A discourse, embracing the civil and religious history of Rhode-Island; delivered April 4, A.D. 1838, at the close of the second century from the first settlement of the island

Preface

i\o people can dwell on the pages of their own iristory with more supreme satisfaction, or derive from that history more lasting and salutary instructions, than the people of Rhode-Island. To be ignorant of our own history, betrays most criminal apathy to our own intellectual happiness, ^^and to the high and elevated principles of the men from whom we descended, and by whom were transmitted I and secured to us, the blessings of civil and religious freedom.

^ The object of the writer in the following pages, has ^been to embody and present before the risen and rising "^generation, some of the most important facts and incidents V'^of our history, during the past century. Nor could the writer feel justified, in a discourse of this nature, without alluding to the circumstances and events which led to the settlement of this State, and especially of our own loved Rhode-Island.

The war of the Revolution, as connected with the history of this Island, which, for the greater part of that long continued and sanguinary conflict, was in possession of the enemy, constitutes unavoidably a large proportion of this discourse. Nor can the writer persuade himself to believe that the reminiscence of those events can be uninteresting to the descendants of those illustrious men, who shared iv PREFACE

in the perils of the Revolution, and achieved the American Independence.

The Ecclesiastical History of Rhode-Island, rich in interest to the Philanthropist and Christian, and furnishing ample materials for the Historian, has been only glanced at, the writer being conscious, in a work like this, of his utter inability to do justice to that part of our history, and has believed that an abridged history of tlie Churches on this Island, would more deeply interest the reader than general observations, and contribute to the glory of the riches of Divine grace. If the following pages shall in any wise tend to promote these objects, the highest ambition of the Author will be accomplished,

JVewport, May 1, 1838.

A DISCOURSE.

EZRA IV, ]5.

THAT SEARCH MAY BE WADE IN THE BOOK OF THE RE- CORDS OF THY FATHERS.

Two centuries have now passed away, since the venerable John Clarke and his little band of persecuted brethren, entered this then inhospitable and savage desert, rejoicing in it as an asylum of rest, from the relentless hand of religious intolerance and persecution. Here they erected the temple of civil and religious freedom, and on her sacred altar, pledged their persons, lives and estates, to maintain unimpaired, the inalienable rights of man.

In consequence of the unjust and' arbitrary decisions of the General Court of Massachusetts, Mr. Clarke and several others were appointed by their friends, to select a spot where they might' inhale the atmosphere of freedom, and worship God aceordifig to the dictates of their own conscience, unmolested. After wandering a while in the wilderness of New Hampshire, they directed their course to the south, intending to find a residence in a more congenial cliniate. On their arrival at Providences they were very kindly received by Roger Williams, who had previously been banished from the Colony of Massachusetts, for his peculiar views of civil and religious polity ; and who among other things, (says Mr. Callender,) was charged with insisting on the most unlimited toleration or liberty of conscience.

Mr. Williams recommended to these wandering exiles, the waters of the Narragansett Bay, as the peculiar residence of the genius of religious freedom, and advised them to take up their abode on her shores. He also very kindly offered his services in procuring them a settlement ; and through his influence witJi the two great Sachems of Narragansett, Canonicus and Myantonomo, (whose confidence he enjoyed) a deed of Aquitneck, (now Rhode-Island) and other Islands of the Bay, was procMred in the name of Mr. Coddington and friends, in March, 1638.

These venerable men commenced the settlement oi this Island, under the influence of sentiments the most pure and elevated, that ever inspired the heart, or dignified the cliaracter of man. They were bound together as a community of freemen — not by chartered rights and conventional stipulations — but by moral and religious principle. By mutual voluntary pledges, given by a solemn appeal to the great searcher of hearts, for their faithful performance.

The following is the original Charter of the American Isle of Rhodes : — We, whose names are underwritten, do swear solemnly in the presence of the Great Jehovah, to incorporate ourselves into a body politic ; and as he shall help us, will submit our persons, lives and estates, unto the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, and to all those most perfect laws of his, given us in his most holy word of truth, to be guided and judged thereby."

Such were the principles adopted, and such the senti-

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T ments set forth, as the great charter of rights, by those who had the honor of planting the first community of civihzed man on Rhode-Island.

The first settlement on the Island, was commenced at its northern extremity, where a town was regularly laid out, and at first named Pocasset; subsequently Portsmouth. But so rapid was the increase of the Colony, during the following summer, that it was deemed advisable for their mutual prosperity, to commence a settlement on some other part of the Island.

Accordingly, the following spring, Mi\ Clarke with several others, removed to this part of the Island, and commenced a settlement, to which they gave the name of Newport. The Island itself, subsequently, by order of the General Court, was called the Isle of Rhodes, or Rhode-Island, in memory of that celebrated Isle of the Mediterranean Sea. The first dwelling-house built in this town, was erected by Nicholas Easton — nil prior dwellings were tents and wigwams. Both towns w^ere united under the same simple patriarchal form of government, of which Mr. William Coddington was chosen Magistrate, or Judge. A few months subsequently, they chose Mr. John Coggeshall, Nicholas Easton, and William Brenton, his assistants. Mr. Coggeshall descended fl'om an ancient and respectable family in England. He came to this country with Mr. Coddington, in 1630, and was admitted a freeman of the town of Boston, in 1632. He was a member of the first Board of Selectmen of Boston, and represented that town in General Court, in 1634-5-6, and the Spring session of 1637, but was disfranchised for conscience toward God, that same year. — His disfi:-anchisement with others, created great discontent among his friends, which led to their removal, and finally to the settlement of this Island. Mr. Coggeshall enjoyed the confidence of the Colony of Rhode-Island, and at the time of his death, which occurred in 1647, he was President of the Colony. He lies in the Coggeshall

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burial place, a little south of Newport. The following is the inscription on his tomb-stone :— -

Here lyeth the Body of JOHN COGGESHALL, Sen. Esq. who died the First President of the Colony, the 27th of Nov^. 1647, aged about 56 years.''

His descendants are still numerous on the Island, and many of them are among our most respectable citizens.

Mr. Coddington came to this country with Governor Hutchinson, having been appointed in 1629, by the British government, one of the Assistants of the Massachusetts Colony. He engaged in mercantile business in Boston, and built the first brick house in that town. But notwithstanding all the facihties he there enjoyed of promoting his own temporal prosperity, yet he chose to relinquish all these, for the sake of religious freedom. — Accordingly, in 1638, with the beloved Clarke and sixteen others, he left the Colony of Massachusetts, and commenced the settlement of this Island ; and was by his companions in tribulation, unanimously elected Chief Magistrate or Judge of the Colony ; which office he held until the Island was incorporated with Providence and Warwick. In 1651, he w^as appointed by the Supreme Authority of England, Governor of the Island, pursuant to a power reserved in the patent, by which the Island became again separated from the Providence Plantations.

But the people, jealous of their rights and fearful that their freedom might be endangered, dispatched Mr. Williams and Mr. Clarke to England, to get it revoked. On receiving due notice from England, Mr. Coddington gave up his commission and retired to private life, when the Island again become united with the Plantations. Mr. Coddington was again elected Governor of the Colony, in 1674-1675, and 1678, on which year he died, aged 78 years. He was a man of extensive learning, and assisted in framing the body of laws, which has been the basis of our constitution and government ever since. — Governor Coddington was interred m the family buriaK

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g place, which at his death he gave the Society of Friends, (in Farewell-street,) just South of the North Baptist meeting-house. The freemen of Newport, in Town Meeting, August 30, 1836, appointed a Committee to repair the monument at the head of the grave of this distinguished friend and advocate of civil and religious freedom.

The last of the original purchasers and proprietors of this Island, was Henry Bull, Esq. who died in 1693, aged 84 years. He built a house at the settlement on the North part of the Island, in 1638, and was one of the seven proprietors, who in 1639, commenced the settlement of this town. He held various public offices in this Colony from its first settlement, until a few years before his death. He was Governor of the Colony, in 1685, after which, being at a very advanced age, he relinquished public employment, to end his days in domestic peace ; but after the revolution in England, (the Colony Charter having been vacated, and Rhode-Island put under tlie government of Sir Edmund Andros, who held it until the spring of 1689,) he was induced again to come forward into public life.

After Sir Edmund Andros was imprisoned in Boston, the freemen of Rhode-Island met in Newport on the 1st of May, 1689, and determined to resume their former CJiarter and government, and proceeded to choose their officers accordingly ; but of the persons appointed, many refused to accept, and among the number, the Governor elect, in consequence of the boldness and responsibility of the measure, the dangerous and unsettled state of the times, the uncertainty what reception their proceedings might meet in England, and what personal consequences might fall upon those most forward in the undertaking.

The government was not fully organized until the February following, all which time, none of the principal inhabitants could be found of sufficient nerve, to accept the gubernatorial chair, but this man, then at a very advanced age. He was then appointed by the Assembly, ac-

HISTORICx^L DISCOURSI^.

cepted the office, and served until the next annual election, when he was agam elected, but positively refused to serve any longer, as the danger which had deterred others, no longer existed, at least to the same extent."

The house erected by Governor Bull, in Newport, is of stone, and still standing on the East side of Spring-street, near Broad-street. Governor Bull lies buried in the Coddington burial place, where a plain and unostentatious slab points the passing stranger to the spot, where sleep the mouldering ashes of this bold and fearless patriot.

Henry Bull, Esq. of Newport, is his lineal descendant, and now in possession of the patrinnonial estate of his ancestor.

In 1643, Mr. Williams, as the agent of the Colonies of Narragansett Bay, obtained a Charter of incorporation from the British Crown, granting them permission to make laws for themselves, so far as the nature and constitution of the place would admit, subject to the laws of England.

In 1663, Mr. Clarke, who for several years had been in England, as agent of the Colonies, procured a Charter, by which the province v/as mcorporated a body politic, by the name of the Governor and Company of the Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, in New-England, in America.

This act of incorporation, securing as it does to all, the inalienable rights of man, tlie free and unrestricted exerdse of his own judgment and conscience, on all questions t)f religion, the freemen of Rhode-Island have guarded with a kind of patriotic enthusiasm, which has rebuked with severity, the hand put forth to mar the form of this Magna Charta of civil and religious freedom.

Mr. Williams is justly and deservedly venerated by the people of Rhode-Island, as the bold and uncompromising advocate of religious toleration ; and wrestled hard for liberty of conscience for himself and his fellow men. But the name of Mr. Clarke, first mentioned in the Charter of Rhode-Island, should be cherished in the

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same grateful remembrance, by every friend of civil and relio-ious freedom. He was the companion of Mr. Williams in iribulation for conscience sake, and although his feet were not made fast in the stocks, yet he suffered im- ])risonment and bonds, and was sentenced to receive forty stripes save ten, by the religious conscience-keepers of Massachusetts. To both, under God, the people of Rhode-Island are greatly indebted, for the blessings they now enjoy.

No legislative jurisdiction in Rhode-Island, has ever been exercised or assumed over the creeds or consciences of men; but the most free and unlimited exercise of the mind on all questions of religion and conscience, has at all times been enjoyed. Rhode-Island has demonstrated to the world, that the Church needs not the arm of civil power to direct her councils or control her interests ; that Jesus Christ is king in his ov\^n kingdom ; that she needs no other protection or support, than that of Jesus Christ; the civil power leaving each and every one to act according to the dictates of their own conscience, and depriving none of the rights of freemen, for believing this, or disbelieving that. So far from legislative interference and restraint, the very first act of legislation decreed that every person who submits peaceably to civil government, in this Colony, shall worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, unmolested.

In 1644, it was decreed by the General Court, that none be accounted a delinquent for doctrine, provided it be not repugnant to the government, or the laws established.

In 1647, it was further ordered and decreed by the same body, That all men may walk as their own consciences persuade them, every one in the name of his God. And let the sheep and lambs of the Most High walk together in this Colony, without molestation, in the name of Jehovah their God, forever and ever." And to the honor of Rhode-Island and the glory of the Christian name, let it be told to our children from generation

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to generation, that when in 1656, the Colonies of Plymouth, Massachusetts, Hartford, and New-Haven, attempted to urge their sanguinary edicts against the Quakers on the Colony of Rhode-Island, calling on the legislature for an act of proscription, and enforcing that call by threatening to cut off all commercial intercourse with them, in case they refuse to comply, they nobly and promptly answer — We shall strictly adhere to the foundation principles on which this Colony was first settled, to wit : that every man who submits peaceably to civil government in this Colony, shall worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, without molestation.''

Doctor McSparran, a missionary of the Church of England, who visited this country about the year 1720, and who labored for several years on the Narragansett side of the Bay, in a book of his, published in 1752, has recorded some important facts in the history of Rhode- Island, whether from love or ill will, I leave the reader to judge.

" The first settlers of Rhode-Island," says the Dr.

pere?7rinated through the wilderness and fell in with Rhode-Island, and removed their families and effects to Providence.

These Rhode-Island refugees resolved themselves by their own, instead of better authority, into a body politic, with liberty of conscience allowed to people of all persuasions. In Connecticut, independency is the religion of the State. But in Rhode-Island, no religion at all is established. Here, a man may with impunity, be of any persuasion, or of none at all. But the Quakers for the most part, are the people in power.

As Quakerism first broke out in England, in 1651, so in 1654, emissaries of that enthusiasm were dispatched to the West Indies. And no sooner did their preachers appear in Rhode-Island, than they found many too well prepared to receive this pestilent heresy. The twenty-four years that had passed away since their removal from i

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England, and the seventeen since their settlement in Rhode-Island, had carried off the stage most of those who had received the first rudiments of religion in their mother country. Aqd as Quakerism prevailed, learning was decried, and ignorance and heresy so increased, that neither Epeplian'us' nor Sir Richard Blackmore's Catalogue, contains more heterodox and conflicting opinions in religion, than are to be found in this little corner.

The magistrates of Massachusetts hanged four of these quake-speakers ; this, together with other severities exercised on their proselytes in that province, contributed to send shoals of these sectaries to Rhode-Island. In 1700, (says the Dr.) after Quakerism and other heresies had in their turn, ruled over and tinged all the inhabitants for forty-six years, the Cliurch of England, which had been lost here, by the neglect oi the Crown, entered as it were unobserved and unseen, and yet not without some success.

In 1702, a little Church was formed in Newport, the metropolis of the Colony, and that in which I labor in Narragansett. There have been two incumbents before me, neither of which had resolution enough to grapple with the difficulties of the mission, more than a year a piece.

I entered this field in 1721, and found the people not a tasula rasa, or clean sheet of paper, on which I might make any impression I pleased ; but a field full of briers and thorns and noxious weeds, that were all to be eradicated, before I could implant within them the simplicity of truth. But, by the blessing of God, I have brought over some hundreds to the Church. And among the hundreds I have baptized, there are at least one hundred and fifty who receive the sacrament from my hands, from 20 years old and upward to 70 or 80,

" Besides the members of our Church, (continues the Dr.) who 1 may boast are the best of the people — being converts not from convenience and civil encouragement, but from conscience and conviction — there are Quakers, 2

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and Anabaptists of four sorts ; Independents^ and a still greater number devoid of all religion, and attend no kind of worship. In all the other Colonies the law obliges men to attend religious worship on the Sabbath, somewhere. But in Rhode-Island, liberty of conscience is carried to an irreligious extreme/'^

It is not my intention, however, to dwell on the history of the State, nor even of this Island, beyond the limits of the past century. The beloved Calender, whose name is associated with the history of this Church, in his celebrated discourse delivered in this place one hundred years ago, has given us a brief, but faithful history of the events which led to the settlement of this Island, and its subsequent history for one hundred years.

The duty assigned me on the present occasion, is a continuation of the history of Rhode-Island, commencing with the close of the first Century. Nor can it be supposed, that this can be comprised in a discourse of ordinary length, nor even of twice the length of Mr. Calender's.

And here it is but an act of justice for me to acknowledge, that for the materials of this discourse, I am chiefly indebted to Henry Bull, Esq. of this town, whose efforts to collect and preserve the history of Rhode-Island, posterity alone can fully appreciate, and which entitles him 10 a name among the benefactors of the human race. — To Benjamin B. Howland, Esq. and other gentlemen of Newport, I am indebted for many facts and incidents

* It is to be lamented that great and good men, when speaking or writing of those who differ from them only in matters of conscience, should not more implicitly regard the Apostle's injunction, " speak evil of no man cultivate that charity which is averse to give offence, and seek to maintain an amicable intercourse with all mankind. Could the Dr. have lived at a more fortunate age of the world, when the great principles of religious toleration and liberty of conscience were more perfectly understood, it is believed he must have been convinced, that his charges against the Quakers, were unmerited and severe.

connected with the history of this Island, during the past century.

From March, 1738, at which time Mr. Calender delivered his sermon, to 1744, but little is found in the history of Rhode-Island to interest the reader, save the local affairs of the Colony. In 1742, the boundary line betw^een the Colony of Massachusetts and Rhode-Island, was settled at Providence, by commissioners appointed by the King, before whom the parties were heard by counsel.

Rhode-Island had previously contended with her litigious neighbors, only for the gore of land which now constitutes the town of Cumberland. But at this time, she pressed her claim for three miles east of Narragansett Bay, as expressed in her Charter from his Majesty King Charles II. The Commissioners decided that Rhode- Island w^as not only entitled to the gore, but also to the tliree miles Eastward of the Bay, which now comprises the towns of Little-Compton, Tiverton, Bristol, Warren, and Barrington.

From this decision, the Colony of Massachusetts appealed to the King in Council — which appeal was heard and tried in England, and the decision of the Commissioners confirmed and established by the decree of his Majesty, on the 28th of May, 1746.

On the 4th of March, 1744, the government of France which had been secretly aiding the enemies of Great Britain, with which she was at war, assumed a belligerent attitude, and proclaimed w^ar with that government ; which was responded to by the British Parliament the same month, in a declaration of war with France.

Previous to the declaration of war, the Colonies had been apprized of the approaching storm, and were aroused to a sense of the threatening dangers with which they were surrounded. The French privateers which hovered round the coast of New-England, greatly embarrassed her commerce, and almost entirely destroyed her valuable fisheries.

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The Legislature of Massachusetts decided, after mucB discussion, to invite the other Colonies to unite with them in an expedition against Louisburgh, the Gibraltar of the French American Provinces. Into the spirit of this enterprise, the legislature of Rhode-Island entered with patriotic ardor, and at the May session of that body, passed a resolution to raise a regiment of one hundred and fifty men, exclusive of officers ; and that the Colony sloop Tartar, be fitted out with a complement of 90 men, exclusive of officers.

The expedition was crowned with success, and after a siege of forty-nine days, the city of Louisburgh and the Island of Cape Breton, were surrendered by the French to his Britannic Majesty, June 17th, 1745.

The capture of Louisburgh by the Colonies, stung the Court of France with mortification and revenge, and they resolved to chastise them for their insolence. Accordingly, an expedition was fitted out for tliis purpose, consisting of forty ships of v^ar and fifty-six transports, with three thousand five hundred men, and forty thousand stand of arms, for the French and Indians.'' The Colo- Dies saw and acknowledged their danger, from their total inability to defend themselves in case of an invasion, by so numerous and formidable a fleet ; and the inhabitants of the seaport towns were thrown into the greatest con^ sternation.

No people had more to fear from foreign invasion in New-England, than the people of Newport. From the extent of her commercial interests, their local situation, and the facility with which the town might be approached with the largest ships of war, the inhabitants were thrown into the greatest agitation and distress. Nor were these apprehensions allayed, until in October, it was ascertained that God had interposed for the Colonies, and gotten the victory with his own arm.

So disastrous was this expedition to the French, that among all this mighty and formidable fleet, destined to lajr in ruins the smiling villages of New-England, n ol

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more than two or three ships and a few transports, ever reached her coast. A violent storm at sea either destroyed or damaged many of them. Others were compelled to return on account of a most fearful pestilence which swept off hundreds of their crews, and made the bravest hearts to tremble.

The Admiral or Commander in Chief of the whole French squadron, on reaching the coast of New-England, died of mortification ; or as some say, of poison. The Vice- Admiral came to a similar tragical end, by running himself through the body with his own sword. That part of the fleet which arrived on the coast, sailed with an intention of making an attack upon Annapolis, but a storm again scattered them, and they were forced to return, without effecting any part of the work of destruction originally intended.

Thus were the Colonies preserved, not by the policy of their councils, nor the prowess of their arms — but by the Providence of God. Preliminaries of peace were soon entered into between Franco and England, and a definitive treaty was signed in October, 1748.

The privateers of Rhode-Island distinguished themselves in this war, and during tlie year 1745, more than twenty prizes, some of them of imm.ense value, were sent into Newport. One of the most bold and intrepid naval commanders of that age, or perhaps of any age, was Captain John Dennis, of Newport. He seems to have been formed for deeds of daring, and nerved to dwell amidst the sanguinary strife of war unmoved. After having captured a number of French privateers in the West Indies, a sloop of war was fitted out at Ivlartinico, for the express purpose of his capture. But after an engagement of four hours, she was taken possession of by Captain Dennis and carried into St. Kitts. Here he received that attention which he had so justly merited from the Governor and other officers of the Island, and who, as a testimony of respect for his valuable services, presented

him with a golden oar and a purse of five hundred pistoles. 2#

The employments and pursuits of the inhabitants of this Island, during the war, were almost exclusively of a naval or military character ; and, perhaps, at no period had enjoyed greater commercial prosperity. So that as far as Newport was concerned, the return of peace was rather hostile to her interests than othervi^ise.

At the close of the war, a vast amount of property was owned by the people of this town ; which, however valuable in time of war, was of but little value in time of peace. Their implements of war could not readily be converted into instruments of husbandry, nor articles of merchandize, without great sacrifice to the owners. The depreciation also, of bills of credit, issued during the war, which the Colonies were unable to redeem, was severely felt by the comm.unity, and greatly embarrassed: the commercial interests of the Colony.

The return of (oeace, however, was hailed as the harbinger of prosperity. And although the return of prosperity was the work of time^ yet the enterprising spirit of the people soon exerted itself to repair the losses which had been sustained. Commerce again flourished, industry and enterprise were encouraged, and public confidence revived.

But scarcely had the Colonies time to reap the benefits of peace, before their brightening prospects were again overshadowed by the dark elements of strife, and the tocsin of war again spread anxiety and distress through the whole breadth of the land.

After a period of only e'loht years, in May, 1758, CJvreat Britain under George II. formally declared war with France; which declaration was reciprocated by France the following month. The causes which led to this war, commonly distinguished by the name of the

French and Indian War," were the alleged encroachments of the French, on the English settlements in America.

This war terminated in 1763, by the cession of Nova Scotia, Canada, the Isle of Cape Breton, and all other

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Islands of the Gulf and River St. Lawrence, to the British Crown. In all the splendid achievements of the British arms during these long protracted and sanguinary conflicts, the people of New-England bore a very distinguished and conspicuous part. And no town, perhaps, of equal size in New-England, contributed more to the glory of the British Crown, than Newport.

The year 1758, is also rendered memorable in the history of Rhode-Island, as opening the great political drama of Messrs. Stephen Hopkins and Samuel Ward. — Mr. Hopkins at the time, filled the chair of the Chief Magistrate, and Mr. Ward entered the field to contend with him for that honor. Mr. Ward was the favorite candidate of the South, and received the almost undivided support of the mercantile interest ; while Mr. Hopkins was as warmly supported by the yeomanry of the North, and was again re-elected the three succeeding years. — In 1762, Mr. Ward was elected, but was defeated the following year and Mr. Hopkins elected. The strife of political party raged with increasing violence, until such was the heart-burning hostility of the belligerent parties, as very greatly to impair the enjoyment of domestic tranquility, and interrupt the hospitahties of social life.