The war dragged heavily on, eating into the resources of the Colony and driving her to that most fatal of all expedients, the issue of paper money. A great expedition against Canada was planned, and failed. Rhode Island, which had been very active in raising men and supplies and had taxed herself liberally, shared the common disappointment.
The next attempt was more successful. A fleet of twelve ships of war and twenty-four transports sailed from Nantasket roads on the 18th of September, reached Port Royal in six days and took it after a short siege. The colonists were very happy. The name of Port Royal was changed to Annapolis, the city of Anna. The martial spirit of the colonies was roused and in the following year, 1711, they eagerly entered into the plans of the English ministry for the invasion of Canada. But although the greatest exertions were made the expedition failed.
Meanwhile the Assembly still continued its labor of legislation. The Court of Trials adopted the course which had been established two years before by the Court of Appeals, and began to charge a fee before entering a case upon the docket. Education was a subject of legislative interest. In Newport the public school was placed in charge of the town council, and provision made for opening a Latin school under Mr. Galloway. Various other minor incidents show the progress of the Colony. Public highways were a subject of general attention in Newport. Providence, which lay on the bank of a navigable river, was more directly interested in bridges. Names were given to the streets and alleys, and, as an element in the growth of the Colony, it may not be uninteresting to know that the first town crier was appointed in 1711. As an encouragement to commerce all “river craft trading as far as Connecticut” were exempted from custom dues, and no fees were exacted for free goods. The profits of the navigation act, as has already been stated, had been seriously affected by clandestine traders. To guard against this evil a law was passed requiring “all persons resident for three months in the Colony and intending to leave, to advertise their intention ten days before hand, so that their creditors might have due notice.”
CHAPTER XVII.
PAPER MONEY TROUBLES.—ESTABLISHMENT OF BANKS.—PROTECTION OF HOME INDUSTRIES.—PROPERTY QUALIFICATIONS FOR SUFFRAGE.
The treaty of Utrecht gave peace to England and her dependencies, leaving them free to follow out the peaceful development of commerce and manufactures. War had brought on paper money, which was first issued to meet the expenses of the second expedition against Port Royal. This first issue was of five thousand pounds in bills of from five pounds to two shillings, equal in value as far as legislation could make them so, “to current silver of New England, eight shillings to the ounce. They were to be received in all payments due the treasury, to be redeemed in specie at the end of five years,” and meanwhile were secured by an “annual tax of a thousand pounds.” To counterfeit or deface them was felony. Further issues of eight thousand pounds were made by the end of the war, and secured by new taxes. Thus was opened the great gulf which was to swallow the fruits of much laborious industry.
The Assembly made another step towards its present form by electing a clerk outside the house. The pay of this first clerk was six shillings a day.
The military stores which had been collected during the war were divided into two classes. Those of a perishable nature were sold. The rest were carefully stored away to be ready for the chances of another war. “The cannon were tarred and laid on logs on the governor’s wharf.” The garrison of Fort Anne was dismissed. The labors of peace began. Increased attention was given to public highways. The old road which ran through the Colony from Pawtucket to Pawcatuck was repaired, and a new one opened to Plainfield through Warwick and West Greenwich. But in this the enterprise of the Colony outran its wants, and the new road was soon abandoned.