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ADDRESS 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 RHODE-ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 
 
 AT THE OPENING OF THEIR CABINET, 
 
 ON WEDNESDAY, NOV. 20, 1844. 
 
 BY WILLIAM GAMMELL, 
 
 PROFESSOR OF RHETORIC IN BROWN UNIVERSITY. 
 
 PROVIDENCE: 
 
 B. CRANSTON AND COMPANY. 
 1844. 
 
F:g 
 
 
 
 ■** 
 
 r^» 
 
Providence, Nov. 21, 1844. 
 
 Dear Sir : — At a meeting of the llhode-Island Plistorical Society, 
 held last evening, the undersigned were appointed a Committee to thank 
 you for the Address which you yesterday delivered, on the occasion of 
 the opening of the Society's new Cabinet, in Waterman street, and to 
 request of you a copy for the press. 
 
 In coininunicating to you, Sir, the sentiments and wishes of tiio Soci- 
 ety, tlie undersigned cannot refrain from expressing tiieir earnest desire 
 that you will not withhold from the public a production which sets forth, 
 in a philosophic spirit and in language truly eloquent, the noble uses 
 of History, and the important purposes which tlie Rhode-Island Histori- 
 cal Society is endeavoring to accomplish. 
 
 Respectfully, your friends and fellow citizens. 
 
 ALBERT G. GREENE,) 
 THOMAS C. FEiNNER,S Committee. 
 WM. G. GODDARD, ) 
 
 William Gammell, Esq,. 
 
 Providence, Nov. 22, 1844. 
 Gentlemen : — Accept my thanks for the exceedingly complimentary 
 manner in which you have been pleased to communicate the request of 
 the Rhode-Island Historical Society, for a copy of the Address delivered 
 at the opening of the new Cabinet. Thoroughly interested as I am in 
 the history of the State, and especially in the labors of the Historical 
 Society, I cannot withhold a production, however unworthy, which, in 
 their judgment, ma}' increase the interest of the public in the useful and 
 elevated objects to which those labors are devoted. 
 
 I am, gentlemen, with great respect and esteem. 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 WILLIAM GAMMELL. 
 
 Messrs. Albert G. Greene, ■) --, ... c .^ r> t 
 m T> in f Committee oi the K. 1. 
 
 llIOMAS B. J?enner, > ,,. , . , c< • . 
 ,,7 (, r^ 'i Historical Society. 
 
 Wm. G. Goddard, 1 •' 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Historical Society : 
 
 We have come together to celebrate an event which 
 may well form an era in the history of our society — the 
 completion and opening of the chaste and commodious 
 structure, which is henceforth to become the permanent 
 depository of our collections for Rhode-Island history. — 
 The occasion, though far removed from the exciting scenes 
 that ordinarily occupy the attention of men in this bust- 
 ling and restless age, is yet one which holds high and im- 
 portant connections with the dignity, the prosperity and 
 the fame of the City and of the State. Let us then turn 
 aside, for a brief time, from the engrossing occupations of 
 every day life, to consider the purposes of our association, 
 and, at this new altar, to kindle afresh our devotion to the 
 objects to which it is to-day to be for ever consecrated. 
 They are objects which intimately concern some of the 
 best interests of society, and they earnestly appeal to some 
 of the noblest sympathies of our intellectual and sjjiritual 
 nature. 
 
 The care which preserves the materials for a people's 
 history, is characteristic only of advanced stages of civili- 
 zation, and a high degree of social and intellectual cul- 
 ture. The barbarous passions that crave merely present 
 
gratification, and the engrossing spirit of tracle^ that heeds 
 only the prospect of pecuniary gain, are alike unmindful of 
 the connection that subsists between a nation's history and 
 a nation's character. Wealth and power may rear costly 
 monuments to the memories of the great ; the hard of a 
 rude age may celebrate m mythic verse the achievements 
 of heroism and courage : but the collection of the scattered 
 memorials of the past, the nice and discriminating research 
 into its obscure recesses, and the writing of history, such 
 history as may instruct mankind, these are never accom- 
 plished until society has made progress in social and mo- 
 ral culture, until out of the mighty mass of its Imser pas- 
 sions and perishable interests there has sprung an intel- 
 lectual spirit — a sense that craves a deeper wisdom than 
 the voices of the living world can ever teach. It is then 
 that we study the characters of the past, and reproduce 
 them in the present. 
 
 " We give in charge 
 Tlicir names to the sweet lyre. The hihtoric muse, 
 Proud of the treasure, marches with it down 
 To latest times; and sculpture, in her turn, 
 Gives bond in stone and cvcr-during brass, 
 To guard them and to immortalize her trust." 
 
 It is the appropriate object of an Historical Society to 
 collect and preserve all the relics of the past, that may 
 serve as materials for history. This object, when liberal- 
 ly prosecuted, cannot fail to exert the most salutary intiu- 
 ences, not only upon those immediately engaged in its 
 accomplishment, but upon the whole spirit of a commu- 
 nity. It leads us along the checkered course of human 
 aflairs. It conducts us through the successive experi- 
 ments that have been made in politics and morals ; the 
 changes of social condition, of language and of manners; 
 the controversies that have agitated society, and the en- 
 terprises that have resulted in its comfort and imjtrove- 
 ment ; and it brings to our notice all that has aflected the 
 
interests of humanity within the sphere to which it more 
 tjspecially relates. This object, in all civilized lands, has 
 at all times been regarded as of the highest importance. 
 Not only does its successful accomplishment ensure accu- 
 racy and completeness to the labors of the historian, but 
 it also suggests iniuimerable topics to the philosopher and 
 moralist, and sheds new light upon the mysterious pro- 
 blems of man's social progress and destiny. 
 
 But in this country, especially, the objects which as- 
 sociations like ours have in view, address themselves 
 with still more commanding interest to the attention of 
 the scholar and the citizen, and ally themselves even more 
 closely with the well-bchig and improvement of society. 
 I speak not now of the shadowy period which elapsed 
 before the settlement of America began, fraught with curi- 
 ous interest, and fruitful of mighty problems though it be. 
 The researches of the antiquarian traveller are just dis- 
 closing the burial place of its perished races, and lifting the 
 veil of oblivion from the ruins of its wonderful civiliza- 
 tion. Without reference, however, to this remote antiqui- 
 ty, so filled with mysteries and marvels, and so overwhelm- 
 ing by its vastncss, there are subjects enough of tran- 
 scendent interest, in the origin and progress of our own 
 civilization, which has sprung up and borne its astonishing 
 fruits upon these trans-atlantic shores. It is indeed of re- 
 cent origin, but it is of peculiar character. It was en- 
 grafted upon this wild continent from the world's best 
 stock. Its earliest eras are comparatively of yesterday ; 
 but its growth and development have been marked by 
 great events, and illustrated by deeds and characters of 
 the loftiest heroism. It has given a new continent to the 
 dominion of the Anglo-Saxon race, and has opened here, 
 for the language, the laws, and the religion of our British 
 forefathers, the path to a destiny more glorious and sub- 
 lime, than has ever been recorded in the annals of man- 
 kind. The origin and history of this peculiar civilization, 
 
8 
 
 the early struggles it maintained with the perils of the wil- 
 derness and the hostility of savages, the virtues that adorn- 
 ed its cliaractcr, and the men who jnonecred its progress, 
 these and all their innumerable relationships and results, 
 are subjects that demand the careful and reverent study of 
 the American pco})le. That such subjects 1)0 thoroughly 
 investigated and tlie memorials relating to them be care- 
 fully treasured up, may be of unspeakable benefit to the . 
 future fortunes of mankind. No toil, whether of hands 
 or of minds : no expenditure, whether of eifort or of 
 wealth, that may be required to do this, will be bestowed 
 in vain. 
 
 Nor is the influence which such inquiries exert upon 
 the spirit and character of a people to be lightly estimat- 
 ed. It liberalizes their aims, breaks down their prejudices, 
 elevates and ennobles their interests, and enlarges their 
 sympathy with the changeful fortunes of the common hu- 
 manity. The English moralist has well remarked, that 
 " whatever withdraws us from the power of the seuvses, 
 and makes the past, the distant, or the future predominate 
 over the present, advances us in the dignity of thinking 
 beings." Now it is precisely this influence which historic 
 studies, above all other pursuits, are particularly fitted to 
 exert. They serve to multiply the ties Avhich bind a peo- 
 ple to an honored ancestry, and to rally with new energy, 
 their hopes and affections around the brilliant eras of their 
 history, and the monuments which record the struggles of 
 patriotism or the triumphs of freedom. They call liack 
 the buried forms, the forgotten achievements, the vanished 
 scenes of a departed age, and cause them to move again, 
 in a brilliant and impressive panorama, before the mind of 
 the present generation. They thus mingle the interests 
 and images of other times with the engrossing cares and 
 pursuits that now occupy our attention, and, amid the 
 wrecks of departed ages, they read to us lessons of the 
 truest practical wisdom. By thus opening to the minds 
 
of a people the fountains of tlieir early history, may be 
 best secured tliat unity of national character and that 
 high-toned national spirit, wliicli more tlian armies or na- 
 vies, more than legislative codes or written constitutions, 
 preserve from decay the institutions of a country. " These 
 noble studies," as Milton has said of kindred pursuits, "are 
 of power to imbreed and cherish in a great people the 
 seeds of virtue and public civility." They interpret the 
 prophetic voices of the past, and by clothing each familiar 
 spot, each ruin, and hill-top, and river, with the associa- 
 tions of history, they increase and justify the feelings of 
 veneration and pride with which the patriot clings to 
 the institutions of his coimtry. 
 
 No sooner does a nation become indifferent to her histo- 
 ry, than her national spirit begins to decline. The chain 
 of consanguinity which runs through successive genera- 
 tions and binds them in perpetual union, is broken asun- 
 der. The State, no longer venerated as a parent, is sub- 
 jected to the experiments of wretched empirics, or, it 
 may be, is turned adrift on the wild sea of revolution, with 
 no principles of inherited wisdom to guide her, no lights 
 of the storied past to shine upon her wayward course. — 
 Modern times have furnished, at least, one memorable ex- 
 ample of this truth, in the phrenzied struggles of revolu- 
 tionary France, and that one example, it may be hoped, 
 is enough for all ages. It seemed as though to her, her 
 wliole previous existence as a nation were utterly useless, 
 and almost as though time had rolled his course in vain. In 
 her proud self-conceit, she heeded none of the lessons of 
 her own, or of others' experience. From the ages of her 
 national glory, from the brilliant rallying-points of her his- 
 tory, she turned away, in contempt, to pursue the glittering 
 phantoms of an upstart, impracticable philosophy. The 
 altars of her ancient religion she threw down, and from the 
 proudest spots of her soil, she removed the moiumients of 
 early patriotism and valor, hallowed by the associations of 
 2 
 
10 
 
 centuries, that she might set np there the blood-stained 
 emblems of lier fanatical, atheistical republic. It was 
 said by one of her own statesmen, with almost literal truth, 
 that " you might alter the whole political frame of the gov- 
 ernment in France, with greater ease than you could in- 
 troduce the most insignificant change into the customs or 
 even the fashions of England." 
 
 But the labors of an Historical Society are of more 
 particular benefit in tlieir specific connection witli the of- 
 fice of the historian. Their object is to provide the ma- 
 terials of which history is to be composed. In tfiis coun- 
 try, especially, this is a work wliich' private associations 
 must do. The government, whether of the States or 
 tlie nation, has hitherto done but little to rescue from 
 ol)livion the minuter materials for our national history. 
 Tlicy must be discovered and brought together, and pre- 
 pared for the iiistorian's use, by private etibrts alone, or 
 they will perish forever. It is thus only that the narra- 
 tives of American history can be raised to tliat higher 
 standard of trutli and accuracy, whicli shall make them 
 faithfnl exponents of the real progress of the nation. 
 Lord Bacon has remarked, tliat " nothing is so seldom 
 found among the writings of men, as true and perfect civil 
 history." And the remark is scarcely less applicable to 
 the writings of our own age, than of tbat in which it was 
 uttered. A part, however, of the imperfection whicli it 
 implies, may l)e remedied, by a nicer and more discrimi- 
 nating research, a more careful collection and preservation 
 of all the materials that can illustrate the spirit or the facts 
 of an age or a nation. 
 
 But, after all, what is written history but the exponent 
 and suggester of that which is not, and which cannot be 
 written ? The events that no pen records, always far out- 
 number those contained on the historic page ; and there are 
 a multitude of characters haunting the mysterious cliam- 
 bers of the past, whom no artist has ever sketched for the 
 
11 
 
 picture galleries of history. This fact the historian must 
 keep constantly in view, and he must write in such a man- 
 ner as to concentrate and preserve the spirit of the whole 
 in the part which he records. For this purpose, he must 
 pursue innumerahle investigations, whose results he can- 
 not use ; he must thread many a labyrintli of controversy 
 which will not yield him a single fact, and he must study 
 the lives aiid deeds of men whose names even, will not ap- 
 pear in the pages of his writings. It is only in accordance 
 with this principle, that historical accuracy has ever been 
 secured. Herodotus, the father of this species of compo- 
 sition, spent years in travelling over many lands, in con- 
 versing with their various inhabitants, in gathering up 
 their scattered traditions and legends, and in extracting from 
 them ah, whatever could illustrate the times of which he 
 wrote, ere he delivered his immortal work to his assem- 
 bled countrymen, at the games of Greece. Gibbon de- 
 voted the enthusiasm of youth, and the best energies of 
 manhood, to delving in the lore of classic antiquity. He 
 studied the doctrines of every philosophic school, the 
 principles of every art and every science, and " crossed and 
 re-crossed, again and again, the gloomy gulf that separates 
 the ancient from t]ie modern world," and gathered the re- 
 lics of many a perished race and liroken dynasty, ere he 
 was prepared to write the Decline and Fall of the Roman 
 Empire. And the historian of modern Europe informs 
 us, that his recent brilliant work on the French Revolution 
 was the result of fourteen years of travelling and study, 
 and of fourteen more devoted to tlie labors of composition. 
 There is also another respect in which the collections of 
 an association like ours, are of essential service to the his- 
 torian. It is not always the most splendid events that 
 do most in moulding the character of an age, or in shaping 
 the destiny of a people. The mightiest streams of politi- 
 cal or of moral influence often spring from some humble 
 fountain, embosomed in the retreats of private life, and 
 
#- 12 
 
 quite shut out from the notice of the mere general inqui- 
 rer. To these sequestered places the historian must pene- 
 trate, by the aid of the minutest investigation, and of the 
 most comprehensive generalizations. In doing this, his 
 first resort is to the collections which others have made, to 
 the materials which have been provided ready to his hand. 
 He uses them and makes them tributary to the lessons he 
 would teach, in accordance with the same high principle as 
 that on which the philosophic astronomer employs the re- 
 sults of the humble observer who nightly watches the stars, 
 and chronicles the silent changes through which they 
 pass. As, in comparative anatomy, a single disconnected 
 bone reveals to the naturalist the structure and habits of 
 a race of animals that has been extinct for ages ; so, oft- 
 en, the mutilated record of some forgotten manuscript, 
 the neglected work of some ancient chronicler, will open 
 to the historian the whole history of an age, and enable 
 him to revive its spirit and exhibit "its very form and 
 pressure." Thucydides has sketched, in glowing colors, 
 the revolutions of the States of Greece ; but could some 
 Athenian letters, written by the patriots who lived during 
 the terrific era he describes, now be rescued from the obliv- 
 ion to Avhich they have passed, they might reveal to us 
 the scenes of Corcyra or of Corinth, the motives of states- 
 men and the springs of revolution, far more fully than 
 they can now be gathered even from the pages of the most 
 graphic of historians. And, to take a more familiar ex- 
 ample, he who would thoroughly understand the social 
 spirit and character of the early settlers of our own Prov- 
 idence Plantations, must have recourse not to the provi- 
 sions of the first or the second charter, nor even to the rec- 
 ords of the town alone, but to the scattered documents 
 that describe their strifes with the people at Pawtuxet, and 
 their endless disputes about bounds, and about the meaning 
 of the famous words "up stream without limits," hi the 
 sachem's original deed ; or to the singular paper which 
 
13 
 
 Roger Williams submitted to the town, entitled " consid- 
 erations touching rates." • It is from these, and such as 
 these, the incidental relics of things that have passed 
 away forever, that the historian forms his conception 
 of an age, and spreads it forth upon his pictured 
 page. 
 
 But collections like these of which I am speaking, 
 are not only of essential service to the historian ; they 
 also enable the reader to verify the statements, to enlarge 
 and extend the views contained in history itself. How 
 many theories have been exploded, how many misrepre- 
 sentations have been corrected, long after they have been 
 chronicled in history, by the subsequent researches of 
 more diligent or impartial inquirers ! Hume was for a 
 long time regarded as the almost perfect embodiment of 
 philosophical impartiality, and his '' History of England" 
 was read with universal delight, as the authentic narrative 
 of the proud march of the English people from barbarism to 
 civilization, through the checkered fortunes of their career. 
 But the researches of later inquirers, and especially the pub- 
 lication of documentary details, relating to the more impor- 
 tant periods of which he treats, have cast a shadow over his 
 historic fame, which is growing deeper and deeper with 
 every succeeding generation. The inimitable qualities of 
 his style, and the charming grace of his manner, will long 
 make his great work the delight of all who read English his- 
 tory ; but it is only when its errors have been corrected, its 
 partial representations extended, its cold indifference to the 
 interests of humanity animated with philanthropic sen- 
 timent and generous sympathy, that it becomes a safe 
 guide to the true principles of the English Constitution, 
 or the real fortunes of the English nation. 
 
 We may recur, for other illustrations, to the history of 
 our own State, at a period within the recollection of some 
 Avho arc present to day. All are familiar with the fact 
 that Rhode-Island was the last of the thirteen States to 
 
14 
 
 adopt the Federal Constitution and to join the union which 
 had been formed. But how small a portion of the real 
 liistory of tliat event, is this single fact ! There is here 
 no explanation of the causes of this reluctant assent ; no 
 illustration of the iiifluences which wore at work to blind 
 the people to the true dignity and happiness of tlie State. 
 It is only when we leave the historic record, and go back 
 to the scattered chronicles of the day, or converse with 
 the aged men v/ho still live to describe it, that we can 
 form any adequate conception of the conflicting passions 
 Avhich then rent our little republic, on this engrossing ques- 
 tion. Many a quiet citizen of the present day, who glo- 
 ries in the constitution of his country, would hear, Avith as- 
 tonishment, of the strifes which agitated this State at the 
 period of its adoption ; when town and country were in 
 arms against each other, and military officers, and even 
 legislators and judges, assembled with artistic mob to pre- 
 vent by violence the civil rejoicings Avhich the success of 
 tlie constitution in other States called forth among the 
 jieople of Priwidencc ! 
 
 Other ilhistrations, Avithout number, might be adduced, 
 to show how much of our kiioAvledge of the spirit and 
 progress of a people, depends upon collecting and careful- 
 ly treasuring up all the materials for composing, illustrat- 
 ing and explaining their history. But I need not dwell 
 upon these familiar and well established views, respectijig 
 the importance of historic studies. In other counti'ies, 
 they have created a deep and wide-spread interest, they 
 have received the fostering care of government, and have 
 resulted in the accumulation of the most magnificent trea- 
 sures of historic lore. The rich collections of the King's 
 Library at Paris, of the British Museum at London, of the 
 splendid libraries at Copenhagen and Gottingen, at Berlin 
 and Vienna ; each containing, on an average, nearly 
 400,000 volumes, show how much has been done to keep 
 the past from behig forgotten, and to preserve all its impor- 
 
15 
 
 tant facts and teachings, and even its evanescent spirit, for 
 tlie futiu'c instruction and guidance of mankind. AVhat 
 event in the history of modern Europe cannot there be iUus- 
 trated ! What age cannot there be revived ! The visiter 
 to these stupendous collections of books and manuscripts, 
 as he wanders amazed througJi their crowded alcoves, 
 sees piled on every side around him, all that tlie dili- 
 gence of man, aided by princely munificence and im- 
 perial power, has been able to rescue from the mighty 
 Avrccks of tlie past ; and he feels a generous pride in the 
 thonght, that so much at least is safe, of all which gifted 
 genius has created, or which the race of man has suffer- 
 ed and achieved, through the long centuries of its exist- 
 ence. 
 
 Our own country, though far behind the leading na- 
 tions of Europe in her collections of books, has however 
 begun to cultivate a most worthy and commendable in- 
 terest in the moimments of her early history. Ev^ery- 
 thing pertaining to the planting and tlie early growth of 
 the settlements of America, has at length acquired a high 
 value, and is becoming a matter of universal demand. It 
 can now no longer be said that the richest collections of 
 materials for American history are in foreign lands, shut 
 up in the libraries of princes or of curious scholars, or 
 sealed away in the Plantation Offices of the British gov- 
 ernment. They are here in the heart of New-England, 
 where they have been gathered by the munificence of 
 private citizens, and the enlightened agency of our literary 
 institutions, and here they must remain forever. 
 
 The numerous Historical Societies which have been 
 formed in this country, furnish also another most gratify- 
 ing proof of the grov/ing interest in all that pertains to 
 x\merican History. The Massachusetts Historical So- 
 ciety was founded in 1790. During the period whicli has 
 since elapsed, it has publislied twenty-seven volumes 
 of its Collections. It has accumulated, by its Researches, 
 
16 
 
 a library of books and manuscripts of immense value, and 
 has set on foot inquiries and historic labors, whose influ- 
 ence has been felt in every part of the land. At later 
 periods, similar societies have been established in the 
 others of the New-England States, in New-Yoriv, Penn- 
 sylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Georgia, each 
 one of which has contributed something for the illustration 
 or the enriching of our local or general history. Of these, 
 the society in New- York is by far the most liberal in its 
 resources and aims, and the most active and diligent in 
 its inquiries. It has published six volumes of Col- 
 lections, pertaining to the history of its own State, and is 
 at this moment prosecuting its objects, with a zeal and 
 enterprise which give fnll assurance that all that has ever 
 been achieved, in earlier or in later days, -by the sturdy 
 settlers of the New-Netlierlands or their persevering suc- 
 cessors, will be duly chronicled on the pages of American 
 history. 
 
 Bnt the liistory of no State in the Union, we may safe- 
 ly say, presents claims iqxni the attention and study of 
 her citizens, so strong as does that of Rhode-Island. Her 
 origin was peculiar, and her position among the States of 
 New-England was marked, for many generations, by tlie 
 same peculiarity. The three divisions of the State, the 
 Plantations of Providence, the settlement at Aquetneck,and 
 the settlement at Warwick, were first peopled by those who 
 had been driven from the neigliboring colonies for opin- 
 ion's sake. Though differing in almost every other respect, 
 they were entirely agreed in maintaining the one great 
 principle which persecution had taught them, the inalien- 
 able freedom of the conscience, tlie underived, uncharter- 
 ed independence of tbc human soul. In others of their 
 political and ethical opinions, they partook of the errors of 
 tb(!ir time, other interests of society they may even have 
 neglected, but in their perception and application of this 
 principle — the basis of all real freedom — they strode far be- 
 
17 
 
 fore the age to which they helongcd. They seemed 
 to their eoiitcniporaries to l)c pursuing, with reckless 
 zeal, a startling and impracticable paradox ; but they felt, 
 themselves, the greatness of the mission they were appoint- 
 ed to accomplish — to found a refuge for "true soul liber- 
 ty," to hold forth to mankind the first " lively experi- 
 ment, that a most flourishing civil State may stand, and be 
 best maintained, with a full liberty in religious concern- 
 ments." This noble purpose tbey adhered to with a te- 
 nacity that never yielded — with a consistency that never 
 was marred, amidst the penury and the j)rivations of the wil- 
 derness, amidst the scorn and the persecutions of all their 
 neighbors. The colony, from tbc first, in the language 
 of the settlers at Newport, was "a birth and breeding of 
 the Most High." Here, "beyond the chartered grasp of 
 civilized man," it was founded by "an outcast people," 
 who gloried most in " bearing with the several judgments 
 and consciences of each other in all the towns of the col- 
 ony." In this consisted the peculiarity of Rhode-Island. 
 In this, the fundamental principle of her society, she stood 
 forth in the age, single and alone — jiec viget quidquam 
 simile, ant secmifhim. 
 
 This peculiarity in her early character, made her the 
 object of incessant suspicion and distrust, and, at length, 
 arrayed against her the combined legislation and proscrip- 
 tion of all the other colonies of New-England. They 
 chose to regard her as a heterodox, and almost as an out- 
 law State, whose interests and happiness they might 
 prey upon at pleasure, and without rebuke. They laid 
 claim to her territory, and extended their jurisdiction over 
 her people, and well nigh crushed her in her very cra- 
 dle. Massachusetts passed a law forbidding the inhabi- 
 tants of Providence from coming to her towns, and when 
 a respected clergyman of Newport, with two companions, 
 went to visit an aged member of his church, resident at 
 Lynn, he was seized by the beadles of the town, while 
 
18 
 
 preaching on the Sabhath, at the house of his friend, and 
 was punished, under sentence of the court, by a heavy fine 
 and imprisonment, with the aUernative of being publicly 
 whipped ! The fine was paid without the good man's 
 knowledge or consent, and he was released from prison. — 
 One of his companions, however, was still retained in con- 
 finement, and when set at liberty, was whipped with thir- 
 ty stripes, inflicted with that merciless severity which 
 heresy alone could have provoked. Under the operation of 
 this exclusive policy, which was adopted by the neighbor- 
 ing colonies, the inhabitants of Rhode-Island were not 
 only cut off from the trade of the country, but were often 
 obliged to forego the comforts and the common necessa- 
 ries of life. This hostility, which, from the beginning, 
 had characterized the intercourse of the other settlements 
 with the fathers of Rhode-Island, in 1643, was embodied 
 in the confederacy which was established among the colo- 
 nies of New-England. The leading object of this confed- 
 eracy was the mutual protection of its members against 
 the Indians, whose hostility was threatened on every side, 
 and against the rising settlements of the French and the 
 Dutch, with whom England was then frequently at war. 
 The circumstances of its formation are worthy of a mo- 
 ment's particular consideration. The contracting parties 
 to the league, were the colonies of Massachusetts and Ply- 
 mouth, of New-Haven and Connecticut, each of which, 
 by its Commissioners, signed the articles at Boston, on the 
 19th of May, 1643. This union, Rhode-Island was not 
 invited to join, and subsequently, at her own application 
 to be admitted a member, she was deliberately refused ad- 
 mission ; an act which, taken in all its circumstances, stands 
 out among the most unchristian and inhuman, recorded in 
 Puritan history, in whose strange records are so often 
 blended the direst atrocity and the loftiest virtue. Here 
 was an infant, feeble colony, situated between two pow- 
 erful races of savages — the Wampanoags on the east, and 
 
19 
 
 the Narragansetts on the west — and separated by the wide 
 Atlantic, from the mother country. Its people were of the 
 same Anglo-Saxon stock, and professed the same protestant 
 faith with their neighbors. They had come from England 
 in the same ships, which bore the colonists of Plymouth 
 and Boston, of New-Haven and Hartford. Like them, 
 they had lighted the fires of civilization in the wilderness, 
 and, by their beneficent influence with the Indians, they 
 had, more than once, saved the whole country from the 
 desolations of savage war. Yet it was all in vain. They 
 had adopted the startling heresy, that men are responsible 
 for their opinions, to God alone — that the civil power may 
 not interfere in religious concernments — and that before 
 the law of the land, all should alike be equal — whether 
 Protestants or Papists — whether Jews or Turks. For this 
 opinion, which they had dared to proclaim, and to carry 
 into practice, they were placed beneath the ban of universal 
 proscription, and Avere deliberately excluded from the alli- 
 ance and the sympathies of the whole civilization of 
 the country—to perish, it might be, from the wastings of 
 starvation and disease, or amid the terrors of Indian mas- 
 sacre and conflagration. 
 
 At a recent celebration of the era of this confederacy, 
 in a neighboring State, a distinguished and venerable ora- 
 tor* discoursed, with more of rhetoric than of truth, con- 
 cerning what he was pleased to term " the conscientious, 
 contentious spirit" of the early fathers of Rhode-Island. 
 But to what manner of spirit shall we attribute this 
 act of the Puritans of New-England, by which a chris- 
 tian colony, of their own brethren, was deprived of all 
 the benefits of their neighborhood, and left unpro- 
 tected in the wilderness, to contend with merciless sav- 
 ages, and struggle alone " against necessity's sharp pinch !" 
 Was it mere indiflerence to the fate of those whom 
 they deemed heretics and outcasts ? Or was it the 
 
 *See Note A. 
 
20 ^ 
 
 vnin hope, tlint by the pressure of wnnt, or the threats of 
 Indian massacre, the colony would yield to her confede- 
 rate neighbors, and quietly submit to be partitioned among 
 their several jurisdictions ? Whichever of these may have 
 been the motive, the act itself bespeaks a dark and malig- 
 nant bigotry, which cannot be veiled, and for which it is 
 in vain to apologize — a bigot ly which, indeed, need not 
 be dwelt upon, amid the general blaze of Puritan virtues, 
 but which we may well be proud to think, has left no 
 traces of its existence in the history or the character of 
 Rhode-Island. 
 
 How different from all this, is the spirit which charac- 
 terized her legislation, even at the same gloomy periods of 
 New-England History ! In turning to considef it, \ve seem 
 to have advanced a whole age in the progress of civil and 
 intellectual freedom. Take a single ilkistration. In 
 1656, Massachusetts commenced the persecution of the 
 Quakers, Avhich soon extended through all New-England. 
 Banished from every other Colony, they fled to Rhode- 
 Island, where, though they had but U^w sympathies with 
 the inhabitants, they were kindiy jeceived, and were ad- 
 mitted to all the privileges of citizens and freemen. Bat the 
 Commissioners of the United Colonies hunted them even 
 hero. h\ two several appenls. they ur2:ed the authorities 
 of this colony, by every motive whicii could be addressed 
 to the self-mterest of a community, to join in the general 
 persecution. But with what dignity does the Legislatiu'e 
 reply : " As concerning these Quakers, (so called,) which 
 are now among us, we have no law whereby to punish 
 any for only declaring, by words, their minds and under- 
 standings, concerning the things and ways of God, as to 
 salvation and an eternal condition." And, when finding 
 all persuasives vain, the Commissioners, initated at her 
 inll('xil)le adherence to her noble ])rinciples, threaten to 
 suspend all intercourse, and thus dry up tlie very sources 
 of subsistence to the colony, the Assembly calmly make 
 
21 
 
 their appeal to " his Highness and honorable council" in 
 England, and, through their agent, ask that they '■ may 
 not be compelled to exercise any civil power over men's 
 consciences, so long as human orders, in point of civility, 
 are not corrupted or violated ] which," say they, " our 
 neighbors about us do frequently practise, whereof many 
 of us have large experience, and do judge it to be no less 
 than a point of absolute cruelly.'''' 
 
 Now, look along the history of mankind, up to the lat- 
 ter half of the seventeenth century, and where else do 
 you find that language like this had ever proceeded from 
 a legislative assembly ? Yet, strange to say, the age was 
 pre-eminently distinguished for its attention to religious 
 truth and to the rights of conscience. England was rent 
 by cival wars, of Avliich those rights were professed as 
 the sustaining principle. Her people were divided into 
 four great parties, the Roman Catholics, the Episcopa- 
 lians, the Presbyterians, and the Independents, all of whom 
 were contending for what they called freedom of con- 
 science ; and many a noble spirit had been offered up as a 
 sacrifice to the cause, on the scaffold, or on the field of 
 battle. Here, too, upon the barren coasts of New-Eng- 
 land, were hardy settlements, just springing into vigorous 
 existence, each of which had been planted for the free- 
 dom of ihe conscience. Yet on a closer inspection, the free- 
 dom which all were pursuing, proves to be freedom only 
 for tbeinselves, not for others. It was freedom to rear their 
 own altars and to offer their own worship. Beyond this it 
 did not go. And the student of history turns from them all ; 
 from the religious parties then struggling for ascendancy 
 in England, and from the colonies which had sprung up on 
 the shores of America, and finds here alone, in a colony 
 which had been neglected by her mother and despised 
 by all her sisters, the solitary refuge for true soul-liberty — 
 that unlimited intellectual freedom, higher than mere 
 toleration — which makes all ophiions equal in the eye of 
 
the law, and which forbids the civil power to touch the 
 inviolable sanctuary of the conscience. 
 
 Thus peculiar — far more so than has been generally un- 
 derstood — was the spirit of the early fathers of this State. 
 The memorials of their labors, of their legislation, of their 
 sufferings for the maintenance of this principle — which 
 they alone of all the world, understood and cherished — are 
 worthy of the minutest inquiry. They cannot be too 
 thoroughly explored, or too carefully treasured up in the 
 depositories of historic lore. 
 
 But, in addition to the greatness and value of the princi- 
 ples at issue, there is another consideration, which urges 
 us perhaps, still more strongly, to the careful collection and 
 preservation of the materials, especially for our early his- 
 tory. It is found in the fact, that these principles, and the 
 characters of the men Avho here asserted them, have been 
 singularly misrepresented and misunderstood. The liter- 
 ature of New-England, at that day, was confined to Mas- 
 sachusetts and Plymouth, and their early annalists seem 
 never to have dreamed, that a faithful narrative of the 
 planting and growth of this heterodox colony, where all 
 sorts of consciences were tolerated, would ever be of the 
 slightest interest or benefit to mankind. Hence it hap- 
 pened, that our early history became known to the world, 
 mainly through the imperfect sketches of Winthrop or 
 Hubbard, the prejudiced statements of Morton, the con- 
 troversial sarcasms of Mr. Cotton, and the ridiculous, and 
 sometimes vulgar jibes, of Cotton Mather. Many of these 
 misrepresentations have been corrected by subsequent 
 writers, in the same States from which they emanated ; 
 and the fame of Rliode-Island has been brightened by 
 their labors. But she still appeals to her own sons, for a 
 fuller vindication — she claims it for the lessons she has 
 taught them — for the inheritance of freedom she has trans- 
 mitted to them. From these eminences in her social pro- 
 gress, to which she has attained, she points us back to the 
 
23 
 
 scattered graves of her original Planters, and demands of us 
 that we build monuments to their memory — that we guard 
 their fame, and transmit their principles, undisguised and 
 unperverted, in the imperishable records of history. 
 
 Among these early fathers of the State, I may here men- 
 tion one, whose fame has been too much neglected, but 
 whose character has descended to us, in the memory of 
 his deeds, embalmed with the purest associations of devo- 
 ted patriotism, and exalted virtue. I refer to Dr. John 
 Clarke, of Newport — the associate of Roger Williams — 
 the procurer of the second Charter — the tried friend of the 
 colony, at a time when friendship for her was the sacrifice 
 of all else that New-England had to bestow. His life 
 ought long ago to have been written, and every lineament 
 of his pure and spotless character, on which even enmity 
 and envy have fastened no reproach, should have been 
 held forth to the respect and admiration of those who en- 
 joy the fruits of his labors. A scholar, bred probably at 
 one of England's ancient Universities — a physician, ac- 
 customed to the practice of his profession in the circles of 
 the British Metropolis — a teacher of religion, despised and 
 persecuted by those among whom he had cast his lot — he 
 came hither, the mild and benignant advocate of religious 
 freedom, and, next to the exiled founder of Providence, 
 was the truest friend, and the most generous benefactor of 
 Rhode-Island. For twelve troubled years he resided in 
 England as the representative of the colony, supporting 
 himself during all this period, by his own labors, and by the 
 mortgage of his estate in Newport. He was an intimate 
 associate of many of the eminent men of the time, and 
 was doubtless a witness of many of the stirring scenes of 
 the English revolution. By his unwavering fidelity, by his 
 winning manners, and his diplomatic skill, he maintained 
 the rights of the colony, amid the changes and tumults of 
 a revolutionary age, and at length, upon the restoration of 
 the Stuarts, he succeeded in obtaining from the second 
 
24 
 
 Charles, that Charter of civil government.which has shaped 
 the institutions of the State; and identified itself with all 
 her glory. The disinterested benevolence which had ani- 
 mated his life, still lighted up its closing hours. He died 
 at New])ort, in 1676, and, in his last will, bequeathed a 
 handsome estate " for the relief (^f the poor, and the bring- 
 ing up of children unlo learning." 
 
 " Peace to the just man's memory — let it grow 
 
 Greener witli yeai's, and lilossoni throno-h the flight 
 
 Of ages ; let the mimic canvass sliovv 
 
 His cahn benevolent features ; let the light 
 
 Stream on his deeds of love that shunned the siglit 
 
 Of all but Heaven ; and in the book of fame, 
 
 The glorious record ui" iils virlucs uvtle. 
 
 And hold it up to men, and bid them ckiim 
 
 A palm like liis, and catch from him the hallowed flame.' 
 
 I have referred more particularly to the early periods of 
 the history of Rhode-Island, in illustrating the peculiarity 
 of her position, and the value of her fame. But other pe- 
 riods are equally replete Avith historic interest, and pre- 
 sent scarcely fewer claims upon the attention and the study 
 of her sons. Her participation in the struggles of the 
 Revolution has not yet been fully told. All that may il- 
 lustrate the services she rendered the cause of national 
 independence, whether by legislation or by arms ; all that 
 embodies the spirit that made her the nursery of heroic 
 commanders and of brave troops; and all that may explain 
 hcf rehiclant adoption of the Federal Constitution, or 
 the origin and growth of her great social interests — her 
 commerce and her manufactures — her education and her 
 religion — all these should be faithfully explored and care- 
 fully garnered up, away from the reach of oblivion. 
 
 There is also another period, equally important to the 
 fame of tlie State, and it may be equally instructive in 
 its lessons for mankind, the memorials of which we, of 
 the present generation, are especially bound to preserve 
 from decay. I refer to the recent civil controversy, whose 
 
25 
 
 furious passions have scarcely yet died away. Whatever 
 may be the opinions wc entertain respecting it, all will 
 admit the importance of treasuring up every thing that 
 can explain its origin and issue, or illustrate its spirit and 
 character. We owe it to the State, whose bosom has been 
 rent, and whose peace has been distvubed — and we owe 
 it scarcely less to the nation, whose interests are involved 
 in the principles at issue, to see to it that its history be 
 faithfully written — not with, the pen of partisan passion, 
 or beneath the narrowing influence of political prejudice; 
 but that it be written in the light of the Constitution, 
 with the spirit of calm philosophy and discriminating re- 
 search. Let every thing pertaining to it be carefully pre- 
 served, that, Av^hen in a future age, after our petty inter- 
 ests shall have perished, and our short-lived passions shall 
 have died away, the historian shall come to trace the 
 causes of these unhappy strifes, he may find here the 
 means of thoroughly understanding the principles at issue 
 between the contending parties, and the spirit and the 
 acts that have marked the character of each, as well as the 
 issue that has sprung from the angry passions that have 
 been so deeply stirred. Thus let the cause be committed 
 to the tribunals of posterity. Let there be materials for re- 
 moving every blot that may have been cast upon the es- 
 cutcheon of the State — of refuting every calumny that has 
 been uttered against her fair fame — that the trutli, the 
 simple unvarnished truth, may alone be committed to the 
 records of history. 
 
 For purposes such as these, has the Rhode-Island His- 
 torical Society been established. It dates back to the 
 year 1822, and in the order of time it was the fourth in- 
 stitution of the kind established in the United States. It 
 owes its origin to the spirit and activity of a few true- 
 hearted sons of Rhode-Island, who chanced to meet in 
 the office of a gentleman,* whose historic zeal, even then 
 
 * Hon. William R. Staples, Author of the " Annals of Providence." 
 
 4 
 
26 
 
 distinguished, has since led him onward to the most com- 
 mendable labors, and the most valuable results. It was 
 in the course of their conversation that the suggestion 
 was first made of a Society, whose aim should be to col- 
 lect and preserve, for the use of the historian, the scattered 
 memorials of the successive periods of our progress as a 
 Colony and a State. The suggestion Avas speedily car- 
 ried into effect, and this Society commenced its useful ca- 
 reer. Twenty-two years have since elapsed, and, amidst 
 many discouragements, it has gone steadily forward in 
 the prosecution of its worthy aims. Though it has nev- 
 er occupied a conspicuous place in the public estimation, 
 and its active supporters have always been few, yet it 
 has already done essential service in the ilhistration of the 
 spirit and the characters that belong to our early annals. 
 It has published five volumes of its Collections, and has 
 garnered up in its arcliivcs a large mass of materials, 
 which have already rendered valuable aid to writers of 
 American history, and among which the future historian 
 of the State or of the country, will find all that now re- 
 mains of many a forgotten era of the past. Through the 
 agency of a succession of indefatigable Secretaries and 
 Directors, the Society has maintained an extensive and 
 useful correspondence with similar associations in this 
 country and in foreign lands. Its correspondence has 
 rendered signal aid to the antiquarians of Denmark, in 
 their attempts to decipher those mysterious inscriptions up- 
 on the rocky shores of New-England, wliich seem to point 
 back to the visit of some unknown voyagers, centuries 
 before the heroic enterprize of Columbus. The aid 
 which was thus received has been acknowledged with 
 grateful applause by this learned association, in the An- 
 tiqidtates Amcricann^ — the magnificent work, in which 
 they have embodied their researches respecting the ante- 
 Columbian periods of American history. 
 
 After many efforts and long delays, the Society, aided in 
 
27 
 
 part by private munificence, has at length been able to rear 
 the modest structLU'e, whose completion we have to-day 
 come up to celebrate. We have watched its progress, from its 
 commencement to its final consummation. In hope and in 
 joy, we now set it apart to the purposes for which it has 
 been erected. We dedicate it to the muse of history — 
 " the muse of saintly aspect, and awful I'orni," who ever 
 watches over the fortunes of men, and guards the virtues 
 of humanity. We wish it to be a place of secure and ])cr- 
 petual deposit, where, beyond the reach of accident, or the 
 approach of decay, we may accumulate all tlie materials 
 for our yet unwritten history. We would gather here, 
 all that can illustrate the early planting; or the subsequent 
 growth of our State — the lives of its founders and settlers — 
 the manuscripts of its departed worthies — the history of its 
 towns — its glorious proclamations of religious liberty, and 
 its heroic sacrifices, both in peace and in war. We would 
 also gather here, the few remaining relics of the long per- 
 ished race of Canonicus and Miantonomo, and keep them 
 as precious memorials of men, who, though untaught in 
 the lessons of civilized benevolence, received to their rude 
 hospitality, the fathers of the State, when christian pil- 
 grims persecuted and banished them. We would also de- 
 posit here, every thing that is connected with the inter- 
 ests of society within the limits of the Commonwealth — 
 the chronicles of every controversy — the organs of every 
 party — the wretched sheet, that in its day was too worth- 
 less to be read, if so be it illustrate the morals, the man- 
 ners or the deeds of the time — and the most valuable 
 volume in which genius and wisdom have embodied their 
 immortal thoughts. We may hope, too, that within its al- 
 coves, "rich with the spoils of time," may at length be 
 seen the features and forms of the men, who in peace and 
 in war, have reflected honor on the State, by the wisdom 
 they have carried to the councils, or the glory they have 
 added to the name of the country. Thus, distant genera- 
 
28 
 
 tions may come up hither, and, while they study the memo- 
 rials of the past, they may gaze upon the lineaments of tlie 
 men whose names they have learned to identify with 
 whatever is heroic in action, or dignified in character. 
 
 It is to these objects, and to others such as these, that we 
 dedicate this edifice,* which we have reared in this friendly 
 neighborhood of learning, as the depository of historic 
 lore. They are liberal and noble objects, and worthy to 
 command the respect, and enlist the efforts, of an enlight- 
 ened community. They are limited to no local bounds. 
 They embrace the whole territory of the Commonwealth, 
 and concern as intimately the settlements on Rhode- 
 Island — the asylum from persecution at Warwick — the 
 romantic legends of Mount Hope and Narragansett, as 
 they do tlie Plantations of Providence. Whether they 
 are ever fully accomplished, will depend on the elForts 
 which the members of this Society put forth, and upon the 
 sympathy and aid whicli we receive from our fellow citizens 
 throughout the State. We invite, therefore, the co-opera- 
 tion of all, in carrying forward the work which we have 
 begun, and of which so much remains to be accomplished. 
 The State is the common parent of us all, and her fame 
 should be dear to us all. That fame, which two hundred 
 years have established, has at Icngtli been committed to 
 us, to guard and to perpetuate. Let us be faithful to the 
 trust : and in the temple which literary genius may rear 
 to American History, let us erect an humble shrine, and 
 dedicate it to Rhode-Island, and adorji it with her stain- 
 less escutcheon of Religious Freedom. 
 
 * See Note B. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 Note A. 
 
 The second Centennial Annlversay of the New-England Confederation, 
 was celebrated by tlie Massacluiseltis Historical Society, at Boston, on 
 the 2!tth of May, 1843. The Discourse on tliis occasion, was delivered by 
 Uon. John Qiiincy Adams. In speaking- of the several colonies that 
 composed the confederation, the orator was obliged, of course, to refer to 
 Ihe exclusion of Rhode-Island. He does this with all the adroitness of a 
 skillful apologist for a shameful transaction. He simply mentions the 
 fact, that she was refused admission into the New-England Union, with- 
 out noticing the circumstances in which she was placed, or giving any 
 opinion of the treatment she received. The following, is the passage to 
 wliich allusion is more particularly made, in the preceding Address : 
 
 " But there was yet another — a fifth New-England colony, denied ad- 
 mission into the Union, and furnishing in its broadest latitude, the demon- 
 stration of that conscientious, contentious spirit, which so signally char- 
 acterized the English Puritans of the 17th century, the founders of New- 
 England, of all the liberties of the British nation, and of the ultimate uni- 
 versal freedom of the race of man." — p. 25. 
 
 In the paragraphs immediately succeeding this passage, Mr. Adams 
 presents a view of the events that led to the banishment of Roger Wil- 
 liams, and to the settlement of Rhode-Island, which is believed to be pe- 
 culiar to himself, and which cannot be regarded otherwise than as ex- 
 ceedingly partial and inadequate, and as partaking of a license, quite be- 
 yond " the freedom of history." 
 
 It would be difficult to determine, in what sense the conduct of Roger 
 Williams can be termed an "insurrection," or an " ins'igation to rebel- 
 lion ;" and equally difficult, to ascertain what standard of humanity Mr. 
 Adams had in his mind, when he vindicated the wintry exile of the 
 Founder of Rhode-Island, as " mild treatment I" 
 
30 
 
 Note B. 
 CABINET OF THE RHODE-ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 This cdil'ico, which is iiileiukMi to ho the |)(M'iiiaucut roi)osiUiry of Ihe 
 collections of tlii> llhodo-Jslniul Historical Society, is situate on Water- 
 man street, in the iiiniiediale iieiirhborhood of tlie Colleires belonging to 
 J5ro\vn University. It is placed upon one of the most eligible sites in tiio 
 cit}' dt' l'rovid(>nc(^, commanding a delightful view of the University 
 grounds, and, while easy of access, is nu)re than usually exenii)t from the 
 dangers of lire. 
 
 The dirni'nsi(Mis of the Cabinet, are as Ibllows : thirty feet six iiu'hcs 
 front, by llfty feet six inches rear, and twenty-nine feet high from the 
 grouiul to tlie top of tlie cornice. The base of this edifice is of granite, 
 but the walls are of rubl>le stone, stuccoed and colored, to represent 
 granite. 
 
 Tlu> interior is very neatly finished, tlie whole being stuccoed, and 
 ornamented w ith an entablature. 'J'h<' ])riu<i|>al room cinitains galleries 
 on three sides. Undi-r the front galli-ry are two rooms, ten feet by twelve 
 I'ach. 
 
 'riit> lot of land on wiiich the Cabinet stands, is eighty feet by one 
 liundr(Ml feet, and is haudsoinely graded, it is t'ucIosiHl by a substantial 
 feuci', and is decorated witii trees, which, in tiie course of a few years, 
 will give to the building an air of classic repose. 
 
 The edifice was planned and built by Messrs. Talliuan it JJucklin. 
 
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