TRANSIT OF VENUS.--A STRONG DISLIKE TO ENGLAND MORE OPENLY
EXPRESSED.--NON-IMPORTATION AGREEMENT.--INTRODUCTION OF SLAVES
PROHIBITED.--CAPTURE OF THE GASPEE.
The feud of the two parties which had so long divided the Colony ceased
at the approach of danger from abroad. A new Governor was elected,
Josias Lyndon, and a new Deputy-Governor, Nicholas Cooke, whose name
meets us so honorably during the first years of the war, now close at
hand. For Ward and Hopkins a broader field of honorable rivalry was
opening, and we shall soon see them working earnestly together in the
Congress of the Declaration.
England had grown very angry over the attempts of the colonies to
organize a system of concerted action. But the times were full of
lessons, and the chiefest and most heeded among them was the lesson
of union. The Parliament of 1761 was as blind as its predecessors had
been, and came together firmly resolved to chastise the Americans
into obedience. Where both sides were equally suspicious and equally
embittered positive collision could not long be avoided. The first
occurred in Newport harbor between three midshipmen of the Senegal
man-of-war which was lying in the harbor, and some of the citizens. A
citizen, Henry Sparker, was run through the body by an officer named
Thomas Careless. Careless was indicted for murder, but acquitted on
trial by the Superior Court on the plea of self-defence. Collisions
occurred at Boston, all of which served to fan the flame of discontent.
To hasten the crisis a regiment supported by a naval force was sent to
overawe the rebellious town.
At the June session of the General Assembly (1758) an address was
voted to John Dickinson for his "Letters of a Farmer." In closing it
they "hope that the conduct of the colonies on this occasion will be
peaceable, prudent, firm and joint." Resistance was becoming a familiar
idea, and one of the most significant ways of expressing it was by
liberty trees. A large elm in front of Olney's tavern, in Providence,
was dedicated in the presence of an enthusiastic crowd, and an oration
embodying the popular sentiment pronounced by Silas Downer.
In the September session several important State papers were prepared,
and the withholding of the war money complained of as a great
injustice. Still in the midst of this growing disloyalty the King was
always spoken of with affection and respect.
While attention was thus anxiously directed to England, purely domestic
interests were not forgotten. The deputy-governor's salary was fixed
at fifteen pounds, half that of the governor. An educational society
was incorporated at Providence under the name of Whipple Hall. Laws
relative to real estate were passed, making it liable for debt after
the death of the holder. School and church lands were exempted from
taxation, and Trinity Church, in Newport, was incorporated, the first
incorporation of a church in Rhode Island. An act was passed, also,
wherein the old policy of protecting the river fish was changed, and
the Scituate Furnace Company allowed to keep up the dam in the spring.
In a previous year a general estimate of ratable estates had been
ordered. In 1769 it was reported and found to amount to two million
one hundred and eleven thousand two hundred and ninety-five pounds ten
shillings and sevenpence, or seven million thirty-seven thousand six
hundred and fifty-two dollars, at the current value of lawful money,
six shillings to a dollar, which was made by statute the basis of
taxation.
This was the year of the transit of Venus, to which astronomers were
looking forward with deep interest. In this band of observers Rhode
Island was represented by Governor Hopkins and other unprofessional
scientists in Providence, and by Ezra Stiles of Newport--and here we
again meet the name of Abraham Redwood, who was never either governor
or deputy-governor, but still lives in fresh remembrance as founder
of the Redwood Library. He furnished the instruments for the Newport
observation. The local memory of this event is still preserved in
Providence by the name of the street in which the observatory stood.
The latitude of Providence was found to be 41°, 50', 41"; its longitude
71°, 16' west from Greenwich.
Meanwhile the current was daily sitting more decidedly towards armed
resistance. Opinions which four years before had been cautiously
whispered in corners, now formed the chief topic of declamation in
every private and public gathering. Virginia passed unanimously another
series of resolutions more decided than the first, and sent copies
of them to every colonial assembly. Rhode Island thanked her through
the Governor. The Wilkes riots in London strengthened the hands of
the opposition, and Lord Hillsborough gave assurance at a meeting of
several colonial agents that the idea of drawing a revenue from America
had been given up, and the offensive revenue act would in all but the
tax on tea be repealed. Ministers failed to see that it was an inherent
right, not a sum of money for which the colonists were contending. And
in this contention they were prepared to go all lengths.
There was smuggling it was true, and thereby a constant loss to the
revenue, but the method of enforcing the revenue laws was vexatious
and intolerable to a free people. The officers employed in collecting
the revenue belonged to a class immemoriably odious, and even where
the collection was entrusted to officers of the Royal Navy it was
conducted with an insolence and disregard of the rights and feelings of
the colonists which made it doubly odious. Things had already reached
the pass at which compromises become impossible. Either the King or the
people must yield. Fortunately for mankind victory was where the young
fresh life lay, with the colonists.
Among those who had made themselves most offensive in their endeavors
to suppress the contraband trade was Captain William Reid, of the armed
sloop Liberty, which was cruising in quest of smugglers in Long Island
Sound and Narragansett Bay. Under the pretext of putting down illicit
trade he had sorely annoyed legitimate commerce. After bearing with his
annoyances till they could be borne no longer, the people of Newport
seized his vessel, scuttled and sank her, cut down her mast and burnt
her boat. This was the first overt act of the War of Independence.
Proclamations were issued and rewards offered, but the offenders were
never detected. Another wrong inflicted by the revenue officers was in
claiming higher fees than were allowed by law. After bearing this also
till their patience gave out, the merchants of Newport banded together
to resist the imposition.
The question of renewing the non-importation agreement came up for
decision. New York, which on this occasion had taken the lead, was
for extending them "indefinitely until every portion of the revenue
act shall be repealed." Boston followed the example. In Providence
and throughout the country opinion was divided, but after much
discussion nearly all concurred in admitting everything but tea, and
Newport brought down the indignation of the other colonies upon her by
admitting prohibited articles.
In these same days the chronicle records a murrain among the cattle
and hydrophobia among the dogs. From the first, relief was sought by
forbidding the exportation of cattle from the island, from the last by
giving general leave to kill all dogs running at large. These acts were
to hold good for four months.
This was the period of Newport's greatest prosperity. Her population
was over eleven thousand. She had seventeen manufactories of sperm oil
and candles, five rope-walks, three sugar refineries, one brewery and
twenty-two distilleries of rum, an article which in those days was
deemed essential to the health of the sailor and the soldier, and all
hard working men. Her foreign commerce found employment for nearly two
hundred ships, her domestic trade for between three and four hundred
coasting craft. A regular line of packets kept open her communications
with London for passengers and mails. Her society had never lost the
intellectual impulse given it by Berkeley. Ezra Stiles, the most
learned American of his day, filled one of her pulpits, Samuel
Hopkins, the founder of a new school of theology, another. A public
library, which still bears the name of its founder, furnished the means
of literary recreation and research. She would gladly have drawn Rhode
Island College to herself also, but though great efforts were made to
bring this about Providence made the better offer and obtained the
preference.
While this question was still under discussion the first Commencement
came round. Seven young men, clad like their officers in the products
of American looms, presented themselves for graduation. It was a
holiday in which all citizens could heartily unite, for it was the only
one which brought them together in the gratification of a common pride.
Commencement Day and Election Day continued to be the gathering days of
the Colony long after the Colony had become a State.
The greater part of the slaves of the Colony were in Newport, and
special laws were enacted concerning their general treatment and their
manumission. In the autumn session of 1770 these laws were revised, and
a bill introduced prohibiting their further importation. Unfortunately
this movement went no farther. The evil had struck too deep.
There was a lull in the storm. Even men not used to indulge vain hopes
began to think that the cloud which had so long darkened the horizon
might pass away. The revenue acts were still the chief obstacles to
harmony. Smugglers were as bold and as successful as ever. But nothing
occurred in 1771 to show that the final rupture was so near. Rhode
Island's peculiar grievance was the old war debt. To make one more
effort, Henry Marchant, the new attorney-general, was directed to join
Sherwood in enforcing the claim. Another old question was also revived,
that of the northern boundary. Among the acts of the Assembly was a new
bankrupt law. The evils of a paper currency still continued to bear
their fruit.
But one of the most dangerous movements of this year was a claim
advanced by Governor Hutchinson to the command of the Rhode Island
forts and militia. This claim Rhode Island had contested when advanced
by former governors, nor was she disposed to yield to it now. Still
less was she disposed to accept a proposal which at this time came from
Bristol under the signature, "A Friend to Property," to divide Rhode
Island between Massachusetts and Connecticut, or ask that she should be
made a royal government upon the ground that "an elective legislature
must always be a source of disorder and corruption" in a small state.
That Rhode Island was not disorderly nor corrupt was proved by the
conduct of her courts. A merchant of Wrentham named David Hill was
detected by the New York Committee of Inspection "in selling goods
included in the non-importation agreements." By the persuasion of the
committee he was prevailed upon "to deposit his goods with a merchant
till the revenue acts should be repealed." But the suspicions of the
people were excited, and they seized the goods and destroyed them. Hill
finding in Rhode Island "property belonging to some of the committee,"
sued them in the Rhode Island courts, asserting that in giving up his
goods he had acted upon compulsion. The sympathies of the courts and
the people were against him. But, guided by the law and the evidence
the Court of Common Pleas awarded him heavy damages and the Superior
Court confirmed the award. In the next year when a new election came
round and the voice of the people was heard, they also confirmed it by
reëlecting the same men for judges. These righteous judges were Stephen
Hopkins, James Helme, Benoni Hall, Metcalf Bowler and Stephen Potter.
While these things were a doing the insolence of the officials
employed in enforcing the revenue laws reached its highest point.
The suppression of smuggling in Narragansett Bay was entrusted to
Lieutenant Duddingston, of the Royal Navy, with two armed vessels--the
Gaspee, a schooner of eight guns, and the Beaver. Not contented
with performing the duties of his office, still vexatious even when
considerately executed, he multiplied its annoyances by a thousand
acts of petty tyranny. He stopped vessels of every kind without
discrimination--ships just from sea, and market boats on their way to
Providence and Newport with their perishable freights, and to increase
the indignity refused to show his commission or the authority by which
he acted. Admiral Montague, who commanded on the station, justified
him in his oppression. Complaints were sent to England, but the day of
complaint was past.
On the 8th of June the sloop Hannah, Benjamin Lindsey, master, arrived
at Newport from New York, and having reported at the custom house set
sail the next day for Providence. No sooner was she seen from the deck
of the Gaspee than the watchful servant of the King gave chase, and
venturing too near a point which ran out from the right bank of the
river took ground. Captain Lindsey kept on his course with the welcome
tidings that the common enemy was at bay. At the beat of the drum
the exasperated citizens came crowding to the gathering place, James
Sabin's house in South Main Street. Eight long boats with five oars
each were manned. Powder was prepared and bullets run, and when night
set in with its friendly shades the resolute band set forth on its
mission of vengeance.
It was long after midnight when they came within sight of the doomed
vessel hard set in the sand, and heard the first hoarse challenge of
the guard. Without heeding it they dashed forward and as a second
challenge came were at her side. Duddingston sprang upon the
gunwale--he had no time to dress, no time to arm himself or call his
men to quarters--but as he stood full in view his figure caught the
eye of Joseph Bucklin who was standing on one of the main thwarts.
"Eph.," said Bucklin to Ephraim Bowen, who was sitting on the thwart
on which Bucklin was standing and who lived to tell the story in his
eighty-sixth year, "reach me your gun, I can kill that fellow." As Eph.
was reaching him the gun, Whipple, one of the leaders was beginning
to answer Duddingston's hail:--"I am the sheriff of the County of
Kent, God damn you,"--but while he was yet speaking Bucklin fired and
Duddingston fell, wounded in the stomach. The surprise was complete.
The crew with their wounded commander were sent ashore and the vessel
burned to the water's edge.
Who were these bold men? Everybody in Providence knew; but although
large rewards were offered for their detection and a special tribunal
formed to try them, nobody was ever found to bear witness against them.
So deep were the feelings that prepared the way for the separation from
England.