A short history of Rhode Island

by George Washington Greene

But the rights of the colonies were boldly and ably defended by Sir Henry Ashurst, the agent of Connecticut, and the fatal bill rejected after a full discussion. Dudley himself, however, was in high favor. He was appointed Governor and Vice-Admiral of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and what was still more objectionable Vice-Admiral of Rhode Island and King’s Province, a fruitful source of jealousies and bickerings.

Meanwhile the Assembly went on in its work of legislation, taking advantage of its experience to correct old errors, and gradually adapting the laws to the increasing wants of society. At the May session of 1701 we find justices of the peace first mentioned in connection with a general election. Thirteen were then appointed. In the same session a resolution for the reörganization of the militia law was again brought forward and the law of marriage revised and made more stringent. New powers were given the governor for enforcing the navigation act. Progress had been made towards a correct estimate of the obligations of society to its officers. The governor’s salary was raised to forty pounds—a sum much increased during the year by special gratuities. The recorder was forbidden to practice at the bar except in cases which concerned himself or the town or Colony. Protection against vagrants was sought in a rigid vagrant act, extending to comers from other colonies, deserters from the King’s service and “passengers brought in by sea and landed without consent of the authorities.”

The short lived treaty of Ryswick was broken, and in the May session of 1702 preparations were made for the defence of Newport harbor by building a fort on Goat Island. In the town itself a battery was erected near the ground now occupied by the Union Bank. The funds for these defences were to be drawn from “forfeitures to the treasury and the gold plate and money taken from convicted pirates.” The pay of the garrison at the fort was fixed at twelve pounds a year, with rations. Scouts, that essential element of every good army, but especially necessary where the enemy were part Indians, received three shillings a day while in active service. The spirit of adventure was awakened. Captain William Wanton, of Portsmouth, took out a commission as privateersman and brought in several valuable prizes.

In September Dudley undertook to take command of the Rhode Island troops—about two thousand men in all, and coming to Newport directed that they should be called out in his name. The calm but firm resistance of Governor Cranston and Major Martindale thwarted his usurpation, and he left the town in disgust.

In 1703 the long boundary line contest between Rhode Island and Connecticut was brought to a close, and Rhode Island confirmed in the jurisdiction over Narragansett which had been assigned to her in the arbitration of Clarke and Winthrop. Much of this was owing to the staunch loyalty of the men of Westerly, where its good effects were immediately felt. Yet so little were the true interests of the colonies understood by their transatlantic rulers, that it was not till twenty-three years later that the decision of the Commissioners was formally approved by the King.

This failure to comprehend the character and interest of the colonies showed itself in various ways, but in none more offensively than in the attempt of the Board of Trade to make Dudley Governor of Rhode Island by royal appointment. But fortunately for Rhode Island, the powerful William Penn had been enlisted on her side, and the Queen’s Council refused to accept the recommendation of the Board of Trade.

Another question which menaced serious danger to the Colony by placing it in a false position towards the mother country arose from the war. How far was she bound to send troops to the support of her sister colonies? Dudley claimed them for the defence of the Massachusetts frontier, Lord Cornberry for that of New York. Rhode Island pointed to her long water front, broken by bays and coves and constantly exposed to the fleets and privateers of the enemy, and claimed that she needed her men for her own protection. As a proof, however, of her willingness to do all that could justly be asked of her, she appealed to her past conduct and to the fact that during the last seven years she had spent nearly a thousand pounds a year for military purposes.

The war bore hardly upon the resources of the Colony. A French fleet was expected on the coast. Scouts were constantly on the look-out. Block Island was garrisoned. The fleet did not come, but one incident occurred which, though upon a small scale, brought out in strong colors the maritime spirit of the Colony. A French privateer in a cruise off Block Island took a sloop laden with provisions. The news reached the Governor the next day. In two hours two sloops, manned by one hundred and twenty volunteers, and commanded by Captain John Wanton, were on their way in pursuit of the enemy, and in less than three hours more took her, recaptured her prize and brought both safe into Newport.

The current of our history still continues to flow in a narrow channel. Each new session of the Assembly added to the body of the laws and met new wants. Newport had no charter. One was granted her by special statute. The other towns held theirs by grants of the Assembly. The subject of a court of chancery began to attract attention in 1705, but was held to be premature, and its duties were still left for the present with the Assembly.

Boundary questions still continued to occupy the Assembly and annoy the inhabitants of the border. The northern boundary brought Rhode Island into direct collision with Massachusetts, which was now the heiress of the claims of Plymouth. Commissioners were appointed who made no report, and it was only by slow steps that the Colony assumed its permanent form and dimensions.