ARTS OF PEACE RESUMED.—DOCTRINE OF STATE RIGHTS.

Great were the rejoicings over the surrender of Cornwallis—public balls, firing of cannon and display of fire-works—for close upon that surrender came the longed for peace. As a more enduring expression of gratitude to the man who had led in this great work, the Assembly decreed that “in order to obliterate, as may be, every trace and idea of that government which threatened our destruction ... the same county, (King’s), shall forever hereafter be known and distinguished by the name and style of Washington.”

And soon the war-worn troops who had so gallantly borne their part in the burthen and heat of the day, came home rejoicing in their victory, but trembling for their future. Then came pressing the urgent questions of the hour, and first of all the question of finance. The Bank of North America had been established to strengthen the hands of the superintendent of finance, though not enough to make him listen to the appeal of Rhode Island to be allowed to pay part of her quota in army supplies. To ascertain on what ground the State stood for taxation a new census was ordered, which gave fifty-one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine for the whole number of inhabitants, Newport returning five thousand five hundred and thirty-one, and Providence four thousand three hundred and ten. A new estimate of taxable property also was made, which was found to amount to nearly three millions of pounds in lawful money. Taxation had borne heavily upon this capital, but with peace war expenditures ceased, and productive industry began to return to its natural channels.

And very soon a Federal question arose. Congress resolved to levy an import duty of five per cent., but could not do it without the consent of the states. Here dawns upon us the question of state rights, soon to assume a more menacing aspect and delay for years Rhode Island’s entrance into the Union. Nearly all the states but Rhode Island had given their consent to it, but she foresaw in it future danger to her liberties and persisted in her refusal. Two of her delegates, Howell and Ellery, held out vigorously against it. “Howell undertook to prove that the State, by adopting the impost, would lose four-fifths of its revenue collected upon it. Mr. Ellery went upon the common danger of altering the constitution, and frightened the people with the loss of liberty.” Varnum and Marchant used many arguments “to remove these prejudices, but to little purpose. The general spoke two hours and a half; his arguments were learned, sensible and conclusive; but they were unavailing.” Such were the reasonings in the Rhode Island Assembly. “The truth of the matter is,” wrote General Greene, “a large majority of the members are incompetent judges of so complicated a question.... What is to become of us and our national honor God only knows. No people ever had brighter prospects shaded so unexpectedly.”

In the midst of these exciting discussions it is pleasant to see what early attention was given to education. The college returned to the use for which it was built, and in September, 1782, seven students received their degrees.

In that same year and month died Nicholas Cooke, who had filled the Governor’s chair so worthily at the beginning of the war. More than once before peace was declared an armed enemy was seen in Narragansett Bay. Two vessels were cut out of Newport harbor in the night by Tory privateers, and at another time an armed party took possession of Hope Island and held it for several days. One of the most menacing signs of these troubled times, was the armed resistance to the collection of taxes which had threatened Massachusetts with civil war, but was sternly put down. Yet even when the strong arm of the law was raised to enforce, they who wielded it most firmly could not but feel that there was much ground for complaint.

I shall not attempt to follow step by step the progress of Rhode Island in her return to the life and arts of peace. New laws were called for and made. New fields of enterprise were opened and entered upon. The errors of the past were to be bitterly atoned for. But her resources were great, her will strong, and her courage unabated. From the mass of detail I select a few characteristic points.

The financial embarrassment made itself felt everywhere, endangering contracts, paralyzing industry and checking enterprise, and undermining both public and private credit. Eight millions were required for the Federal quotas of 1782. Less than half a million had been collected. Four states had paid nothing, nine next to nothing. The impost act failed, and Howell, who by his opposition to it had made himself numerous enemies in Congress, had greatly added to his influence at home. Rhode Island was looked up to as the champion of state rights. With time she will grow wiser.

We have seen that slavery became the subject of legislation at an early period of our annals. It reappeared at the return of peace, when gradual emancipation was minutely provided for, and the introduction of “slaves for sale under any pretext whatever, forbidden.”

Among the purely local acts was the incorporation of Newport, and the regulation of the Pawcatuck fishery, and an attempt to annex Potowomut to East Greenwich. Among those which belong to the history of thought was that by which Sabbatarians were “allowed to pursue their usual avocations on Sunday.” Among those that bore directly upon business was the revival of the statute of limitations, and an act for encouraging the manufacture of certain articles of general demand. Patents and copyright laws followed soon after the adoption of the Constitution, though not with a full recognition of an author’s right to the product of his brain. For the support of government a tariff act was passed.

But the most historically interesting act of the February session of 1783 was the enabling act, by which the original harmony between the digests and the charter was restored. Into these digests, but when or how nobody could tell, the phrases: “Roman Catholics excepted,” and “professing Christianity,” had been interpolated in direct violation of the royal charter. Neither under Charles nor under James could this have been done. But in 1696 a plot against William had been discovered, which led to the formation of “associations of loyalty” in all the colonies but Rhode Island. Practically, the exception had no effect, and Catholics and Jews were admitted to the full rights of citizenship as they had always been. But as an historical question it is pleasant to know that the principle of universal toleration was never practically violated in the home of Roger Williams.