation that in this very year a new bank was voted of sixty
thousand pounds.
Yet trade increased and the Colony prospered. The shipping had risen
in ten years from thirty-five hundred tons to five thousand, manned
by four hundred men. Boston was the principal mart for supplies,
but two ships came annually from England, two from Holland and the
Mediterranean, and ten or twelve from the West Indies. The exports
which comprised live stock, logwood, lumber, fish and the products
of the field and dairy, amounted to ten thousand pounds a year. The
ordinary expenses of the government amounted to two thousand, the
extraordinary to twenty-five hundred pounds a year, colonial currency.
The paper money controversy had raised a question as to the governor's
power of veto. The law officers of the crown were consulted by the
Board of Trade and declared that he had none. They decided also that
the King himself had none.
The publication of the laws had met a public want. The first edition
was soon exhausted and a new one called for. For many years small pains
were taken to secure accuracy in the text, the preparation of it being
left to the clerk. A wide door was thus left open for interpolation,
and it was through this door that the clause against Roman Catholics,
so contrary to the spirit and policy of the Colony crept into the
statute--to be silently dropped as soon as attention was called to it.
We have already seen that provision had been made for the defence
of the Colony by building a fort in Newport harbor. Additional
provisions were made at the October session of 1732, by imposing a
duty of sixpence a ton upon all vessels that entered the harbor except
fishermen. We have already seen that several attempts had been made for
the suppression of intemperance, and apparently with little success. In
1732 another moral principle was made the subject of legislation, and
"these unlawful games called lotteries" suppressed by statute. We shall
soon find them legalized and in some instances doing the office of
insurance companies. A more legitimate source of gain was found in the
whale fishery, which was successfully encouraged by a premium. Whales
were often taken in Narragansett Bay. But the first regular whaler that
entered Newport harbor was owned by Benjamin Thurston, and brought a
hundred and fourteen barrels of oil and two hundred pounds of bone.
It was not till many trials had been made that a satisfactory
regulation of the tenure of office was reached. On revising the
statutes good behavior was made the term of tenure for the judges and
clerks of common pleas. But the democratic element was too strong
to allow this prolongation to gain a footing of authority, and a
semi-annual election was soon substituted to the more conservative
system. The deputies had been chosen semi-annually. In 1733 this also
was changed to the whole year, but after a short trial changed back
again to the half year. The first printed schedules were distributed in
the summer of 1733. The October sessions were to be held alternately
at Providence and South Kingstown. The certificates of election were
carefully scrutinized and irregular proxies rejected. In 1734 the House
consisted of thirty-six deputies, ten assistants and three general
officers, a secretary, attorney and treasurer.
We have seen that vessels engaged in fishing were exempted from the
harbor duty. As a further encouragement the first year's interest on
the new loan was set apart for building a pier or harbor on Block
Island. Westerly harbor was repaired. The river fisheries also came
in for their share of protection, and dams or weirs were prohibited
and no fishing except by hook and line permitted during three days
in the week. The first session of the Assembly at East Greenwich was
distinguished by an act for the preservation of oysters, which the
thoughtless inhabitants were burning in large quantities for lime.
Important acts were passed for the regulation of mills. An attempt to
cut through the beach on Block Island failed, and the old pier was
enlarged.
The close of Governor Jenckes's term of office was embarrassed by
disputes arising from the paper money controversy. He declined a
reëlection, and William Wanton, brother of the Deputy, was chosen in
his stead. This was the only instance of brothers holding the two
principal offices of the Colony at the same time. The dispute between
Massachusetts and Rhode Island was referred to Commissioners from
New York and Connecticut. No decision was reached, but the Assembly
in acknowledgment of their services voted them three silver tankards
of the value of fifty pounds each, with "the arms of Rhode Island
handsomely engraved on them."
We have seen that Massachusetts like Rhode Island had sought a
temporary relief in the issue of paper money. The King interfered and
the Massachusetts bills were withdrawn. This was a severe blow to
Rhode Island, and hardly a less one to the tradesmen of Boston, whose
relations with Rhode Island were very intimate. Various devices were
recurred to for their protection, among them a combination to refuse
to take Rhode Island bills in payment for goods. But the necessities
of trade were too great. The combination gave way. Silver rose to
twenty-seven shillings an ounce. Debts were paid at a loss to the
creditor of thirty-three per cent. The future looked very dark.
Attention was called to the security of marriage. Till 1733 none but
Quakers or clergymen of the Church of England could perform the
ceremony. In 1733 authority to perform it was extended by the Assembly
to clergymen of every denomination.
The death of Governor William Wanton, which occurred in 1733, produced
a deep sensation throughout the Colony, where he was greatly respected
for his civil and military services. Few colonists stood higher with
the King. On a visit to England with his brother John, he was presented
by the Queen with a silver punch-bowl and salver and permitted to add
a game-cock lighting on a hawk to his arms. On his death his brother,
John Wanton, the Deputy-Governor, was chosen to fill his place.
Education still forced its claims, and we find George Taylor
successfully petitioning for leave to open a school in a chamber of
the county house of Providence. Fifty years before the first school in
Providence had been taught by William Turpin--of whom, unfortunately,
we know only the name.
From time to time come questions from the Board of Trade showing how
carefully England watched over her revenues. In one the Colony was
asked what revenue duties were laid upon British commerce. The impost
on slaves brought from the West Indies had been removed by the King's
orders, and Governor Wanton could answer that there were no duties
affecting the direct commerce with England. Yet a consciousness of
rights appears in more than one act of the Assembly. The Court of
Vice-Admiralty sometimes exceeded its legitimate authority and tried
causes over which it had no jurisdiction. This was a delicate matter
for the colonial legislature to interfere in, for the court was
appointed by the King. But without heeding this the Assembly conferred
upon the Supreme Court the power of injunction.
The small-pox was a frequent cause of alarm. In 1735-6 another fearful
disease desolated New England. It was called the throat distemper, and
is described as "a swelled throat, with white or ash-colored specks,
an efflorescence on the skin, great debility of the whole system and a
strong tendency to putrefaction." No age was exempt from it, but it was
most fatal among children.
Roads and bridges as we have already seen had received early attention.
Communication between the different parts of the Colony increased with
the increase of population. In 1736 a line of stages with special
privileges for seven years was established between Newport and Boston.
The natural development of trade was preparing the way for a closer
union among the colonies. Increased attention was given to the duties
and privileges of citizenship. It is sad to find that laws against
bribery at elections were called for at an early day. By those of
1736 both briber and bribed were fined double the sum offered or
received and deprived for three years of the right to vote. Illegal
voting was forbidden under the penalty of a fine of two pounds and
disfranchisement for three years.
The kindly feeling which the colonists cherished for the mother country
sometimes received a practical illustration. In the spring of 1737 His
Majesty's ship Tartar lay in Newport harbor, and that she was a welcome
visitor the Assembly proved by ordering that "a score of the best sheep
that may be got be presented to her commander, Mathew Norris, for the
use of the crew." None foresaw that the day would come when a British
press gang would seize free citizens in this same harbor.
The expenses of local government increased. To provide for this
increase authority was given the towns to assess traders from abroad
for a fair proportion of the outlays of the town. Changes were also
made in the mode of paying jurors. Hitherto they had been paid out
of the treasury--a mode liable to abuses and attended with great
inconvenience. It was voted that they should receive a fixed pay of six
shillings a day and pay their own expenses. Public attention had been
called early to protection from fires. As the population of the larger
towns grew, better protection was required. In Newport two companies of
firemen were organized, and to compensate them for their services they
were exempted from serving on juries or in the militia.