F 83 
 .H86 
 Copy 1 
 
Presented by the'- 
 KIIODK ISLAND HISTOHICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 DISCOURSE 
 
 DELIVERED BEFOEE THE 
 
 EHODE-ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 Jcbruarg 6, 1855. 
 
 ON THE 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES OF 
 
 JOHN ROWLAND, 
 
 LATE PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY. 
 
 BY EDWARD B. HALL, D.D 
 
 PROVIDENCE: 
 OEO. H. WHITNKY. 
 
 1855. 
 
•Hsc 
 
RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 Providence, February 16th, 1855. 
 Rev. Dr. Hall: 
 
 ' Dear Sir, 
 
 At a meeting held this day, it was unanimously 
 Resolved, That the thanks of the Society be presented to Rev. Edward B. Hall, 
 D. D. for the interesting and appropriate Discourse delivered before the Society on 
 the sixth instant, upon the Life and Times of our late President, John Howland; 
 and that he be requested to place the original manuscript upon the files of the So- 
 ciety, and to furnish the same for the press, to be printed under the direction of the 
 Committee of Arrangements, for the use of the Society. 
 
 I communicate to you, with pleasure, the above Resolution, and remain 
 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 H. T. BECKWITH, Sec'y> 
 
DISCOURSE. 
 
 The Rhode-Island Historical Society, in providing for an 
 annual discourse, expressed a wish that the speaker would take 
 for his theme, the Life of their late President. No theme could 
 be more consonant with my own feelings ; though I am fully 
 aware that the relation I have sustained to him, and a compar- 
 atively recent acquaintance, may make it difficult to do justice, 
 and only justice, to one whose life covered nearly a century, 
 and yet comprised few changes or personal incidents of a public 
 nature. It has been the fortune, and the choice, of many of 
 our best men, those who have done not a little to make the 
 State and the nation what they are, to lead quiet lives, within 
 a limited sphere, doing nothing to astonish the world, putting 
 forth no claims to a wide celebrity, content to live and die 
 where they were born, toiling for those who most needed and 
 could best appreciate their unpretending service. Of how much 
 greater value, and more enduring result, such a service often is, 
 than that of many whose fame is universal, need not be said. 
 We deem it one of the distinctions of our country, and a glory 
 inferior to no other, that neither wealth, rank, learning, elo- 
 quence, or high office, is indispensable, to enroll a name in our 
 proudest annals, and leave a cherished memory in the heart of 
 the community. 
 
 Whatever may be thought of the life we are now to sketch, 
 there will be but one feeling as to the times on which it fell^ 
 and the long procession of illustrious events which it witnessed. 
 In referring to these, much must be repeated tliat is familiar ta 
 
6 
 
 those who hear me, and incidents may be given that would seem 
 trivial in tliemsclves alone. But nothing is trivial that illus- 
 trates character ; and nothing should be withheld or lost, that 
 can add even the smallest contribution to the materials of his- 
 tory — especially a history, as remarkable for its private as for 
 its public record. 
 
 The traveller who visits that sacred spot which every Ameri- 
 can ought to visit ; where the little band of exiled Pilgrims 
 leaped from their frail barque, to kneel in gratitude upon the 
 hard rock of a bleak shore and unexplored wilderness ; may 
 read on a portion of that same rock, now removed and guarded, 
 the name of John Howland. The same is found among the 
 names of the forty-one who drew up the lirst constitution, or 
 covenant, as a body politic, in the cabin of the Mayflower. He 
 who bore the name is supposed to have been the youngest of 
 those signers, a single man,'"'' attached to the family of Gov. 
 Caiver, whose daughter he afterward married. The records of 
 the Colony of Plymouth make honorable mention of John How- 
 land, as " a godly man, and an ancient professor of the ways 
 of Christ ; he lived until he attained above eighty years in the 
 world ; he was one of the first comers into this land, and proved 
 a useful Instrument of good in his place, and was the last man 
 that was left, of those that came over in the first ship called 
 the Mayflower, that lived in Plymouth. He was with honor in- 
 terred at the town of Plymouth, on the 25th of February, 
 1G73." 
 
 Jabez, the second son of the first comer, removed from 
 Plymouth to Bristol, then in Plymouth Colony, now Rhode-Isl- 
 and ; and his youngest son, born in Bristol, the grand-son of 
 the first John, was the grandfather of our John Howland. 
 Thus directly was he connected with the pilgrim ancestor, there 
 being Init three generations between. There can be little doubt 
 that at the time of his death in this city, on the 5th of Novem- 
 ber last, John Howland was the nearest living descendent of 
 the first company.f Born in Newport, Oct. 31, 1757, and living 
 there until he reached his thirteenth year, he then came to 
 
 * Appendix, A. I Appendix, B. 
 
Providence, 1770, to serve as an apprentice to Benjamin Glad- 
 ding, a hair-dresser. And his humble shop, the resort after- 
 ward of men of all professions in Providence, may be regard- 
 ed as the chief school whose advantages he enjoyed. In New- 
 port, we cannot find that he received any regular instruction, 
 even in the ordinary branches, out of his father's house. Yet 
 to this there was one partial exception, not to be omitted. 
 Once a week he went with other children to recite the " Cate- 
 chism", to a pious woman, of whom he always spoke with grate- 
 ful respect^ — -Madam Osborn — ;One of those venerable dames, to 
 whom, as in other places, generation after generation had been 
 wont to go. Those instructors, both religious and secular, 
 have left their mark in every town and village. Humble as 
 they were in rank and endowment, they yet, by the patient teach- 
 ing of a life-time, laid the foundation of some of the best and 
 most prominent characters in our favored New-England. Blessed 
 be their memory ! They have given place to more cultivated 
 teachers and higher seminaries, but their image lives in many 
 hearts. Women may find a broader sphere, but will not easih^ 
 render a better service. 
 
 The boy, Howland, was taught to read and write by his fa- 
 ther, and he read with avidity all the books he could find. But 
 books were rare. The primer, the spelling-book, and the 
 Bible, constituted the common library; and he has been heard 
 to say, that finding three different editions of the Bible in the 
 house, he read them all through in succession. After he came 
 to this town,_ being busy through the day, he could only attend 
 an occasional evening school for the study of arithmetic. 
 
 He came too young, as his parents thought, to leave home, 
 but longing to see the world, and believing the " Town of Prov- 
 idence," to use his own language, " formed a considerable por- 
 tion of our America." His appointed labor was not restricted 
 to his employer's vocation. There was another, and much 
 harder work, peculiar to the times ; the duty of going daily, 
 with two pails and a hoop, from the west to the east side of 
 the river, for all the water used in the house — as there Averc 
 few dwellings, and fewer good wells, on the west side. Being, 
 one of the youngest boys appointed to this task, and never very 
 
stout, he used to speak, even in his old age, of feeling still " a 
 sympathy in the back" with the labor then performed. Great 
 was the joy of the boys, when the water-logs were laid from 
 ^' Field's Fountain to Weybosset Bridge." 
 
 But a more important incident has often been related by him, 
 as making an impression on the mind as well as the body, and 
 affecting his whole future character. Too puerile it may seem 
 for grave record, but it illustrates the times, and also the power 
 of a small incident to give direction to a life. There were 
 then but five houses of worship in Providence ; the First Bap- 
 tist, the First Congregational, the Episcopal, and the Friends', 
 on the east side, and the Beneficent Congregational, under Mr. 
 Snow, on the west. Mr. Cladding's family attended the last 
 of these, and his apprentice went there also, sitting with other 
 boys in the gallery. On one of the first Sabbaths of his pres- 
 ence there, his companions amused themselves with eating 
 chestnuts, some of which they accidentally or purposely dropped 
 upon the floor, and scrabbled for them. The noise drew the 
 attention of one of the appointed keepers of the peace near at 
 hand, who instantly brought down his heavy cane upon the only 
 visible head, that of the innocent Howland, who sat upright, 
 while the other boys were after the nuts, on the floor. " I had 
 no hand in the scrabble or the noise," he says ; " I only rubbed 
 the bruised place, and concluded not to be there the next Sun- 
 day. From that time I went to Mr. Rowland's meeting, in 
 what is now called the old Town House ; and in that Society 
 have continued to worship to the present time, except about 
 one year in the war time, when we had no minister, when I at- 
 tended Mr. Manning's Baptist church, and occasionally Mr. 
 Snow's. Thus, had it not been for that handfull of chestnuts, 
 I might have remained on the west side ; but for many years, I 
 have been thankful for the use of Mr. Joseph Martin's cane." 
 
 One of the memorable events which distinguished the first 
 year of his residence here, was the removal of " Rhode-Island 
 College" from "Warren to Providence ; an event in which he 
 seems to have taken an uncommon interest for one so young, 
 and without education. He often spoke of the dignified ap- 
 pearance and excellent influence of President Manning, a sketch 
 
9 
 
 of whose life lie afterward wrote. Bat diiferent and more 
 stirring events soon followed. Early in 1772, only two years 
 after lie came here, Providence was moved by the bold appear- 
 ance and bolder destruction of the Gaspce, in Narragansett 
 Bay ; an enterprise in which the ardent Howland Avoiild gladly 
 have joined, and did join as far as he was allowed. Always on 
 the alert, he had resolutely taken his seat in the bow of one of 
 tlie invading boats, and was in the act of pushing off, when his 
 master, who was looking for his boy, probably with some sus- 
 picion of his intention, seized him by the wrist, and pulled him 
 out, saying, " he should not go with those fellows, to get his 
 head broke." The narrator adds — " Thus I have no part in 
 the boast of being of the Gaspee party, which, the July orators 
 say, was the first act of the Eevolutiouary struggle." But he 
 was not long denied the opportunity of engaging in that mo- 
 mentous conflict. 
 
 And here begins the first of the three epochs, into which the. 
 life we are penning, may be divided, marking the prominent re- 
 lations which John Howland bore to his times, viz : liis connecr 
 tion with the war of the Revolution; his offices and labors as 
 a citizen of Providence, for more than four-score years ; and 
 then, as worthy of separate consideration, his important agency 
 in the establishment of Free Schools, in town and State. 
 
 The opinion of every intelligent observer of the beginnings 
 of that great struggle in which a nation was born, has an in- 
 creasing value. It helps to elucidate the character of the 
 period, and of the men who made it what it was, and were like- 
 wise made by it in part. Mr. Howland judged for himself, of 
 all he saw, and never feared to differ from the many, where he 
 saw reason. He always said, and has left it in writing, that the 
 Colonies did not go into that contest, for tlie purpose of separ- 
 ating themselves from the mother country, or to set up a Re- 
 publican form of government ; but as loyal subjects, asking only 
 . for justice, and confidently expecting a repeal of the offensive 
 and oppressive acts of Parliament, so that they could remain 
 under the dominion of Great Britain. In his own language, 
 characteristic of the man, lie writes — •• I know that hundreds 
 of newspaper writers, and hundreds more of July orators, have 
 
10 
 
 said, tliat wc fought for a Republican government, and to ob- 
 tain tliis was our principal aim. This, I know, is not the fact. 
 Until July, 1776, we never fought for Independence nor Eepub- 
 lieanism, even after the battle of Bunker Hill. The Continental 
 Congress, in their last petition to the King, used these expres- 
 sions : " We ask but for Peace, Liberty, and Safety ; we wish 
 not for any diminution of the Prerogative, or the grant of any 
 new right in our favor. Your royal authority over us, we shall 
 ever zealously support and maintain." 
 
 At the age of sixteen, the earliest allowed, and in the first 
 draft from this town, John Howland was drawn as a " minute- 
 man," and marched with others to Newport, where their quar- 
 ters were in " Banister's Barn," and their bed a hay-mow. Not 
 long after, he was summoned to attend the funeral of his 
 father, who had died suddenly ; and the singular fact is record- 
 ed, that though Dr. Hopkins, the minister of the family, and 
 Dr. Stiles, then pastor of another church in Newport, both at- 
 tended the funeral, neither of them officiated, nor was there any 
 religious service, it not being then a prevailing custom.* 
 
 Two years after his first short campaign, John Howland, then 
 eighteen, enlisted in one of the regiments which Rhode-Island 
 raised, under the command of Colonel Lippitt. And the mo- 
 ment he received the advanced pay, he hastened to supply his 
 scanty wardrobe. As soon as he was equipped for service, the 
 young soldier set off, alone and on foot, for Newport, to join his 
 regiment. Arriving at Bristol at noon, he found the inhabitants 
 in great alarm from the appearance of Wallace's fleet coming 
 up the Bay, as if to attack the town. He immediately asked 
 and obtained leave to join the few soldiers, who had been called 
 to man the mud Battery, the chief point of defence. But the 
 enemy changed his course, and Bristol being relieved, the re- 
 cruit pursued his way, and reported himself at head-quarters. 
 Soon after this, he had the satisfaction, not unmingled with re- 
 gret, but now a necessity and joy, of hearing the " Declaration 
 of Independence" read, for the first time, to the assembled 
 people and soldiery, in front of the Court House at Newport — 
 
 ♦Appendix, C. 
 
11 
 
 a ceremony wliicli closed with " three cheer?, and the swinging 
 of our ohd three-cornered hats." 
 
 We need not follow him through his brief, but active service. 
 The scene of it Avas transferred from Ehode-Island to New- 
 York, and thence to New Jersey, where he fought at the side 
 of Washington, on Trenton Bridge, and again at Princeton, in 
 battles on which the fate of the American army, and of the 
 whole contest, seemed to hang. Nothing but the popularity 
 and wonderful ascendency of Washington could have retained, 
 beyond their term of enlistment, those soldiers whom Rowland 
 describes as " half starved, half-frozen, feeble, worn-out men, 
 with old fowling-pieces for muskets, and half of them without 
 bayonets — and the States so disheartened, or poor, that they 
 sent no reinforcements to supply the places of the handful of 
 men, who, but the day before, had volunteered to remain with 
 their venerated and beloved commander, for thirty days more." 
 In February they were discharged ; and at that inclement sea- 
 son, those same men, who from the first had been obliged to iind 
 their own clothing, and were now without shoes as well as with- 
 out pay, were left to get to their distant homes as they could. 
 Our young friend returned on foot from New Jersey to Provi- 
 dence — a long journey, whose varied incidents, trials, depend- 
 ence upon chance hospitality, and twenty-one days severe ill- 
 ness, he appears to have endured with even more than usual of 
 his imperturable good humor and ready ingenuity. " When I 
 had so far recovered," he says, '• as to be able to travel, I 
 walked ten miles the first day, and the second sixteen. The 
 ground was thickly covered with snow, so that I did not see 
 land all the way. As I had not slept on a bed since I left New- 
 port, (except when I was sick with the fever, I lay on a sack 
 filled with hay,) I did not inquire for one on my way home, but 
 felt well accommodated to wrap myself in my blanket, with my 
 knapsack for a pillow, and my feet before the kitchen fire." 
 
 At two subsequent periods, Mr. Howland joined those hazar- 
 dous expeditions, the first in 1777, under General Spencer, and 
 the last the year following, under General Sullivan, with a view 
 to the dislodgment of the British from Newport, and their ex- 
 pulsion from the Island of which they held possession nearly 
 
12 
 
 three rears. These expeditions, from causes seemingly bej^ond 
 control, were unsuccessful, and the regiments were soon dis- 
 banded. 
 
 Thus ended the services of John Howland in the Revolu- 
 tionary war. That these services were purely patriotic, and 
 had no power to kindle a passion for war, is evident not only 
 from his ultimate course, but from his views expressed at the 
 time, when the expression was proof both of humanity and 
 courage. While in the army, always attending worship on the 
 Sabbath when it was possible, he heard an eminent preacher 
 who ascribed the calamities of the war, with all its moral evils, 
 to the sins of the people, as a judgment ; and declared, more- 
 over, that better times could not be expected, until repentance 
 and reformation came. This, to Rowland's honest mind, was 
 both poor reasoning and discouraging prospect ; since war itself 
 was the fomentor of sin, and the parent of every vice. " We 
 have witnessed little religious reformation,"' he says, " since the 
 war began, and we know war never fails to produce immorality." 
 Often lias he spoken, with his strongest emphasis, not only of 
 the immorality, but of the infidelity, engendered in a camp, and 
 in every community under the direct influence of war. And 
 his latest reminiscences of former times, as well as frequent 
 declarations through life, give evidence of a conscientiousness 
 and allegiance, as true to God as to his country. 
 
 Passing from the military to the social and civic relations of 
 Mr. Howland, we enter upon a period which continued full sev- 
 enty years — the allotted term of human life. Though he had 
 been absent from Providence only about fifteen months in all, 
 he found many changes on his return. A calamity which impov- 
 erishes a country, may enrich individual inhabitants. The gains 
 of privateering, like those of the slave traffic, though not to be 
 compared in iniquity, are said to have been commonly very 
 transitory. But such as they were, they improved for a time 
 the aspect of more than one of our towns. The returning sol- 
 dier found the wharves of Providence occupied by ships freight- 
 ed with rich products, and families that he had left in penury 
 had risen to a seeming prosperity. The effects of valuable 
 
13 
 
 prizes, which in the earh' part of the war had been brought into 
 Newport, were removed, on the approach of the enemy, to this 
 and neighboring places, where they were safely lodged or deeply 
 buried, from fear of further inyasion. But the English admirals 
 contented themselves with the boast that they had blocked in 
 " that nest of pirates up the river" — and the wealth remained. 
 Directly or indirectly, it affected the condition of all, and its in- 
 fluence extended even to the young man who was still an ap- 
 prentice. For his master had been enabled to remove to a 
 better stand, left vacant by his most successful competitor, who 
 preferred the chances and the glory of privateering to those of 
 hair-dressing. Now it was that " Gladding's" became the em- 
 porium of public and private news, the fashionable " Exchange"' 
 for the first gentlemen of Providence, together with many offi- 
 cers of the army occasionally stationed here. It Avas a rich 
 opportunity for the listening ear and retentive memory of one 
 who had something to tell as well as to hear, and on whom 
 nothing was lost. With too large a mind to be ever ashamed 
 of his calling — as in true dignity, all honest labor is on a level — - 
 every one may have heard him talk of the many heads, grave or 
 gay, instructive or diverting, which passed under his hands, 
 while apprentice, and afterward master. Nor was he restricted 
 at any time to party patronage. For his sturdiest opponents 
 loved to go to a place, where, in the oft quoted words of Judge 
 Howell, ' they got more shaving for their money than any where 
 else.' 
 
 One of the officers who resorted there during the war, was 
 the subsequent traitor, Benedict Arnold, then in the height of 
 personal display and the fame of unquestioned valor. To the 
 plain republican, he seemed one of the vainest of men, proud 
 of his scarlet coat, " the color of the British uniform," says Mr. 
 Howland : usually reading a novel while undergoing the daily 
 operation of the indignant tonsor, and often declaring, in a loud 
 and vaunting tone, that he would resign bis commission, unless 
 soon promoted.* 
 
 One of the first occasions on which we find mention of Mr. 
 Howland, in connection with public ailairs, is at the great Fes- 
 
 * Appendix, D. 
 
14 
 
 tival in 1790, when Rhode-Island, late but loyal, accepted and 
 crowned the Federal Constitution. The part which our friend 
 bore on that joyous day, may cause a smile if we call it distinc- 
 tion, but it shows the reliance placed already upon his judg- 
 ment as well as fidelity, and shows also his readiness of mind 
 and fertility of resource, among men of very superior advan- 
 tages. At the shortest possible notice, after the company had 
 assembled for the festival, he was directed by the officer in com- 
 mand (being himself a soldier,) to prepare, on the spot, thirteen 
 toasts for this unprecedented occasion — a duty not so easy or 
 trite then as now. He performed it promptly and acceptably, 
 using the public stairs as the only seat or tabic he could find, 
 and writing amid the noise and jostling of the passers-by. If 
 not the first, this certainly was not the last opportunity given 
 him of showing his ability and willingness to work. We are 
 struck with the frequency with which he was called upon for 
 similar and more arduous labors, on all manner of occasions, 
 rising from the most common Reports, to the dignity and diffi- 
 culty of public Addresses. These were demanded of him, and 
 sometimes exacted, beyond the usual degree. And though they 
 had not been as creditable as they are, in the exhibition of men- 
 tal vigor, good expression, and general information, it would 
 still stand as a singular prominence, in a literary community, of 
 one who had not had so much as common schooling. And this is 
 what we claim for Mr. Howland, in this connection. That he 
 had neither ordinary privileges, nor extraordinary gifts, yet ac- 
 complished what he did for himself and others, constitutes his 
 peculiarity. That he was self-taught, is not a peculiarity. Every 
 man is self-taught, who has learned any thing thoroughly. There 
 is a confusion of ideas, and much unmeaning talk, about self- 
 taught and self-made men. In the true sense, men of letters 
 and of professional training are often as really self-made, as 
 those who never saw a college, or entered a high-school. What- 
 ever is actually acquired — not simply given and received, told 
 and remembered, but acquired — in school or out, in a library or 
 work-shop, is necessarily attained by the man himself, through 
 hard study, strenuous labor, self-culture, and self-manufacture. 
 An abundance of help may be only an obstacle and injury. 
 
15 
 
 The real honor belongs to him who works, and works wiselj^ 
 with little or large aid. And the highest honor is, of course, for 
 him who does most for his own mind and for others, not only 
 without peculiar gifts or early opportunities, but with the add- 
 ed necessity of constant manual labor, caring and living for the 
 body and the present. How far he of whom we speak, was 
 entitled to this praise, judge ye. 
 
 No countr}', I suppose, has made such demands upon manual 
 and mental labor together, as our own. And when to this we 
 add the demand for rulers as well as workers, the necessity of 
 a self-created and self-governed government, we may well call 
 it a distinction. An illustration of this is to be found at the 
 period of which we are treating, and in connection with an 
 event just referred to — -the union of tlie States. After the 
 struggle of the Revolution for liberty, there came the struggle 
 of the Republic for life ; a harder struggle, in some respects, 
 than the other — as it is always harder to live well than to fight 
 well, and usually easier to conquer others than to govern our- 
 selves. Self-government, on a new and larger scale than ever, 
 was now to be the experiment. And its beginnings were dark. 
 The whole country was in a state of depression, of which the 
 hardest times since give us probably no idea. There was all 
 the burden, devastation, and corruption of eight years of war- 
 fare, with an Independence established, but shared hy thirteen 
 distinct provinces united only by a confederation which proved 
 a weakness and embarrassment ; while the chief property of 
 the country consisted of paper and promises, which the govern- 
 ment was too poor to redeem.- x\.nd when at last a Federal 
 Constitution was formed, with a wisdom and foresight, all things 
 considered, unequalled in the history of nations ; it was adopted 
 slowly by the distrustful States. At the time which we are 
 now contemplating, Rhode-Island stood alone, outside of the 
 Union, practically a foreign nation, whose ships were shut out 
 from our own harbors, whose trade was at the lowest ebb, and 
 its inhabitants leaving its borders to go into the " United States" 
 for subsistence. 
 
 It was in the midst of these discouragements and doubts, 
 
 ♦ Appendix, E. 
 
16 
 
 that an Association was formed in this town, simple in its struc- 
 ture, modest in its pretensions, but of large aim and influence. On 
 the 27th of February, 1789, a few gentlemen met at the house 
 of Elijah Bacon, in Union street, and after conferring together, 
 resolved to form a Society ; and forthwith appointed a committee 
 to draft a Constitution, with the title of the " Providence As- 
 sociation of Mechanics and Manufacturers," whose object should 
 be to promote the industrial interests, not only of the State, 
 but of the country, so far as their example or influence would 
 go. Moving with all promptness, an act of incorporation was 
 obtained the following month, and a correspondence opened 
 with the mechanics of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and 
 Boston. The response from those cities was friendly, declaring 
 a union of purpose, but deeply regretting the want of union in 
 government. To that union, most of the members of the As- 
 sociation, if not all, were favorable, and their whole action was 
 designed to facilitate the desired completion. A new impulse 
 was also given to mechanical enterprise and ingenuity through 
 the country. The first movement of the kind, in the State of 
 New York, is ascribed to an appeal from this body. Alexander 
 Hamilton, first Secretary of the Treasury, in reply to a circular 
 addressed by him to the supervisor of Rhode-Island, was fur- 
 nished with a schedule of home manufactures, prepared with 
 great labor by several committees of this Association; for 
 which Hamilton is said to have acknowledged his indebtedness, 
 in writing that great Eeport so identified with his great name. 
 In carrying forward the important objects of this Associa- 
 tion, and directing its power to the best results, John Howland 
 bore a part, not second, we are told, to that of any individual. 
 Joining the Association the first year of its existence, lie was 
 appointed to speak for its claims and define its objects, in one 
 of its first public addresses, and was thrice summoned to the 
 same service on later occasions — the first occurring in 1799, 
 the last in 1825, when approaching his 70th year. In the ear- 
 liest of these four addresses, which were all published, and are 
 characterized by plain practical ^ense without display or ap- 
 parent effort, he states a fact which gives us some idea of the 
 changes that ho witnessed before his death, viz : that the first 
 
17 
 
 team that ever arrived here from the neighboring State of Con- 
 necticut, came as late as 1722, eiglity-six years after the set- 
 tlement of Providence — and that then there were but two small 
 ware-houses here, yet sufficient to hold all the merchandise 
 brought to this place in the coasting craft. 
 
 Mr. Howland acted as Secretary of the Mechanics' Association 
 eighteen years, and was six years its President. Like all who 
 are willing to work, he had work enough put upon him ; and an 
 amusing instance has been told of his readiness and tact, 
 when, on some occasion, the business committee having failed 
 to prepare a Report which they were bound to make, half in- 
 dignant and half in sport, he took up a blank sheet, and read 
 off the Report with such ease and emphasis, that all present 
 either supposed it to be written, or were ashamed that they had 
 not done it themselves. Nor did this Society restrict its power 
 to mechanical uses, but made it an instrument, as we are to see, 
 of other and higher products. 
 
 Few schemes for social or moral improvement were devised 
 in Mr. Rowland's day, that did not share his interest and influ- 
 ence. If men of twice his power of intellect and station would 
 do as much as he did, or attempt as much, for the common wel- 
 fare, society would wear a different face. There is a dread 
 responsibility resting upon us all, which he seemed always to 
 feel. The cause of Temperance found in him an early friend, 
 acting as chairman of the first meeting on the subject, in 1827, 
 before it became popular. The cause of Peace received his 
 countenance, in ways that must not be passed over with a word. 
 Early a member of the " Rhode-Island Peace Society," he was 
 its third President, and held that office from 1837 to the time 
 of his death. He believed in the possibility of promoting 
 Peace, as he believed in the possibility of obeying the Gospel. 
 He did not wish nor dare to doubt, that Christ knew what was 
 in man, and meant what he said when he inculcated forgiveness 
 of enemies, forbade retaliation and revenge, and taught, by his 
 life and death, that evil was to be overcome with good. On 
 these precepts and promises, Mr. Howland rested. And when 
 toward the end of his long life, his grandchildren asked him of 
 his own deeds in war, he shook his head and besought them 
 
 3 
 
18 
 
 not to fight. In his recorded recollections of the Revolution, 
 there is a sentiment which finds such a Tcrification in the war- 
 fare now waged by the first nations of Europe, that it sounds 
 almost prophetic. " For the sake of humanity, I wish men may 
 never make any improvement in the art of gunnery. Lord 
 Chesterfield told his son, that whatever is worth doing at all, 
 is worth doing well. But as the business of war is to kill men, 
 I wish people may never learn to do it well." What a comment 
 on this may now be read on the plains of the Crimea ! The world 
 waits for the faith and victory of the Prince of Peace. There is 
 a beatitude for those who do not themselves wait for the world 
 to be converted, before they declare their allegiance to Christ 
 and his religion. The cause of Peace may be derided and put 
 back ; but if the Gospel be true, it will yet prevail. 
 
 There is another Society and service to which Mr. Howland 
 was devoted. His interest in the present, and hope for the 
 future, did not make him forgetful of the past. With none of 
 the narrowness of a mere lover and hoarder of relics, he cher- 
 ished a filial reverence for his ancestors, for the founders of the 
 Republic, and for all promoters of civil and religious liberty. 
 He desired to rescue alike from destruction and oblivion, all 
 that is of value in the liistory of such men and their times, 
 whether of our own or other nations. His conversation evinced, 
 as do his published writings, that for one of his limited oppor- 
 tunities and a life of practical detail, he was a watchful observer 
 and retentive reader of the great movements of the age, and 
 of past ages. And what is more rare, and no less honorable, 
 his whole action shows his willingness to give time and labor to 
 that which is every one's concern, but as many seem to think, 
 no one's duty — the preservation of facts and historical records. 
 The Historical Society, by whose call we are now assembled, 
 has cause to repeat with gratitude, and desires to retain in 
 lasting honor, the humble name of John Howland. 
 
 This Society, the fourth of its kind in the United States in 
 the order of institution, owes its origin to the meeting of a few 
 gentlemen, on the 19th of April, 1822, at the office of William 
 R. Staples, whose interest and services, in this connection as 
 in otliers, need not be told here. The history and labors of 
 
19 
 
 the Society have been so recentlj' and ably set forth, in the dis- 
 course of Professor Gammell at the opening of the Cabinet, 
 that any thing further on that point would be superfluous. A 
 complete and worthy history of Rhode-Island is yet to be 
 written ; we trust we may say, is in the process of being writ- 
 ten, by one competent to the task. And the task is neither 
 light, nor in any comparison, unimportant. The very birth of 
 this settlement, the principles of its founders, the strong and 
 original stamp given to its whole civil and religious aspect, the 
 separate provinces of the plantation itself, and its singular po- 
 sition in relation to other portions of New-England — a position, 
 and consequent character, little understood even by the nearest 
 provinces, and often misrepresented, partly from the novelty of 
 its own spirit of liberty, and partly from the prejudices and 
 strange incongruities of the noble Puritan race — these, with the 
 stand taken by the State in the aboriginal contests, in the revo- 
 lutionary drama, and the formation of the Federal Union — all 
 wait for the labors of such Associations as this, and such minds 
 as are being formed in our own atmosphere. Meantime, it is 
 deeply to be regretted, that the public are so indiflferent as to 
 the materials of our own history. It is a neglect not easily 
 comprehended, and may prove a reproach which the State will 
 have more reasoii to feel than any other, if not speedily re- 
 moved by its citizens in their individual or legislative capacity, 
 that that small, imperfect, and altogether insufficient Cabmet 
 should be the only visible monument or instrument of the pro- 
 jects of such a Society. Sad, that the question should be forced 
 upon us every year — " How shall we live ? How can we pre- 
 serve even the little we hold, in materials and funds ? How 
 carry forward the work committed to us, undertaken by so few, 
 with so little encouragement ?"* 
 
 John Howland was one of the few who early asked this 
 question, and did all in his power to obtain for it just consider- 
 ation. Though not one of the framers of the Society, we find 
 
 * We are sorry to be obliged to state, that since this discourse was written, another 
 vain attempt has been made to obtain aid from the GcTicral Assembly for the His- 
 torical Society. The people of this State should cither abate their pride in theirowu 
 history, or be willing to do something to save its perishing records, and give it to 
 the world in a worthy and durable form. 
 
20 
 
 him chosen to the office of Vice President at the first annual 
 election, but declining the appointment in behalf of another. 
 The less noted, but more laborious office of Treasurer, he held 
 for nine years, and was then chosen to succeed Governor Fen- 
 ner, as the second President — an office which he has held twen- 
 ty-one years out of the thirty-four of the Society's existence. 
 He was unable to discharge its duties for several of the last 
 years, and at the age of ninety-one formally tendered his resig- 
 nation, but was re-elected to the time of his death. We claim 
 for him no extraordinary share of the labor or honor of this 
 enterprise. But we say, he did what he could — and if this 
 could be said of every one, the work would not flag. He knew 
 himself, and neither in this, nor in any place, pretended to be 
 more than he was. He knew to what he was equal, and what 
 is less common, he knew to what he was unequal. The one, 
 he was always ready to attempt ; the other, he left to those of 
 better education or greater ability. He took a lively interest 
 in all the correspondence of the Society, especially in that with 
 the antiquarians and scholars of Denmark, from whom he re- 
 ceived tokens of respect and marks of honor. At various times, 
 he gave to the Society — all he had to give — hundreds of books 
 and pamphlets. The records for many years show how unfail- 
 ingly he attended the meetings of the Society, itself no common 
 virtue anywhere, and uncommon there — while the Resolutions 
 passed at the time of his decease, embody a comprehensive 
 summary of the many services rendered by him to the Society, 
 the City, and the State.* 
 
 To many of Mr. Howland's public services, which were very 
 varied, some of them of the humblest kind and some requiring 
 constant attention for a long period, we can barely allude in 
 passing. Of these, were his labors as town Audit for fifteen 
 years, and town Treasurer fourteen, covering the whole period 
 from 1803 to the organization of the city government in 1832, 
 Avhen he declined being longer a candidate — his connection 
 Avith the old " Providence Library," for which he labored many 
 years, and of which he wrote an account, since appended to 
 the First Annual Report of the Athenajum, running l)ack to the 
 
 * Appendix, V. 
 
21 
 
 year 1753, and showing that even then great pains were taken, 
 and generous suras expended, by private citizens here, in making 
 the first valuable collection of books, most of which were lost 
 by fire; — his service to the Society, formed in 1820, for the 
 " Promotion of Domestic Industry," the drafting of whose Con- 
 stitution, and the delivery of the first Address, were literally 
 forced upon him by the publication of his name without his 
 knowledge and against his consent ; the forgiving man overlook- 
 ing the offence, and performing tlie duty with a better grace 
 than most men would — his early and earnest toil for that ad- 
 mirable " Institution for Savings," which owed its origin to 
 others, but of which he was Treasurer from the first until the 
 infirmities of eighty-three years compelled him to withdraw, 
 the Corporation testifying to the value of his services, performed 
 several years without compensation. To these may be added, 
 in a difterent province, his contributions to the " Rhode-Island 
 Literary Repository," issued in Providence forty years ago, and 
 containing, with other papers from his pen, the biographical 
 sketch of Dr. Manning, referred to favorably and largely quoted 
 by that ripe scholar and useful citizen, too early removed, who 
 gave us the later and more complete Memoir of the " First 
 President of Brown University."^'" 
 
 In 1831, Ml-. Howland engaged in an important correspond- 
 ence with the Rev. James D. Knowles, who applied to him for 
 aid in collecting materials for the Life of Roger Williams. In 
 that Life, as will be remembered, reference is repeatedly made 
 to Mr. Rowland's opinion on several important points. We 
 have read his letters in manuscript, with great interest, and 
 trust they will be preserved, if not published. They exhibit the 
 writer's characteristic honesty and sturdiness both of opinion 
 and expression ; with an allusion to himself, which we venture 
 to quote, as showing how calmly the good old man waited for 
 the messenger, not the dread but the sure messenger, wdiom he 
 supposed to be near more than twenty years ago, having al- 
 ready passed the usual term, and being warned, as he thought, 
 by peculiar symptoms. " I hope to write you further before 
 long, if it please Him in whose hands my breatli is, to grant me 
 
 * William G. Gocldard. 
 
22 
 
 farther time ; for my health is failing, and my complaint or af- 
 fection of the lungs, I deem incurable. Even if my health was 
 good, my age, being now in my seventy-fifth year, would ad- 
 monish me that I shall soon have no interest in the subject now 
 examined, or in any other which relate solely to this state of 
 being. If what I have here written should appear without 
 form, I wish you to exercise candor, as I write under many dis- 
 advantages as I can secure a moment's time ; and I wish you 
 rather to doubt my capacity and abilities, than my good inten- 
 tions."'^ 
 
 But wc mnst hasten to the remaining province of personal 
 and local history, inseparable from our subject, and deserving 
 separate notice, though connected with others already consid- 
 ered. 
 
 There are many revolutions in society, and their leaders have 
 very unequal renown ; sometimes in inverse ratio to the real 
 greatness and usefulness of their achievements. No nation, and 
 we fear it must be owned, no sect, as such, has learned to meas- 
 ure the completeness or glory of human life and labor, by the 
 Gospel standard alone. A new day will dawn, when, to train 
 the mind and illumine the soul, shall be deemed by even the 
 world of Christians, a braver and greater work than to pre- 
 serve the body, or expose body and soul to danger and destruc- 
 tion. Yet there is, among the cheering signs, a growing dispo- 
 sition to distinguish between the glory of the conquerors, and the 
 glory of the Educators of men. And among the Educators, we 
 place him who provides for their increase in numbers, their ele- 
 vation in character and power, and above all, the free bestow- 
 mcnt and wide diffusion of their blessings. Such distinction, 
 at the least, all will accord to John Howland ; and if there was 
 any of which he was himself proud, it was this. 
 
 When he came to Providence, and for thirty years after, the 
 provision for public education was very small. The ^' Annals 
 of Providence" tell us, — '' that the soil of Rhode-Island has 
 never been peculiarly favorable to schools, or institutions of 
 
 * Letter to Rev. James D. Knowles, February 2, 1832. 
 
23 
 
 learning." At the same time we see that somctliing was done, 
 very early, for general instruction and its permanent support. 
 In 1663, little more than a quarter of a century from the set- 
 tlement of the town, an appropriation was made, by the Pro- 
 prietors, of one hundred and six acres of land, " to be reserved 
 for the maintenance of a school in this town ; to be called the 
 school lands of Providence." Of the benefit, however, accru- 
 ing from this appropriation, there is no knowledge. It is not 
 until 1752, nearly a century later, according to Judge Staples' 
 history, that there is a record to be found of a committee be- 
 ing chosen — " to have the care of the town school house, and 
 to appoint a master to teach in said house." Two or three 
 school houses were soon after built, but no more appears to have 
 been done by the town, than to lease these houses to teachers, 
 who must take their chance both for pupils and pay. Still 
 later, and about the time that the lad, John Howland, first came 
 here, a decided effort was made to provide schools for all chil- 
 dren, and apparently they were to be free. Two extended and 
 able Reports were written in favor of the scheme, but both were 
 rejected ; and rejected, strange to say, by the classes who were 
 to be most benefitted — the very poor, and those of small means, 
 without education themselves. And is not this last fact the 
 best explanation of that otherwise unaccountable blindness, 
 which has appeared in some form, and at some stage, in all 
 communities ? Moses Brown, in a note annexed, with his 
 initials, to one of the able Reports just referred to, ascribes 
 this delusion of the people to demagogues and the envious. 
 Still that such men and motives should have such influence, must 
 be owing to a want of knowledge in the mass, and is itself one 
 of the best proofs of the need of popular education. Down to 
 the end of the last century, resolutions were repeatedly offered 
 in the Town Council of Providence, favoring the establishment 
 of free schools, but were either rejected, or allowed to sleep. 
 
 It is known to all, that the object was at last attained through 
 the impulse and influence of the Providence Association of Me- 
 chanics and Manufacturers, who scut to the General Assembly, 
 in February, 1799, a Memorial, written by John Howland. 
 That Memorial was referred to a committee, who reported fa- 
 
24 
 
 vorably, by bill, the following June. The bill was referred to 
 the freemen for instructions ; and the Instructions given to the 
 Providence Eepresentatives — John Smith, William Rhodes, Tho- 
 mas P. Ives, and David L. Barnes — were also drawn by John 
 Howland. In October, the House passed the bill into a law, 
 but the Senate postponed it until the session of February, 1800, 
 when they concurred. Great opposition still existed, and an 
 influence was brought to bear upon the people — whether like 
 that before used, we do not know — through which the act was 
 made unpopular, and in three years was repealed. For Provi- 
 dence, however, the work was done. Honor to all, to whom 
 the honor is due ! 
 
 In one of the meetings of the Historical Society a few years 
 ago, a paper of unusual interest was read by the Rev. E. M. 
 Stone, containing Mr. Howland's own account of the origin and 
 progress of the School-system, as taken from the lips of the 
 aged and infirm narrator. This account, for the use of which 
 I am grateful to the writer, tells us, in substance, that the mem- 
 bers of the Association who started the project, were led to 
 think and act the more, as indeed the Memorial sets forth, from 
 feeling their own " want of education," and of mental facility. 
 From talking, they determined to write for the scheme ; though 
 only one, Grindall Reynolds, could be induced to furnish an ar- 
 ticle for the Gazette. Mr. Howland wrote many ; and the first 
 men of the town gave the plan their countenance, if not their 
 efforts. When the committee of the Mechanics was appointed 
 to draft the Memorial to the Assembly, a member ofi'ered one 
 which began and ended in the usual petition-style — '' we will 
 ever pray," &c. " I told the committee," says Mr. Howland, 
 " I did not like the doctrine of that paper. It was too humble 
 in tone. I did not believe in petitioning legislators to do their 
 duty. We ought, on the contrary, in addressing that body, to 
 assume a tone of confidence, that with the case fairly stated, 
 they would decide wisely and justly for the rising generation." 
 And, then, from out of that pocket which was seldom void of 
 ideas, he drew forth the Memorial which was adopted and sent. 
 A similar scene occurred in the committee chosen by the town 
 to prepare the Instructions to tlie Representatives ; where such 
 
25 
 
 men as Burrill and Bridgham thought there was no time to pre- 
 pare and report that afternoon, already late, and turned to Mr. 
 Rowland with the question — " What do yoii think ?" " I have 
 got my opinion in my pocket," was the answer; "if you wish 
 to hear it, I will read it." Their work was done, and well done. 
 It was not that he assumed anything ; but he knew the value of 
 time, he saw that this was the moment to strike, and fearing 
 that no one else would be ready, he had given most of the pre- 
 vious night to the careful preparation of this paper. Nor were 
 his labors confined to Providence. Other towns were still more 
 doubtful, and he wrote to prominent men, and went himself to 
 Newport, to see that at least proper information was given, and 
 all just means used for a great end. 
 
 And not promptness only, but courage also, and adroit- 
 ness, the knowledge of men, and the power of using men, 
 are seen in this as in other positions. After the new system 
 had been adopted, it was to be carried into effect. For this 
 the first requisite was money, and a much larger sum than 
 had ever been appropriated for such an object. Here came, 
 as usual, the hottest of the battle, and great danger of de- 
 feat. Mr. Rowland moved, in town meeting, the large ap- 
 propriation, as it then was, of four thousand dollars. Many 
 thought it altogether too much ; but the most vehement and cun- 
 ning opposers insisted that a larger sum should be named, hoping 
 thus to defeat the whole project. After listening some time to 
 the discussion, Mr. Howland quietly said, that as some present 
 desired a larger amount, he would amend his motion by pro- 
 posing six thousand instead of four. This was instantly sec- 
 onded by an opponent. The motion was put, and adopted ! to 
 the amazement and angry excitement of the opposers, who said 
 to the bold man, " You have taken us in." " You have taken 
 yourselves in, and I am glad of it," he replied. Again, the 
 work was done. 
 
 In all this, nothing impresses us more, than to see an unlet- 
 tered man, with no commanding station, property, or alliance, 
 take his place, and a place assigned rather than sought, at the 
 side of men like President Maxcy, Judge Barnes, Dr. Gano, 
 Dr. Hitchcock, and James Burrill ; and not merely in the pre- 
 
26 
 
 liminary or the financial work, but also in the intellectual ; the 
 preparing a system of Rules, arranging the Studies, and choos- 
 in<r the Books, that were to constitute the basis of free instruc- 
 tion, for a whole community — a task, which those able, profes- 
 sional men, did not so much share with their chosen compeer, 
 as commit to him alone. He felt unequal to it, but he would 
 not draw back. Grammar and Geography were to be intro- 
 duced as new studies — and the books were not here, and to 
 him not known. Hear his courageous confession. " Up to this 
 time, I had never seen a grammar ; a sorry confession for a 
 school-committee man, some may think." He learned what books 
 were used in Boston ; and the " Young Lady's Accidence," and 
 " Morse's Geography" were obtained, the rules he had drawn 
 were adopted, and a system went into operation whose influ- 
 ence will never cease. If hereafter it shall be asked who was 
 the Father of the Free School system in Rhode-Island, and any 
 one shall be thought worthy of the honor — who will it be ? 
 
 There is something touching in the tone with which the man 
 of fourscore and ten concludes this account of an experience 
 not common. " To some," he says, " this recital may seem 
 egotistical. But I have no such feeling. I was so constantly 
 connected with the school movement, that I cannot speak of it 
 without speaking of myself. I take no improper pride in the 
 part r acted. If better educated and more influential men had 
 seen fit to take the lead, I should have been contented to fol- 
 low. But I felt that somebody must do the work, and as others 
 would not, I resolved that I would. I thank a kind providence, 
 that I have been able, in my humble way, to be of service to 
 ray fellow-men ; and I wish to occupy no other place in their 
 memories, or the page of history, than that which truth shall 
 assign me." 
 
 And what place, we might now ask, does truth assign him ? 
 They will best answer who knew him best, they who were as- 
 sociated with him, they who have read or heard of his services, 
 and the many who are tasting, or may hereafter taste, the fruit 
 of liis labors. 
 
 His life covers an immense space ; much more than a third 
 part of our national existence. View it in a single relation. 
 
27 
 
 Three years of age when George the Third ascended the 
 throne. John Howland saw the whole of that sixty years' reign, 
 and three successive sovereigns crowned afterward, in the land 
 of which he was born a subject— while he participated in the 
 election, or witnessed the accession, of fourteen Presidents of 
 the new Republic which he helped into existence just at the 
 time of his own maturity ! And has any man lived at a more 
 critical period, marked by more or greater revolutions, discov- 
 eries, institutions, improvements ? Take the one province at 
 which we last glanced, in the local sphere of his active service. 
 Instead of the four schools first established in tliis town, under 
 the new system, he lived to sec forty-eight; the nine original 
 teachers have multiplied to one hundred and twelve ; the sum 
 appropriated for the support of the schools, has risen from six 
 thousand dollars to forty-two thousand; and most of all, the 
 number of children availing themselves of these advantages, has 
 grown from nine hundred and eighty-eight, in the first year, 
 to more than six thousand in the last. Of other changes, in 
 the character of the schools, in the buildings they occupy, the 
 ability of the teachers, and the proficiency of the scholars, were 
 we to judge from personal observation during the last half of 
 the Free-School period, we should say that not the aged alone, 
 but all of every class have reason for emotions better than 
 pride — devout gratitude and generous confidence. This will 
 not be the least, it may be made the largest and brightest page 
 of the history of Rhode-Island. 
 
 In 1835, the Board of Fellows of Brown University con- 
 ferred upon Mr. Howland the Degree of Master of Arts — an 
 honor which he fully appreciated. We have not thouglit it 
 necessary to name the honors of membership bestowed by va- 
 rious bodies, or the numerous applications made to him for in- 
 formation which it was thought he could best give, on the char- 
 acters and incidents of the past. 
 
 His last public service was performed, as was fitting, in his 
 native town. In the winter of 1841, at the age of eighty-four, 
 he went to Newport, by invitation of the Association of Me- 
 chanics, and delivered an historical Discourse, fraught with re- 
 miniscences interesting to all, a brother five years older than 
 himself being one of his hearers. 
 
28 
 
 At home, he continued vigorous in mind, and in many t^ays 
 active, beyond the age of ninety. His interest in all associa- 
 tions to which he belonged, as officer or member, was unabated ; 
 and he was present at their gatherings, on all important occa- 
 sions, as long as he could walk or be carried. From the first 
 annual meeting of the Mechanics' Association, to the sixtieth, 
 it is said he was not once absent. So of other calls, and the 
 ordinary duties of a citizen ; he was true to all, to the utmost 
 verge of his strength. " He that is faitliful in that which is 
 least, is faithful also in much," seems to have been revered by 
 him as one of the Master's laws ; and well was it illustrated in 
 his own life. His life was his religion ; and religion crowned 
 the evening of his protracted day, with its serene and holy 
 light. 
 
 In drawing this sketch of the man and his times, we have at- 
 tempted no completeness of portraiture ; and in closing it, we 
 claim no meed of admiration for its subject, beyond the award 
 of simple justice. He was not a lover of eulog}^, and we will 
 not affront the simplicity and sincerity of his image, visible to 
 us still, and peculiarly /tere.* All that was in him was open as 
 the day. Downright honesty was written on his whole frame. In 
 its dealing with others, this honesty passed often into bluntness, 
 and some persons it may have troubled, possibly oftended, for 
 a moment — but beneath its roughest show, there dwelt the kind- 
 liness of a woman's heart. He had great power of expression, 
 and he never feared to use it. He had an inexhaustible fund 
 of humor, and he loved to indulge it, and to see others enjoy 
 it. Never censorious, or willingly unjust, he was perfectly frank^ 
 and said what he thought in the way most natural to him. 
 Taking his opinions from no one, he asked no one's leave to 
 keep them. But he respected the opinions of others, and 
 thought more of character than of complexion. There were 
 leaders and politicians who found no favor with him, and would 
 not have felt flattered if they had heard him speak of them — 
 as they certainly would, if they went near enongh. But he was 
 
 * The discourse was delivered in the First Congregational Church, of which he 
 was so long a member and officer. 
 
29 
 
 never indiscriminate or implacable. He once said, having in 
 vie^v an old partizan and opponent — " If a man has been wrong 
 for seventy years, and then for five years does .right, he ought 
 to be forgiven." 
 
 In his own political creed, Mr. Howland lived and died in 
 tlie school of Washington and Hamilton-^— than which none 
 purer, none nobler in power or patriotism, can we expect to 
 see ! But the hope of political distinction was never his infir- 
 mity. He aimed only to be useful. And here is the lesson of 
 his life j a great lesson, for young and old. If one word will 
 define his public course, either in its object or result, it is Use- 
 fulness. With strong native sense, such as early culture might 
 have made eminent— with a memory not often surpassed, either 
 in extent or accuracy, perhaps his distinguishing mental trait, a 
 very storehouse of facts, anecdotes, and illustrations, historical, 
 political, personal, and often wonderfully graphic — with these, 
 he united an insatiable thirst for knowledge, not to be hoarded 
 or exhibited, but used ; and used, not for his own benefit, but 
 for others' good. From first to last, there seems to have been 
 in him this passion, say, rather, this high attribute — viz : a wil- 
 lingness always to work, and to work in the humblest way — 
 with a sense of accountableness for the use of all power, how- 
 ever limited, and an interest in the progress of his country and 
 the race, such as turned all ambition into the desire and en- 
 deavor to be useful. 
 
 Of his private friendships and domestic fidelity, of his consci- 
 entiousness in the smallest as in the largest duties, of his pre- 
 vailing mood and real affections, where they most appear, at 
 home — and most of all, of his Christian Faith, unpretending, 
 but firm as the rock on which it rested — we could speak strong- 
 ly. But we must not. In a conversation with him, some years 
 ago, upon his early life, he told me, that at one time, partly in 
 consequence of what he saw and felt during the war, and partly 
 from religious dissensions, he became perplexed and sceptical, 
 and spent his Sabbaths at home in reading — not, as do many, 
 to confirm his doubts, but to dispel them. After going care- 
 fully through Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, and listening to 
 Dr. Hitchcock's first discourses on the Evidences of Religion, 
 
30 
 
 he became a settled believer and happy Christian. Eighty years 
 a worshipper with this Society, occasional at first, and then 
 never absent ; forty-six years a member of the church, and nearly 
 half that time in the unfailing discharge of the ofiice of Deacon — 
 we witnessed his devotion to God, his faith in Christ, and his 
 conviction of the dependence of men and nations on the insti- 
 tutions of Religion, and the temper of loyalty to the King of 
 kings. 
 
 In the autumn of 1847, the Pastor of this church received a 
 brief but aifecting communication, written that Sabbath morn- 
 ing, with a tremulous hand, but a mind clear and calm, in these 
 words — omitting only an official reference. 
 
 ^^ Dear Sir: This day, October 31, 1847, I have arrived at 
 the age of ninety years ; and knowing the infirmities attending 
 my advanced years, I desire to relinquish the duties confided to 
 me by the church. The decay of my faculties, especially of my 
 memory and hearing, admonish me that it is my duty thus to 
 determine. * * * My attachment to the church has not 
 abated by age ; I pray for the increase of its members, and for 
 their future prosperitv, which I hope its great and glorious 
 Head will grant. I acknowledge with gratitude the mercy and 
 protection which it has pleased God (the author of my being) 
 to grant me through a long life ; and am now awaiting its close, 
 with calmness and resignation, in the humble and somewhat 
 confiding hope of entering on a better state of existence, 
 through his infinite grace. John Howland." 
 
 In a more extended, private record, written for a devoted 
 daughter after he was seventy — a record to which I am largely 
 indebted, but whose sacredness has restrained me from a free 
 public use — there are passages toward the close, beautifully ex- 
 pressive of temporal as well as spiritual satisfaction ; and com- 
 ing from one who had never known abundance, and may have 
 known something of the opposite, it is an example that should 
 not be withheld. Thus he writes : " There is not a man now 
 living, who owned any of the property in this town when I came 
 to live here. I am among other generations, and in the midst 
 
31 
 
 of strangers. I am frequently enquired of, respectino; those 
 who have long smce departed. It is a melancholy reflection 
 but I have no complaint to make. * * * I am in the constant 
 acknowledgment of the great mercy of God, for the many bless- 
 ings I have received from his adorable bounty. I have been 
 generally favored with health; though it has pleased God to 
 call many of our children to a better state of existence. I 
 have never suffered for the want of money ; I have always had 
 enough for a comfortal)le support, and that is all that is neces- 
 sary here." 
 
 " We spend our years as a tale that is told." Life is a vapor. 
 An hand-breadth or a long age, it vanisheth away. And mys- 
 terious is the passage. Awe-inspiring are the ways of God, 
 with the soul He sends. Now it looks upon the world an in- 
 stant, and the unconscious eye closes forever. Now it lives, 
 and lives, as if it were not to taste of death. Long has it out- 
 lived nearly every one that came with it. Multitudes of the 
 young, the active, the robust, and the mighty, has it seen flitting 
 like shadows over the plain — and still it lives — talks of the 
 buried past to those who are of yesterday, converses with 
 death as familiarly as with life, feels the growing burden, fears 
 delay, yet murmurs not, but trusts and waits — buoyant and 
 lethargic by turns, old, youthful, a boy, a babe — and still the 
 same, and still how changed ! 
 
 At length, the race is run. The keepers of the house trem- 
 ble, and those that look out of the windows are darkened. The 
 strong man bows himself down. Gently the silver cord is 
 loosed, silently the golden bowl is broken. Once and again it 
 wakes, revives, rallies its forces, and flashes as with its wonted 
 fire. The man re-appears. The father and the friend returns. 
 The strong affections, clinging not to life but to those who live, 
 are movingly tender. A child approaches ; and at the sound 
 of the voice, and the expression of interest and reverent won- 
 der in that young face, seeing such age for the first time, the 
 bowed form lifts itself up, a smile of sweet welcome irradiates 
 the furrowed face, and the old man speaks, with the earnestness 
 and playfulness of days gone by — in simple delight, from the 
 
32 
 
 love of giving pleasure, he goes back to the events of his own 
 distant childhood, and once more vividly portrays the scenes 
 and conflicts of a stirring manhood. 
 
 — " Rightly is it said, 
 That man descends into the vale of years ; 
 Yet have I thought that we might also speak, 
 And not presumptuously, I trust, of Age, 
 As of a final Eminence, though bare 
 In aspect and forbidding, yet a Point 
 On which 'tis not impossible to sit 
 In awful sovereignty — a place of power, 
 A Throne, that may be likened unto his 
 Who in some placid day of summer, looks 
 Down from a mountain-top." 
 
 And when that mountain-top is bathed in the beams of the 
 sun of Righteousness, its light rays out over a boundless space, 
 for an endless day. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 A.-P- 6. 
 A different account of the first John Howland's marriage is given by Na- 
 hum JVIitchell, in his recent History of Bridgewater. He says — " John How- 
 land came over in the first ship, 1620 ; his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Gov- 
 ernor John Carver, and two children, John and Desire, came afterwards, 
 1627." The difference, it will be seen, relates only to time. No authority 
 is given for the statement that he married before he came, and left his family 
 behind. Still it agrees with what is afterward recorded of a division of lands 
 between the several families, and is as likely to be true as the other account, 
 which rests only upon tradition. 
 
 B.-p. 6- 
 
 A few days after the delivery of this discourse, there appeared in the pa- 
 pers a notice of the death, in Duxbury, Mass., of Sophia Bradford, at the 
 age of ninety-four ; " grand-daughter of the Hon. Gamaliel Bradford, Judge 
 of the County Court, and member of the Council in Provincial times ; and 
 ihe fifth in direct line of descent from William Bradford, second Governor of 
 Plymouth Colony." This makes her to have stood in the same relation to the 
 first company, as John Howland ; and must therefore qualify the assertion, that 
 he was the nearest living descendent at the time of his death. 
 
 C.-p. lO. 
 The statement that there were no religious services at the funeral referi'ed 
 to, the custom not being then prevalent ; will seem incredible to many. I can- 
 not cite the authority, but I have seen the fact stated in other places ; and it 
 has been ascribed to the early Puritan prejudices against the Catholics, and 
 their ceremonies for the dead. At all events, Mr. Howland was not a man 
 to forget or misstate such a fact, and the account may be of sufficient interest 
 to be given in his own words. " In the year 1774, my father died suddenly 
 in Newport ; and Mr. Edward Bosworth, of Barrington, my father's near re- 
 
34 
 
 lation, being then there, came to Providence for me to accompany him to 
 Newport, to attend the funeral. There were two churches of the Congrega- 
 tional order in Newport ; the first, in which Doct. Hopkins had been settled 
 three or four years ; and that of Doct. Ezra Stiles. My father being a prom- 
 inent member of the first, Doct. Hopkins and Doct. Stiles both attended and 
 walked together in the procession. It was not the practice then in Newport, 
 as it is at present, for a prayer or address to be offered at a funeral, and neither 
 of these clergymen ofiiciated or said anything at the house. This Doct. Hop- 
 kins is the same who introduced what was then called the new divinity into 
 the Calvinistic churches, under the name of Hopkinsianism. My father did 
 not adopt his sentiments, though he continued in the Society. Neither did 
 Doct. Stiles, who was afterwards President of Yale College ; but they did not 
 abate their friendship for each other." 
 
 D.-P- 13. 
 Mr. Rowland's description of Benedict Arnold, and of a scene between him 
 and a plain American, is worth giving at length, in his own words. " Glover's 
 Brigade, and several companies of artillery, after the capture of Burgoyue, 
 were stationed here, with old General Stark's and General Arnold. Glover's 
 quarters were in the house of Richard Jackson, part of the time of his com- 
 mand here ; Arnold's in the house then owned by Nathaniel Greene, which 
 was afterwards bought by Governor William Jones, westward of the bridge. 
 Ai-nold, though he had been one of the best fighting generals in the army, 
 was. a proud and vain man. He wore a scarlet coat, which was the color of 
 the British uniform. I attended every morning at his quarters, and dressed 
 his hair. While under this operation, he generally read a novel ; and I was 
 surprised, knowing him to be one of the most celebrated military characters, 
 to see him so employed, as out of the way of his profession. Among the gen- 
 tlemen with whom he associated, he frequently declared that he would resign 
 his commission unless he was soon promoted. In company one day, he de_ 
 clared his intention of resigning, when old Commodore Whipple said — ' Gen- 
 eral, I know you won't resign.' Arnold asked why he doubted his positive 
 declaration? The Commodore replied, 'Because, General, you are the 
 proudest man that ever I seed ; and I know you won't quit your uniform, 
 your epaulets, and command, to be a private man — for I tell you, you are the 
 proudest man that ever I seed.' " 
 
 In this connection, many may be glad to see an account, by the same pen, 
 of General Burgoyne's passing this way, after his surrender. " I do not re- 
 collect exactly the time, but think it must have been in the spring of 1778, 
 that the General set off from Cambridge in a coach, accompanied by JNIajor 
 Trescot, of our army, to see him provided for on the road ; as it was his inten- 
 tion to go first to Newport to embark from there or from New York. He 
 was not suffered to come through Providence, to see the nakedness of the 
 land ; but drove through North Providence and over Tar bridge, to Kit 01- 
 ney's, who kept the public house in Olneyville, where he dined. The village 
 
35 
 
 was filled with the idle and the curious from town, to see a man who had 
 made such a noise in the world, when he should light from the coach. I did 
 not go out to pay him so much honor. After dinner, they entered the car- 
 riage again, and drove to Pawtuxet, where a packet boat was waiting for them. 
 The principal British officers received them on landing, and conducted the 
 General to Plead Quarters. Our Major Trescot was a noble looking officer, 
 and was treated with polite attention. The next day, he enquired for a hard- 
 ware shop, as he wished to purchase a pair of spurs. The British officer 
 waited on him to the shop of Mr. Arault ; and while he was choosing a pair 
 of silver spurs, another officer entered the shop, and addressing the one who 
 accompanied Trescot, said — ' Do the Americans want spurring V' The Ma- 
 jor, turning partly round to him, replied — ' Ask General Burgoyne, sir ; I un- 
 derstand he is in town.' " 
 
 E.-P- l/j. 
 To us at this day, and especially to the young, it sounds odd and almost 
 fabulous, to hear men talk of giving a hundred dollars for one. Mr. Rowland 
 relates the following, as occurring at the time of the reduced currency. " I 
 recollect that I called in at Peter Taylor's hatter's shop, as I was on my way 
 home to dinner, and asked him the price of a castor hat. He said it Avas four 
 hundred dollars. I selected one which fitted me, and told him on my return 
 I would call and pay for it, and take it. On my return, perhaps an hour af- 
 terward, I stopped with my bundle of money, to pay for and take the hat. He 
 th*n told me he had been calculating what he could buy the stock for to make 
 up another batch of hats, and found that at four hundred dollars he could 
 only replace the stock, without allowing anything for his work ; but as he had 
 agreed with me for the price, he should charge me no more. I told him I 
 did not wish to have the hat for less than its present value, and asked him 
 what it now ought to be. He said about four hundred and fifty dollars ; which 
 I readily paid him, and told him I was glad I had called to-day, for if I had 
 waited until to-morrow, it might have been five hundred dollars ! Some time 
 afterward, I purchased a French cocked beaver hat, for five hundred dollars." 
 
 F.-p. 30. 
 
 " At a special meeting of the Rhode-Island Historical Society, held Novem- 
 ber 6, 1854, 
 
 It having been announced that John Howland, who for the last twenty-one 
 years has worthily filled the office of President of the Society, departed this 
 life on the fifth instant, at the advanced age of ninety-seven years, it is there- 
 fore. 
 
 Resolved, That, in common with our fellow citizens, we, by this event, arc 
 called to mourn the departure of one whose faithful and conscientious dis- 
 charge of various public trusts, entitles him to the grateful remembrance of 
 the community in which he lived and died ; a community, for whose welfare 
 he was ever ready to unite in any work of moral or intellectual improvement; 
 and which is deeply indebted to his early efforts for the advancement of its' 
 
LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 
 
 36 
 
 014 111 318 5 
 
 nierhanic arts, and the development of its industrial resources ; to tlie pcrse- 
 verino- enersjv and enlightened zeal ■which directed his exertions for the es- 
 tablishment of its Public Schools, for the active benevolence of his labors in 
 the founding and management of its first Institution for Savings, its Society 
 for the promotion of Peace, and its first Association in the cause of Temper- 
 ance. 
 
 llesolved, That in this event, we mourn the breaking of the last living tie 
 which united us as a body "with those who bore the toils and met the dangers 
 of our Revolutionary conflict, which has severed our earthly connexion with 
 one who stood with Washington on the field of battle, and who aided with his 
 voice and his pen, in the consohdation of the union of the States, and in the 
 adoption of their national Constitution. 
 
 Resolved, That we especially cherish his memory as one of the founders 
 and most devoted members of this Society ; that we bear cheerful testimony 
 to the strong interest which he ever manifested in the promotion of its ob- 
 jects, and to the fidelity with which he discharged the duties of its most im- 
 portant offices ; and that we are grateful for the privilege of an association 
 with him, in the work of preserving a history with a large portion of which 
 his own long life was so closely and honorably connected. 
 
 Resolved, That as a mark of respect to the memory of the deceased, this So- 
 ciety, in a body, will attend his funeral. 
 
 Resolved, That we respectfully tender to the family of the deceased, our 
 sympathy in their bereavement ; and that a copy of these Resolutions be trans- 
 mitted to them by the Secretar}-. 
 
 Resolved, That these Resolutions be entered upon the records of this Soci- 
 ety, and published in the newspapers. 
 
 Attest : 
 
 H. T. BECKWITH, Secretary:' 
 
 I 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 0014111 3185