-^-^ \^ V 'X .■^ -s- ^N^ •f \' c^ ■'•^. ^^ Ci 1' o s^ ■i o '^- •.->. ■' .0^ v^^ ■/. o V ■•V .. A-^ n> ^ :. ^ -^ "oV ^.^ ;r. ^ .•4- -?■ o > ^ ■^<. .0-^^ ^'^-n^^ •-. % ^'^^^^>;: 4 O '^ •5- ,v> •V:. xO^i.^ ■J' s -1 o v'5' ■ / • ...v- o ^ % ..^' v*^ ..^. ;o^''. •<^^^>^ ■^ %. -^^ .V o o "-^^o^ .0^ Is/ ,0^ O^ o^ . ' • • ' ^^^ V V ^«^ .^^ ■5^^. 18713.] CITY DOCUMENT, [No. 33. THE PROGRESS OF PROVIDENCE. A CENTENNIAL ADDRESS ClTlZEfiS OF PROVinENGE, R. L Bv HON. SAMUEL GREENE ARNOLD. ITH A POEM, Bv GEORGE WILLIAM P E T T E S . Delivered Jily 4Tn, ISTG. PROVIDENCE; PROVIDENCE PKKSS CO., I RINTEES TO THE CITV. 187(). r F~2 9 THE CITY OF PROVIDENCE. r, E S L V T I N S OF THE CITY COUXCIL. [Approvetl July 10, ISTB.] RESOLVED, That the city council HEREBr tendek their thanks to Hon. Samuel G. Arnold for the oration delivered ev him at the celebration of the Centennial Fourth of Julv, and also to George W. Pettes, Esq., for the poem recited by him on the same occasion. RESOL VED, That the committee of arrangements for said celebra- tion are hereby instructed to request a copy of said oration and poem, -\ND cause the S.tME TO BE PRINTED IN SUCH MANNER AS THEY' MAY DEEM EXPEDIENT, FOR THE USE OF THE CITY COUNCIL. A TRUE COPY : WITNESS, S.-OIIET, W. BROWS CITY, Clerk. CELEBRATION OF THE CENTEKNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOURTH OF JULY. l^UBLIC RESOLUTION PASSED BY CONGRESS AND APPROVED BY THE PRESIDENT, MARCH 13, 1876. Joint Kt'siilntion on the CelfljiMlioii of tlic Centennial in llic Several Counties or Towns. Be U resolved by the Hcmite and House of Bepreseiitatives of the United Stales of America in Conc/ress assembled : That it be, and is hereby recoiiiinendert by tlie Senate aud House of Representatives to the people of the several States that they assemlile in their several counties or towns on tlie approacliing Ceutemiial Anniver- sary of our National Independence, and that they cause to have delivered on such day an historical sketch of said county or towu from its forma- tion, and that a copy of said sketch may be filed, in print or manuscript, in the clerk's office of said county, aud an additional copy, in print or manuscript, be filed in the oflice of the Librarian of Congress, to the intent tliat a complete record may thus be obtained of the progress of our institutions during the First Centennial of their existence. STATE OF RHODE ISLAND, &c. IX GENER.\I. ASSEMBLY, JANU.\RY SESSION, A. I). 1S7C. .Toint Resolution on the Celebration of the Centennial in the Several Clies and Towns. Resolved. The House of Representatives concurring therein, that in accordauce with the recommendation of the National Congress, the Governor be requested to invite the people of the several towns aud cities CITY DOCUMENT. No. 3-S. of the state to assemble in their several localities on the approachini; Centennial Anniversary of our National Independeuce, and cause to ha\e delivered on such day, an historical sketch of said town or city from its formation, and to have one copy of saidsketcli, in print or in manuscript, filed in the clerk's office of said town or city, one copy in the office of the Secretary of State, and one copy in the office of the Lil)rariau of Con- gress, to the intent that a complete record may thus be obtained of the proarress of our institutions during the First Centennial of their existence ; and that the Governor be requested to communicate this invitation forth- with to tlie several Town and City Councils in the State. I certif^' the foregoing to be a true copy of a resolution passed by the General Assembly of the Slate aforesaid, on the 20th day of April a. i>. 1876. "Witness my hand and the seal of the State, this L'Tlli day [l. s.} of .Vjiril A. D. 1871!. JOSHUA JI. ADDEMAN, Secretary of State. In accordance witli the request of the (."enera! Assembly, in relation tn the celebration of the Fourth of Jidy, by the preparation of historical sketches of the several towns and cities, to be delivered on that day, and copies of the same to be preserved for future reference, His Excellency Governor Li|)iiitt caused to be prepared and sent to the several town and city councils of the state, a circular note in the following form : STATE OF RHODE ISLAND. ExEciTivK Dkpaktmkxt, I Providence, April 27th, 187(!. J To the Hunornhh Tourii Council of tlie Toiou of Gbntlemen : — I have the honor hei-ewitli to enclose a duly certified copy of a resolution pa.ssed by the General Assembly at its recent session, re- questing me to invite the people of the several towns and cities of the state, to assemble in their several localities on the approaching Centennial Anniversary of our National Independence, and cause to have delivered on such day an historical sketch of said town or city from its formation. CENTENNIAL. By pursuing the course suggested by the resohitiou of the Geiioral Assembly, the people of the state will derive an amount of iuforniatiou which will be invaluable to the present generation, as showing the wonderful progress of the several towns and cities since their foundation. It will also be of great value to future generations wlieu the materials for such sketches now accessible will have been lost or destroyed by acci- dent, or become more or less effaced and illegible from time. Therefore, in pursuance of the request of the General Assembly, I re- spectfully and eainestl}-, through you, invite the people of your town to carry out the contemplated celebration on the fourth day of July next HEXKY LIPPITT. Governor. ADDRESS r I "10 trace the causes that led to the American Eevo- -*- bition, to narrate the events of the struggle for independence, or to consider the effect which the estab- lishment of "the great Republic" has had upon the fortunes of the race in other lands — these have been the usual and appropriate themes for discourse upon each return of our national anniversary. And where can we find more exalted or more exalting subjects for reflec- tion? It is not the deed of a day. the events of a vear, the changes of a century, that explain the condition of a nation. Else we might date from the fourth of July, 1776, the rise of the American people, and so far as we as a nation are concerned, we might disregard all prior history as completely as we do the years beyond the flood. But this we cannot do, for the primitive Briton, the resistless Roman, the invading Dane, the usurping Saxon, the conquering Norman, have all left their separate and distinguishable stamp upon tlie England of to-day. As from Cu?dmon to Chaucer, from Spenser to Shakspeare, from Milton to Macaulay, we trace the progress of our language and literature from the unin- telligible Saxon to the English of our time ; so the 8 CITY DOCV.VKXT. No. 33. devolopnicnt of political ideas has its great eras, chiefly written ill blood. From the fall of Boadicea to the landing of Ilcngist, from the death of Harold to the triumph at Kunnymcde, from the wars of the Hoses to the rise of the Keformation. from the fields of I'.dgehill and Worcester, through the restoration and expulsion of the Stuarts down to the days of George III, we may trace the steady advance of those notions of society and of government which culminated in the act of an Ameri- can Congress a century ago proclaiming us a united and independent people. AVhen the barons of John assem- bled on that little islet in the Thames to wrest from their reluctant king the rights of Magna Charta, there were the same spirit, and the same purpose that pre- vailed nearly six centuries after in the Congress at rhiladelphia. and the actors were the same in blood and lineage. The charging cry at Dunbar, '• Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered," rang out a hundred and twenty-five years later from another Puritan camp on Bunker hill. So history repeats itself in the ever- recurring conflict of ideas, with the difference of time and ])lace and people, and with this further difference ill tlie result, that while in ancient times the principal characters in the historic drama were the conqueror, the conquered and the victim, these in modern days become the oppressor, the oppressed and the deliverer. Charles Stuart falls beneath Cromwell and Ireton, George HI. yields to "Washington and Greene, serfdom and slaverv vanish before Romauoft" and Lincoln. ADDRESS. But we must turn from this wide field of history to one of narrower limits, to one so small that it seems insignificant to that class of minds which measures states only by the acre, as cloth by the yard ; to those men who, to be consistent, should consider Daniel Lambert a greater man than Napoleon Bonaparte or the continent of Africa a richer possession than Athens in the days of Pericles. There are many just such men, and the materialistic tendency of our time is adding to their number. It is in vain to remind them that from one of the smallest states of antiquity arose the philo- sophy and the art that rule the world to-day. Judea should have been an empire and Bethlehem a Babylon to impress such minds with the grandeur of Hebrew poetry or the sublimity of Christian faith. But for those to whom ideas are more than acres, men greater than machinery, and moral worth a mightier influence than material wealth, there is a lesson to be learned from the subject to which the act of Congress and the resolutions of the General Assembly limit this discourse. And since what is homely and familiar sometimes receives a higher appreciation from being recognized abroad, hear what the historian of America has said of our little commonwealth,* that " had the territory of the state corresponded to the importance and singularity of the principles of its early existence the * History of Ihe United States, by George Bancroft, vol. 1, pp. 3S0. Boston 1867. 10 CITY DOCUMENT. Ko. 33. World would hinc hiH'ii tilli'd willMvoudci' at tiic phcno- iiiciia (if its history." Hoar too a loss i'aniiliar voice iVdiii 1h vdud the soa, a (icTiuaii writi i- oi" tlu" philoso- l)hy of history. Kocitiui;- tlir iJiinciplrs of Kogor AN'illiauis, tlu-ir successful cstahlisluucut in Ivhodc Ishiud, and their sul)se(|uent trinnii>h he says: •■ 'I'hey have lohe, and, dreaded Inr tlu'ir imual influence, the} stand in the hackfjjround of e\ery Democratic struj;gle in 1 .urope."'|" It is of our ancestors, people of l'ni\ idenci'. that these Avoids were written, and of them and their desceiuUints that 1 am I'alled to speak. To condense two hundred and forty ycvus of historv within an hour is simply impossihle. N\ e can only touch u|)on a few salient points, and illustrate the pro- gress of I'rovidence hy a very few striking statistics. Passing over the disputed causes which led to the l)ani^hmeut of Roger \N"illianis from Massachusetts, we conictotlie undisputed fact that there existed at that time a close alliance hetween the church and the State in the colony whence he fled, and tliat he severed tlnit union at once and forever in the city which he founded. I'oets had dreamed and pliilosopliers had fancied a state of society where men were free and thought was un- trammeled. Sir Thomas More and Sir IMiilip Sydney had written of such things. Utopias and Arcadias had their i>lace in literature, hut nowhere on the broad earth t IntiniUii'llim to till' ni>toiy of Uio XIX CiMitmy, (.'. ti. lirrviuus, Professor of Uistorj- In the I'nlveisity of Heidelberg, I.omlon, iSM, p. tw. ADDRESS. 11 had these ideas assumed a jjiactical form till the father of Providence, the founder of Rhode Island, transferred them from the field of fiction to the domain of fact, and changed them from an improbable fancy to a positive law. It was a transformation in politics — the science of applied philosophy — nn)re complete tlian that by which Bacon overthrew the system of Aristotle. It was a revolution the greatest that in these latter days had yet been seen. From out this modern Nazareth, ■whence no good thing could come, arose a light to enlighten the world. The " great Apostle of religious freedom " here first truly interpreted to those who sat in darkness the teachings of his mighty master. The independence of the mind had had its assertors, the freedom of the soul here found its champion. We begin, then, at the settlement of this city, with an idea that was novel and startling even amid the philosophi- cal speculations of the seventeenth century, a great original idea which was to compass a continent, " give laws to one quarter of the globe," and after the lapse of two centuries to become the universal projjcrty of the western world by being accepted in its complete- ness by that neighboring State to whose persecutions Rhode Island owed its origin. Roger Williams was the incarnation of the idea of soul liberty, the town of Providence became its organization. This is history enough if there Avere nought else to relate. Ports- mouth, Newport, and Warwick soon followed with their 12 CITY DOCUMENT. ]So. 33. antinomiaii settlers to carry out the same principle of the iinderived independence of the soul, the accounta- biHty of man to his Maker alone in all religious concerns. After the union of the four original towns into one colony under the Parliamentary patent of 1()43, confirmed and continued by the Royal charter of 16(53, the history of the town becomes so included in that of the colony in all matters of general interest that it is difficult to divide them. The several towns, occupied chiefly with their own narrow interests present little to attract in their local administration, but spoke mainly through their representatives in the colonial assembly upon all subjects of general importance. It is tliere that we must look for most of the facts that make history, the progress of society, the will of the people expressed in action. To these records we must often refer in sketching the growth of Providence. It was in June, 1636, that Roger Williams with five companions* crossed the Seekonk to Slate rock, where he was welcomed by the friendly Indians, and pursuing his way around the headland of Tockwotton, sailed up the Moshassuck, then a broad stream skirted by a dense forest on either shore. Attracted by a natural spring on the eastern bank, he landed near what is now the cove, and began the settlement which, in gratitude to his Supreme Deliverer he called Providence. He had already purchased a large tract of land from the natives, * William Harris, John Suiitli, Fraiieis Wickes, Thomas Angel!, Joshua Veriu. ADDBESS. 13 which was at first divided with twelve others, "and such as the major part of us shall admit into the same fellows!) ip of vote with us," thus constituting thirteen original proprietors of Providence, f The first division of land was made in 1 638. in whirli fifty-four names appear as the owners of '■ home lots" extend- ing from Main to Hope streets, besides which each person had a six acre lot assigned him in other parts of the purchase. The grantors could not sell their land to any but an inhabitant without consent of the town, and a penalty was imposed upon those who did not improve their lands. The government established by these primitive settlers was an anomaly in history. It was a pnre democracy, which for the first time guarded jealonsly the rights of conscience. The inhabitants, '•masters of families," incorporated themselves into a to town and made an order that no man should be molested for his conscience. The people met monthly in town meeting and chose a clerk and treasurer at each meet- ing. The earliest-written compact that has been preserved is without date, but probably AA^as adopted in 1637. It is signed by thirteen persons.* W'c have t These were Roger Williams. Stukely Westcott, William ArnoM, Tlinmns James, Robert Cole, John Throekraorten. WlUiiim Harris, WilliaTii Carpenter, Thomas OIney, Francis Weston, Richard Waterman, Ezekiel Holyman, * ■• We whose names are hereunder, desirous to Inhabit in the town of Trovi- dcnce, do promise to subject ourselves in active or passive obedience to all such orilers or agreements as shall be made for public good of the body in an orderly way by the major assent of the present inhabitants, masters of families, incorpo- rated together into a town fellowship and such others whom they shall admit 14 CITY DOCUMENT. No. 33. not time to diiiw a picture of these primitive meetings held beneath the shade of some spreading tree, where the fathers of Providence discussed and decided the most delicate and difficult jiroblems of practical politics, and reconciled the recpiircments of life with principles then unknown in popular legislation. Tlie records are lost, and here and there only a fr.igment has been pre- served by unfriendly hands to give a hint of tiiose often stormy assemblies where there were no precedents to guide and only untried principles to be established by the dictates of common sense. Of these the case of "N'erin, reported by Winthrop, is well known, wherein liberty of conscience and the rights of woman were both involved with a most delicate question of family discipline. It is curious enough that one form of the subject now known under the general name of woman's rights, destined more than two centuries later to become a theme of popular agitation, should here be fore- shadowed so early in Rhode Island, the source of so many novel ideas and the starting point of so many important movements. Iveligious services had no doubt been held from the earliest settlement, but the first organized church was formed in 1()3S, the first Baptist church in America. The growth of the town soon made a pure democracy unto them, only in civil tliinffs." Signoil by Riclinnl Soott, Willinm Reynolds, John Fioltl, Clnul lirown, John Warren, (joorjjc KiclvHrd, Edwaril CO])e. Thoinjts An^roll, Thomas Han-i;*, Francis Wickes, Benedict Arnold, Joshua Winsor, William Wickendeu. ADDBESS. 15 impracticable, and in 1640 five "disposers" were cho5en to raanas^e its affairs who were to meet montlilv and to report at qnarterly town meetings, when a new election was to be held. This system lasted for many years. ^leanwhile the town had increased in forty years to about three hundred souls, when the first great calamity resulted in its almost complete destruction during Philip's war. Most- of the inhabitants had fled to Newport for refuge. Only twenty-eight remained, among whom was Mr. Williams, who vainly attempted to dissuade the infuriated Indians from the attack. It was on the '29th of March. 1676. The north part of the town above Oluey street, then the most settled por- tion, was utterly destroyed. Fifty-four buildings were burnt. But one house, now known as the Whipple house, on Abbott's lane, escaped. This house ought to be owned by the city, restored to its original plan, which was altered to its present form many years ago, and preserved as a perpetual memorial of the early days of Providence. In IGNl, the General Assembly met in Providence for the first time under the new charter ; but three years later (1(584) the autumn sessions were appointed to be held alternately in Warwick and Provi- dence. In the absence of any stated census, we can only infer the positive growtii of the town from its relative wealth, as shown in various colonial assess- ments. The earliest of these was in 1647, to raise £100 as a gift to Mr. Williams for obtaining the charter. Of 16 CITY DOCUMENT. No. 33. this sum, Newport paid one half, Portsmouth thirty and Providence twenty pounds. Four-fifths of the strength of the colony Avas then on the island. Warwick was at that time too feeble to assist. Twelve years later (1()59) on a tax of fifty pounds, Newport paid two- thirds, Portsmouth one-fifth, and of the remaining two- fifths Providence paid eleven pounds, and AVarwick nine pounds. Newport had doubled upon Portsmouth while Providence had gained upon the other two towns. Five years later (1664:) six hundred pounds were voted, of which Newport was assessed two hundred and forty- nine, Providence and Portsmouth one hundred each, Warwick eighty, and the balance of seventy-one pounds upon the newer settlements in Narragansett and on Conanicut and Block Islands. A comparison of the levies of two taxes, each of three hundred pounds, one in 1670, the other in 1678, fairly illustrates the ruin wrought by the war on the mainland towns. In the first of these, Newport was assessed one hundred and twenty-three pounds, Provi- dence and Portsmouth fifty-one each, Warwick thirty- two, Kingstown sixteen, Block Island fifteen and Conani- cut twelve pounds. In the latter, Newport was charged with one hundred and thirty-six pounds, Portsmouth sixty-eight, the other two islands, twenty-nine each, Providence ten pounds, Warwick eight, Kingstown sixteen, Greenwich and Westerly two each. Thus the two towns on Aquidneck paid over two-thirds of the ADDBESS. 17 whole levy, and the three islands together paid seven- eighths of it, and the five mainland towns less than one-eighth, while the share of Providence was one- thirtieth. So great a disproportion never existed before or since. Twenty years later (1698) this liad disappeared in the reviving growth of the town, for on a tax of eight hundred pounds Providence was charged with one hundred and twenty-eight pounds, or about one-fifth of the whole. The number of enrolled militia in New England about 1688, according to returns made by Sir Edraond Andros, was something over thirteen thousand, of whom eight hundred were in Rhode Island, and of these one hundred and seventy-five, or more than one- fifth were in Providence. Twenty years later (IT 08), when the first census ever taken in the colony, was made by order of the Board of Trade, the force, includ- ing all males between sixteen and sixty years of age, was 1362. This had increased in 1730, when the next census was taken by the same authority, to 1900 men, and the population of the colony had grown from about 7,200 to 18,000. Up to this time Providence incluc^ed the whole of the present county except Cumberland. It was now divided into four towns, and its limits were reduced to what are now included in the city and the towns of Cranston, Johnston and North Providence. In 1748 the colony had grown to over 34,000, of whom Newport had 4640, and Providence 3452, and was. 18 CITY DOCUMENT. No. o3. gaining rapidly on the other towns. Seven years later ( 1 755), the last census, under the orders of the home government, was taken in view of the war with France, which, on this continent, had already begun, although not yet formally declared. The colony had increased six thousand in that time, and the military force num- bered 8"26"i. Providence had 3159 inhabitants, and could equip 681 men. It had just been again reduced in territory by the incorporation of Cranston (1754). Johnston was set off in 1759, and the organization of North Providence, in 1 T65, reduced it to the limits which it retained till a few years ago, when the annexatioji of the Ninth and Tenth "Wards commenced the era of enlargement. A census of the town taken at the close of 1767 showed the population to be 295)5, of whom 911, occupying one hundred and two houses, were on the west side of the riA er. Two years later, (February, 1770,) an attempt w'as made still further to divide the town by incorporating the west side of the ri\er as a separate town, under the name of Westminster, but the Assembly rejected the petition. The next general census was that of 1774, taken with much care, by order of the Assemblj-, one man being appointed for the purpose in each town. The entire population was nearly sixty thousand. Providence had 4321 inhabi- tants, 655 families, with 421 dwelling houses. The old market house, now " the City Building," had been built bv lotterv the vear before. The increase in the ADDRESS. 19 population had been very small since the census of 1T4S. owing to the divisions just mentioned. A quarter of a century had added less than nine hundred people, an annual increase of barely one per cent. But the country towns that had been set off since 1730 show a greater prosperity, numbering at this census nearly fif- teen thousand, and the whole county of Providence considerably exceeded Newport county in population. At this census only those actually at home were counted. Seamen and other absentees were omitted. Here on the threshold of the great struggle for inde- pendence we will pause in our summary of material progress to see what was engaging the attention of the little hamlet that had already done so much for man- kind, and was now pledging its life-blood to accomplish yet more. From the earliest days of the colony to the close of the recent civil strife, the war record of the State has been a brilliant one. As early as 1655 in the Dutch war she did more than the New England Con- federacy, from which she had been basely excluded. Her exposed condition, by reason of the Indians, fostered this feeling in the first instance, and long, habit cultivated the martial spirit of the people till it became a second nature. Her maritime advantages favored commercial enterprise, and the two combined prepared her for those naval exploits which in after years shed so much glory on the State. The three Indian wars, the three wars with Holland (165"2-8, 20 CITY DOC U 31 EXT. No. 33. 1667, 167-2-4), and the two with France (1667, 1690), in the seventeenth century, tnc three iSpanish (170'i-13, 1739-48, 1762-3), and the three French wars (1702-13, 1744-8, 1754-63), of the eighteenth, had trained the American colonies to conflict and prepared them for the greater struggle about to come. At the outbreak of the fourth inter-colonial war, known as the " old French war," this colony, with less than forty thousand inhabitants and eighty-three hundred fighting men, sent fifteen hundred of these npon various naval expedi- tions, besides a regiment of eleven companies of infantry, seven himdred and fifty men nnder Col. Christopher Harris, who marched to the seige of Crown Point. Thus more than one-quarter of the eff"ective force of the colony was at one time, on sea and land, in priva- teers, in the royal fleets, and in the camp, learning that stern lesson which was soon to redeem a continent. Is it surprising then that when the ordeal came the conduct of Rhode Island was prompt and decisive ? It is said that small States are always plucky ones, and Rhode Island confirmed the historic truth. When the passage of the sugar act and the proposal of the stamp act were known in America, a special session of the General Assembly was called (July 30, 1764), and a committee for correspondence with the other colonies was appointed to devise measures lo procure the repeal of the former, and to prevent the passage of the latter. The first case of armed resistance to the obnoxious ADDRESS. 21 revenue acts took place at this time. H. B. jSL's schooner St. John was fired upon from tlie fort at Newport by order of two of the magistrates. '• The rights of the colonies examined," a pamphlet by Gov. Hopkins, submitted to this Assembly for approval, was among the very earliest of those stirring appeals that Avere soon to summon the young men of America to arms. The next year occurred the second overt act against the British crown in the burning at Newport, (June 4, IT60), of a boat belonging to H. B. M.'s ship Maidstone, in revenge for the forcible impressment of the crew of a brig which had arrived that day from Africa. The passage of the stamp act (February 27, 17(35), roused the spirit of resistance throughout America to fever heat. But amid all the acts of assemblies, and the resolutions of town meetings, none went so far or spoke so boldly the intentions of the people as those passed in Providence at a special town meeting (August 7, 1765), and adopted unanimously by the General Assem- bly (September 1(5). They pointed directly to an absolu- tion of allegiance to the British crown, unless the grievances were removed. The day before the fatal one on which the act was to take effect, the Governors of all the colonies, but one, took the oath to sustain it. Samuel Ward, " the Governor of Khode Island stood alone iu his patriotic refusal," says Bancroft. Nor was it the last as it was not the first time that Rhode Island stood alone in tlie van of progress. Non-importation agreements were everywhere made. The repeal of the 22 CITY DOCUMENT. No. 33. odious act (February 22, 17i)()), came too late, coupled as it was with a declaratory act asserting tlie right of Parliament "• to bind the colonies in all cases." Then came a new development of patriotic fervor instituted by the women of Providence. Eigliteen young ladies of leading families in the town met at the house of Dr. Ephraira Bowen, (March 4, 1766), and from sunrise till night, employed the time in spinning ilax. These " Daughters of Liberty," as they were called, resolved to use no more British goods, and to be consistent they omitted tea from the evening meal. So rapid was the growth of the association that their next meeting was held at the Court House. The " Sons of Liberty " were associations formed at this time in all the colonies to resist oppression, but to Providence belongs the exclusive honor of this union of her daughters for the same exalted purpose. This is the second time we have had occasion to notice that woman has come con- spicuously to the front in the annals of Providence, when great principles were at stake. But we claim nothing more for our women than the same spirit of self-denial and lofty devotion that the sex has every- where shown in the great crises of historv. The last at the cross and the first at the sepulchre, tlie spirit and the blessing of the Son of God have ever rested in the heart of woman. Side by side with the struggle for freedom grew the effort for a wider system of education. It was pro- ADDRESS. 23 posed to establish four free public schools. This was voted dowu by the poorer class of people who would be most benefited by the movement. Still the measure was partially carried out, and a two-story brick build- ing was erected (176{^). The upper story was occupied for a private school, the lower, as a free school. Whipple hall, which afterwards became the first district school, was at this time chartered as a private school in the north part of the town, and all the schools were placed in charge of a committee of nine, of ^vhom the Town Council formed a part. The next year a great stimulus was given to the educational movement in the town. Four years had passed since Rhode Island college was established at Warren, and the first class of seven students was about to graduate. Commencement day gave rise to the earliest legal holiday, in our history. A rivalry among the chief towns of the colony for the permanent location of what is now Brown University, resulted in its removal two years later (1774) to Provi- dence. This now venerable institution, whose founda- tion was a protest against sectarianism in education, has become the honored head of a system of public and private schools, which for completeness of design, for perfection of detail, and for thoroughness of work, may safely challenge comparison with any other oi'gauized educational system in the world. Hostility to the revenue acts of Great Britain became yearly more pronounced, and was evinced in acts of 24 CITY DOCUMENT. No. 33. greater boldness. H. B. M.'s armed sloop liberty was sunk and her boats burnt (July 19, 1769), at New- ])ort. The St. .Jolin had been fired upon. The Maid- stone's boat was burnt. 'J"he Liberty was scuttled and all her boats burned. As yet no blood had been shed on either side. Theie were still hopes of a peaceable adjustment of difficulties. I'he year 1771 was one of unusual quietness. It was the lull before the storm. Narragansett Bay was the rendezvous of a British fleet of ten vessels of war, one of which, the schooner Gaspee, of eight guns, was destined to light the tire of successful revolution. The annoyances caused by the arbitrary seizure of coasters engaged in lawful trade, as well as of vessels ihat were i)roperly amenable under the revenue acts, had become intoler- able. Tlie people of Providence, with some from Bristol, resolved on her destruction. On the night of the 9th of June, 1772, Capt. Abraham Whipple, with eight long boats of Ave oars each, captured and burnt the vessel. Lieut. Uuddingstou, the commander, was wounded in the tight, and his was the first British blood shed in the struggle for independence. In the flames of the burning Gaspee w'as consumed the last hope or wish for pardon, and the colony now ])repared quietly, but firmly for the inevitable war. The Revolution had begun. Two years of increasing turmoil passed, when on the 17tli of May, 1774, the townsmen assembled to recommend the last remaining act esseirtial to a union ADDRESS. 25 of the colonies — the Continental Congress. The idea of a Congress had become familiar to the people, but as yet no official action had been taken by any corpo- rate body to carry it into practice. To the town of Providence is due the honor of jniority in this national movement. A few Aveeks later tlie Assembly of Rhode Island was likewise the first to elect delegates to that Congress. At the same town meeting another illus- trious action was accomplished. Six negroes had become the property of the town. It was voted that '• it is unbecoming the character of freemen to enslave the said negroes," and that " as personal liberty is an essential part of the natural rights of mankind," a petition should be sent to the General Assembly to pro- hibit further importation of slaves, and to declare that all negroes born in the colony should be free after a certain age. A Continental Congress and freedom to the slave — glory enough for one town meeting in Provi- dence, even if there were no more to add. And both were definitely acted upon by the Assembly four weeks later. Military organizations were at once perfected. The Providence county Artillery Avas named the "Cadet Company," and officered as a regiment, and the First Light Infantry Company of one hundred men was chartered. To these were added in Providence in the autumn a grenadier, an artillery and a cavalry corps, and in the ensuing spring, upon news of the battle of Lexiu" ton, two of these were combined as the Providence 26 CITY DOCUMEXT. No. o3. United Train of Artillerj-. One thousand men marched from Providence to the scene of strife, and an " army of observation " of fifteen hundred men was voted by the Assembly to be raised at once. We cannot follow the course of our arms through the long conflict that ensued even if the part which Providence took were not so blended with that of the state as to be insepar- able from it. and hence, perhaps, is inappropriate for this occasion. But two or three points must be referred to. One, the capture on the 15th of June, 1715, of the armed tender of the frigate Hose by the war sloop of the colony, commanded by Capt. Whipple, who on that occasion had the honor of discharging the first gun upon the ocean at any part of his Majesty's navy in the American Revolution. It was then that there occurred between the two commanders that terse correspondence of Spartan brevity and directness — "You, Abraham Whipple, on the lUth June, 1772, burned His Majesty's vessel, the Gaspee, and 1 will hang you at the yard arm. James Wallace." " Sir James Wal- lace. Sir : Always catch a man before you hang him. Abraham Whipple." The aftair of the Gaspee three years before, Avas the true " Lexington of the seas," and this of the Rose tender was the Bunker Hill. The colony at once ordered two war vessels to be built. This was the commencement of the American navy. The harbor was fortified at Field's and Fox Points, and a beacon was erected on Prospect hill. Congress, at ADDRESS. 27 the suggestion of Rhode Island, organized a Continen- tal navy, and two of the frigates, the Warren of thirty- two and the Providence of twenty-eight guns, were built in Providence and launched in May, 1776. Esek Hopkins was commander of the first American fleet which sailed February 17, 1776, and captured Nassau, March 3d. The last Colonial Assembly met in Provi- dence, May 1, 1776, and on the 4th of May passed the final act abjuring allegiance to the British crown — a declaration of Independence which constitutes Rhode Island, by two mouths, the oldest independent State in America. The four delegates from this town to that immortal Assembly were Dr. Jonathan Arnold, Amos Atwell, John Browii and John Smith. The Act of Independence is in the handwriting of l)r. Arnold, afterwards a member of the Continental Congress. The occupation of Newport by the British troops caused the sessions of the Assembly to be held in Providence for the next four years. Congress proposed a convention of the New England States to be held in Providence, to consider the questions of currency, and how to sus- tain the national credit. This convention (December '27) opposed the issue of paper money, and advised that taxation and loans at five per cent, be adopted, measures that unfortunately for the country, and especially for this State, were not carried into eff'ect. At the close of the war. Providence was the rendezvous of the French army under Rochambeau. The camp of the second 28 CITY DOCITMEXT. Xo. 33. division may be traced on the west side of the Paw- tucket road extending for some distance above North street. Tlie proclamation of peace was celebrated in Providence with great formality and rejoicing. A ser- mon by Rev. Enos Hitchcock and an oration by Hon. Ashcr Robbins in the now venerable church whcic we are to-day assembled, formed part of the proceedings (April 25, 1783). Even more jubilant were the people of Providence when the ninth State, adopting the new Constitittion, rendered possible the formation of the American Union. ProA'idence and other seaports of the State were strongly Federal, while the country towns were as strongly of the State Rights party. When two more States gave in their adlicsion the rejoicings were renewed, and so violent was party spirit in those days that serious disturbances occurred, and the town was at one time threatened (July 4, 1788,) with an assault from the excited country people. Through the bitter contest which for nearly three years distracted the State, Providence sfood firmly for the Union, and at last, when, by a close vote, the Federal Constitution was finally adopted (May 29, 1790,) in the Convention at Newport, " the stillness of the Sabbath morning was broken by the joyful roar of artillery ." With the close of the war came the revival of com- merce. The news of the ratification of peace was received at Providence by a vessel direct from London (Dec. 2, 1783). In 1787, the trade began with China ADDRESS. 29 and the East Indies, which for more than half a century brought great wealth to our merchants. A rolling and slitting mill to prepare iron to be made into nails, was soon after established in Providence. " Not a hob-nail should be manufactured in America," had been tlie threat, to accomplish which those repressive measures that pro- voked resistance in the colonies had been devised. But this had proved a vain threat, for as early as 1721, a nail factory had been started at NcAvport, and in 1777, it is said, that the first cold cut nail in the world was made by Jeremiah Wilkinson, of Cumberland. Hemp duck was also made here as early as 1722. encouraged by a bounty from the General Assembly. The spinning of flax was a universal domestic occupation among Avomen of all conditions of life, and to encourage its cultivation was the special object of the " Daughters of, Liberty " before mentioned. At that time a paper mill was established (1766) at OIneyville. The manufacture of firearms, and of steel, and the casting of heavy can- non became an active industry in Providence and its vicinity, shortly before the Revolution. The troops were supplied mainly with home-made muskets, as well as artillery. Saltpetre works were set up in all the towns during the war. Whipple Hall and the brick school-house on Meeting street were converted into laboratories. Arts gave place to arms, when University Hall was used for barracks and the college campus became a drill ground. This class of industry closed 30 CITY DOCUMENT. No. 33. witli tlic wiir, to be revived in our own day on a grander .scale. Homespun clothes were generally worn and American woolen cloths were pn-ferred to foreign f'al)- rics. A ]ieop1e who in their hostility to the Stamp Act had (liMiied themschcs lami) or mutton, in order to foster the incri^ase of wool, and had proscribed tea as a beverage in tiiiMr opposition to a tritling tax, were not long to 1)0 kept down cmmi 1i\ the depressing condition of all'airs in which tin- close of the Uevolution found them. Yet how severe was that depression it would be diflicult to jiortray. Nothing like it has since be(>n seen. .V crusiiing del)t, a yet nioie crushing flood of vitiated currency, repudiation, exhaustion, and in the sad case of Kiiodc Island, utter istdatiou, bitter factions within the State, aversion and contempt outside; pov- erty everywhere; distress universal, wliile almost the only gleam of light that breaks upon the dark picture is to be found in the willing industry of the people assiMuing a systenuitic form in the incorporation (March, nS9) of the " I'rovidence Association of Mechanics and ^[anufacturers." To develop the resources of the town by oiganiziug its industry and giving a iniited and intelligent direction to its scattered forces, was the i)ur- pose of this As.sociation ; and nobly was it achieved. The cotton manufacture had just been introduced. ])auicl AuthouN, Andrew Dexter and Lewis I'eck, as co-partners, connnenced the business of manufacturing jeans in the chand)ers of tlu' old market house (17S7). Ai>niiES,s. 31 The first spinning jenny built in the United States, Avas made by them, and had twenty-eight spindles. Such was the modest birth of the mighty business which now sends its textile fabrics to every quarter of the earth. A few thousand pounds of the raw material imported chiefly from Surinam, (for the cotton plant had not then been introduced to become the staple of our South Atlantic and Gulf States), then sufficed for the annual consumption of a business which last year required a quarter of a million of bales, or nearly fifty thousand tons of raw cotton, and which sent out from this market alone, in but one branch of the cotton manufacture, the single article of print cloths, over 3,300,000 pieces of forty yards each, or 13», 000,000 yards — enough to girt three times the entire circumference of the globe. The value of the print work alone upon this immense pro- duct was nearly four millions of dollars. Three years later (1790) this machinery was removed to North Providence, Avhere the arrival of Samuel Slater, Avith his improved machinery, from England, began the suc- cessful manufacture of cotton cloth in America. Cal- lendering commenced in Providence, in 17b8, and calico printing, already started in East Greenwich, Avas intro- duced at Providence in 1794. Between the close of the Avar and the end of the century, most of the business pursuits of the present day had their humble origin. A feAV have quite disapjieared after a brief struggle for profitable existence, but far more have been added. 32 CIT Y DOCUMEKT. jS'o. 33. Many have transferred their sphere of active operation beyond the limits of the city. Avhile owned and managed by residents of Providence. Most of the vast mechani- cal and manufacturing establishments that have built up the large towns and villages on the Blackstone and Pawtuxct, making these valleys great hives of industry, and an almost unbroken succession of towns, are of this character. Our twenty-eight spindles have grown to be two millions, of which but a small portion are operated within the city.* Down to the time of the Revolution the growth of churches, like that of population, was extremely slow. At that period there were but tive in Providence. The I'irst Baptist Church, already referred to, was contem- porary with the settlement of the town, and after two changes in its place of worship, erected this beautiful edifice, which last ye.ar celebrated its centennial. The Friends' Society, established in 1701, built on the pres- ent site in Meeting street, in 17"2(). St. John's, Episco- pal, was formed in 1722, and the original church was succeeded by the present one, on the same spot, in 1811. With these were two Congregational churches, * By the census returns for 1S75, Uiere were in Providence and Kent counties 155,805 spindles employed in woolen manufacture, and 1,504,933 on cotton goods. These mills are mainly owned and managed in tins city. The mills owned here, hut situated out of ilie State, and which, therefore, do not appear in the Bhode Island census returns, would swell the number of spindh'S beyond two millions. The spindles now in the city limits employed on woolen goods, number 3!),3(4, on cotton 110,879, bring in round numbers 150,000, and the value of their joint product was over six millions of dollars. ADDItESS. 33 the first formed in 1720, the second in 1744, which latter built on the site of the present church, erected in 1808 on Broad street. The former bnilt in 1723, on Benefit street, where they remained for seventy years, on the corner of (^oUege street, and then bnilt on their present site, corner of Benevolent street, and rebuilt after a fire in 1814. The old building became what was known in our day as " the old town house," on the site of the new court house. And here 1 may say, in passing, that no better illustration can be given of the difference between the ancient town and the modern city of Providence than is presented by the contrast between these two buildings — one poor, plain and simple, the other rich, elegant and ornate. A cen- tury ago there were five churches to 4,321 people, or one to 864. To-day there are seventy-five churches, of which eighteen are Baptist, one Friend, eight Congre- gational, eleven Episcopal, of the denominations existing here in colonial days, and thirty-seven of other denomi- nations, all of which, except the First Methodist (1798), were organized since 1816.* With 101,000 inhabi- tants the proportion is now one to 1,346. In 1791, the Providence Bank, the oldest in the State, was incorporated with a capital of half a million of dollars. It was modelled after the Bank of North * Tliere are eleven Metliodist, ten Roman Catholic, three Unitarian, two Presbyterian, two Universalist, two Hebrew, one Sweilenborgian, one Latter Day Saints, one African Union Church, and one Mariner's Bethel. 5 34 CITY D0CU2HEXT. No. 83. America in Philadelphia, that monument of the genius of Robert Morris, and the first in the country to issue bills redeemable in specie on presentation. To-day Providence has thirty eight banks, with over eighteen millions of capital, four millions of which have been added within the last sixteen years. Providence has long ranked as the second city in the United States in tlic number of its banks, and is now the tiiird in the amount of its banking capital. Besides these thirty-eight banks, there are now eleven Savings baiiks in the city, with an aggregate deposit of twenty-seven millions. The first of these in the State and one of the oldest in the world (for savings institutions were estab- lished in Europe only two years prior to their introduc- tion in America), is the Providence Institution for Sav- ings, incorporated in 1819, and whose deposits now exceed eight millions of dollars. Iron, as has been seen, was early wrought in Rhode Island, and has now become a vast industry in this city, the product of Providence in this metal alone amount- ing in the last year to eight and a half millions of dol- lars. In the manufacture of screws, Providence leads the world, and is little behind in that of arms ; while in the infinite variety of tools and machinery there is perhaps no city on earth that can rival it, although some surpass it in the value of certain special products. In jewelry there is but one city in America (Newark, N. J.) that exceeds this in the value which our more ADDRESS. 35 than one hundred and fifty firms engaged in that manu- facture produce, and which last year amounted to nearly six millions of dollars.* In silver ware Provi- dence has tlic largest manufactory in the world. Forty-five years ago the late Jabez Gorham began to make silver spoons, employing ten or twelve men. His business prospered, and was gradually extended till in 1847 he introduced steam power, and was the first man wlio ever employed steam or horse power in the working of silver. The Gorham Manufacturing Company's products are now known and sold all over the world. The five stories of their great establishment include over three acres of flooring, and their working force, when in full operation, is over four hundred men. There are some significant facts connected with the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, which serve to show the relative importance of this city in the indus- trial summary of the country. One is that in the three principal buildings Providence occupies the central and most conspicuous place. We all know the man who commands Presidents and Emperors, and they obey him — who says to Dom Pedro, " Come," and he cometh, and to President Grant " Do this," and he doeth it, and we have seen the mighty engine that from the centre of Machinery Hall moves fourteen acres of the world's most cunning industry. The Corliss engine * The exact value of the proiluct of jewelry manufactured in Providence in 1S75, by the census returns, was $5,933,629. 36 CITY DOCUMENT. Ko. 33. proudly sustains the supremacy of Providence amid the marvels of both hemispheres. Facing the central area of the main exhibition building, the Gorham Manufac- turing Company have their splendid show of silver ware around the most superb specimen of the crafts- man's art that has ever adorntd any exposition in modern times. Under the central dome of Agricultural Hall, the Rumford Chemical AVorks present an elabo- rate and attractive display of their varied and important products, arresting the eye as a prominent object among the exhibits of all the world. And when we visit the Women's Pavilion we shall see that of all the rich embroidery there displayed none surpasses that shown by the Providence Employment Society, and shall learn that little Rhode Island ranks as the lifth State in the amount of its contributions to the fuuds of this department, being surpassed only by New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Massachusetts. A city which occupies these positions in the greatest Exposition of the century, has no cause to shun comparison between its past and its present. In the history of Providence the second crushing calamity occurred one hundred and forty years after the first, in the great gale of 1^1-5, which swept all the warehouses on either side below the bridge, destroyed a large part of the shipping in port, and nurny import- ant buildings. But this disaster now appears as a blessing in disguise, since from it resulted the first per- ADDRESS. 37 manent improvement ia the place, the widening of AVeybosset bridge, the laung out of South and West Water streets, Canal street and the Cove basin. Street lamps were introduced in 1821, and these Avere super- seded in 1^48 by the general adoption of coal gas. The Arcade, with its elegant Ionic collonade of granite monoliths, erected in 1828, was the forerunner of a new order of tilings, in which architectural taste and substantial structures were to replace the low frame buildings of a country town. But it was not till 1841 that this desirable change was fairly begun by Mr. Hezekiah Sabin, soon followed by others, till the Westminster street of today has come to contrast with the same thoroughfare of the olden times as do the splendors of ]\Innich with the antique qnaintness of a German village. At length the old form of town government was outgrown. A serious riot in Septem- ber, 1831, which continued for four nights, in which seventeen houses were destroyed by the mob, and five lives were lost, was suppressed by military force. Stimulated by this event Providence adopted a city charter, and under the mayoralty of Samuel W. Bridg- ham, in June, 1832, entered upon a new career of progress. But by far the greatest event, in its bearing upon the prosperity of Providence was tlie introduction of w^ater, wdiich after being four times defeated by the popular vote, was finally adopted in 18(59. Tlie work commenced the next vear, and the water was first intro- 38 c I T Y I) a r jien t . No. 33. duced from the Pawtuxet river in November, IbTl. The question whether Providence was to become a metropolis of trade and manufactures or continue as a secondary city, was thus settled in favor of progress. The stimulus given in the right direction was immediate and immense. The overflow of population soon re- quired the city limits to be extended, and the annexa- tion of the Ninth and Tenth Wards caused an increase of forty-six per cent, from the census of ISIO to that of 1875, a showing which no other city in the country can equal. That the city of Providence has its future in its own hands is apparent. With the vast wealth and a:;cumu- lated industries of a century at its disposal; with the result which this latest measure of improvement has produced as an encouragement; and with the experi- ence of other less favored seaports as a guide, there would seem to be the ability and the inducement to take the one remaining step necessary to secure the su]iremacy which nature indicates for the head waters of Narragansett Bay. \Miile our Northern and West- ern railroad connections are already very large and are rapidly reaching their requisite extension, there remains only the improvement ot the harbor and adjacent waters of the bay, Avhich can be made at comparatively small expense, to make Providence the commercial emporium of New England. There is no mere fancy in this idea. It is an absolute fact, attested by the ADDRESS. 39 history of Glasgow, and foreshadowed hy the opinions of those who have thought long and carefully on the subject. It is a simple question of engineering and of enterprise, and it will be accomplished. When Provi- dence had twelve thousand inhabitants, as it had within the lifetime of many of us who do not yet account our- selves as old; had some seer foretold that the Cen- tennial of the nation 'vvould see the (|uict town transformed into the growing city starting upon its second hundred thousand of population, it would have seemed a far more startling statement than this with which we now close the Centennial Address — that the child is already born who will see more than half a mil- lion of people vsithin our city, which will then be the commercial metropolis of New England. POEM BV G E K G E AV I L L I A M P E T T E S . POEM. OXCE on a lime, as modern legends say, A parson, journeying his accustomed way Descried a storm-cloud gatliering o'er his head, The menaced promise of an hour of dread. Then blew the winds and broke the thunder blast, The lightning frolicked and the rain fell fast, When, as he neared the church, his purposed bound, The fire-flash striking, felled him to the ground. Stunned, but not injured be3-ond quick repair lie rose and hastened to the temple where Though for his sake solicitously stirred, His flock assembled to receive the Word. Wearied and shattered, frightened and perplexed, He spoke a preface, ere he named his text, In which he lauded the impulsive play Of the fleet fluid in its special way ; Thought it, administered for nervous ills Not out of place, or given for ague chills ; But when applied with such a telling force As to upset a rider and his horse It might be healthful, but his choice would be To pass a life of equanimity ; 44 CITY DOCVJIEXT. Xo. 33. And th;it his accident would hinder speech, That in their council he would fear to teach, Save that he was a native born and bre c » ". " . 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