YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Gift of Edith and Maude Wetmore in memory of their father George Peabody Wetmore B.A. 1867 RHODE ISLAND Historical Tracts. NO. 11. PROVIDENCE S IDN EY S. RIDER. 1880. Copyright by SIDNEY S. RIDER. 1880. ANOELL, HAMMETT & CO., PRINTEKS. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS THREE MODE.. ISLAND AUTHORS JOSEPH K, ANGELL FRANCES H. (WHIPPLE) McDOUGALL CATHARINE R. WILLIAMS ET SIDNEY S. EIDEE. TO WHICH IS ADDED THE MlHE lawyers' OPISIOS OS THE RIUHT OF THE PEOPLE OF RHODE ISLAND TO FORM A COSSTITUTIOH, PROVIDENCE SIDNEY 8. RIDBK. 1880. Copyright by SIDNEY S. RIDER. 1880. PEEFATOKY NOTE. The three memoirs which form the present Tract are Intended mainly to exhibit the literary labors ofthe people about whom they are written. That of Mr. Angell was prepared for the reprint of volume one of the Rhode Island Supreme Court Reports, and appears in that Tolume. Those of Mrs. McDougall and Mrs. Williams were first printed in the columns of the Providence Journal. For the present use they have been revised and corrected by the addition of such matters as were brought to the author's notice in consequence of their previous publication. For all the personal details found In the article upon Mis. Williams, the author Is indebted to a manuscript autobiography prepared tor him by that lady herself. Her letter sent with the manuscript is as follows : Dear Sir: I have given you at least a skeleton of history, and if there is anything like vanity or egotism, you will please correct. A few anecdotesare also interspersed 'which I thought interesting. A criticism of the works cannot be expected, — that must be left to the publisher. Yours, &c. C. R. W. May 20th, 1859. The publisher referred to was Mr. S. Austin Allibone, who was then preparing his Dictionary of Authors, and for whom the present author was obtaining some such information. Not a single personal detail VI PREFATORY NOTE. appears In the article on Mrs. Williams which she did not herself write, and yet for the publication of the article in the Journal the author only escaped personal violence by reason of his being unknown. Much more of a similar nature might have been included, and it was omitted only for the reason that just enough to well illustrate the peculiarities of Mrs. Williams was all that was thought to be required. MEMOIR OF JOSEPH K ANGELL LAW WRITER. Joseph Kinnictjtt Angell was the only son of Nathan and Amey [Kinnicutt] Angell. He was born in Providence, Rhode Island, April 30, 1794. He was descended from Thomas Angell, one of the five companions of Roger Williams, while resting for a moment on the easterly banks of the Seekonk before crossing the river to lay the foundation of a State and of the beautiful city of Providence. Others soon joined these first comers, and the little band so increased became the thirteen original proprietors. Young Angell early betrayed a fondness for study, and his parents determined to provide him with the opportunities of obtaining a good education. By whom he was prepared for college is not now known. He entered Brown University as a student in his fifteenth year. Among his classmates were Job Dur- fee, afterwards Chief Justice, and Romeo Elton, afterwards Professor, two friends filled with the spirit of Rhode Island History, and both of whom left enduring literary monuments to perpetuate it. 4 HISTORICAL tract. After his graduation from Brown University in 1813, Mr. Angell was sent to the Law School at Litchfield, Conn. ; justly considered the best school of its kind then in the country. It was conducted at the time by Tapping Reeve, assisted by James Gould, both gentlemen of dfetinguished abUity as lecturers, and both authors of treatises which for many years and even to this time are cited as books of authority. At this school Mr. Angell formed acquaintances with young men which ripened into life-long friendships, and which were of the greatest use to him in after years. Among these friends was John Brown Francis, subsequently Governor and United States Senator for Rhode Island. After leav ing the law school at Litchfield, Mr. Angell entered as a student the law office of Thomas Burgess in Provi dence, who subsequently and for many years held the office of Probate Judge for that city. He was never an advocate, but he was a prudent and discreet coun sellor, and was the confidential law advisor of many merchants. How long Mr. Angell read law in the office of Mr. Burgess is not now known. Of the three years which had elapsed since his graduation MEMOIR OF JOSEPH K. ANGELL. 5 at Brown University, and previous to his admission to the Bar, it is probably that one year was passed at Litchfield and the remaining two years with Mr. Burgess. What influence on the formation of his character this connection with Mr. Burgess exerted it is difficult now to determine ; but it is certain that peculiarities of thought and action were common to both. At the March term of the Supreme Court, 1816, Mr. Angell, in company with Charles F. Til- linghast and Charles H. Bruce, was proposed for ad mission to the Rhode Island Bar by Nathaniel Searle, a man described by Judge Story as one " whose ar guments were characterised by exact learning and clear reasoning, and whose elocution was rapid, clear and affluent almost beyond example." This Bar was just then entering upon a glorious period of its his tory. May not a slight digression be excusable that mention may be made of some of the distinguished contemporaries of Mr. Angell. The great change which has since taken place in the structure, power, and method of procedure in our courts was but just beginning. For many of these wise changes the State is indebted to James Burrill, Jr., who was 6 HISTORICAL TRACT. elected to fill the seat of Chief Justice in 1816. He held the office but a single year, when he was sent to the Senate of the United States from Rhode Island. He was succeeded by Tristam Burges. Before the elevation of Mr. Burrill to the bench, he had held the position of Attorney General for upwards of six teen years. Both of these gentlemen were distin guished advocates. Succeeding them, and no less distinguished, came John Whipple, Samuel Y. At well and Nathaniel Searle, all men of very great power. Samuel W. Bridghanx, the first mayor of Providence, and Walter R. Danforth, who held the same office at a later period, were members of the same Bar. William R. Staples,. Richard W. Greene, and Sam uel Ames, who all became Chief Justices of the Supreme Court, or Supreme Judicial Court, as it was once called ; Charles F. TiJlinghast, William E. Rich mond, and Thomas Burgess, who were Counsellors at Law in the highest meaning of the term; John Pitman, who was for many years Judge of the United States District Court for this State ; Henry Bowen, who for thirty years was the Secretary of State of MEMOIR OF JOSEPH K. ANGELL. 7 Rhode Island, and Albert C. Greene, who for eigh teen years was the Attorney General, and afterwards a United States Senator ; Benjamin Hazard, who was sixty-two successive times elected a member of the General Assembly from Newport ; Job Durfee, whose father was a Judge, who himself became Chief Jus tice, and whose son now occupies the seat of his father ; Thomas F. Carpenter, whose name should have a place in our list of advocates ; Elisha R. Potter, whose name was the synonym of power in the southern counties for a third of a century ; and many others, whose names will at once occur to those familiar with the history of the Rhode Island Bar in those its palmiest days. Names upon names rise before us, but this is neither the time nor the place to call the roll of its members. Williams and his companions planted the colony, and laid the foundations of a State. May it not with justice be said that these are the men who nourished it in its youth, who formulated its laws, and by whose earnest and honest efforts strength was im parted to its every part. Mr. Angell now entered upon the practice of his 8 HISTORICAL TRACT. profession. He was by nature far better fitted for a counsellor than for an advocate, and his name would not have been found in a list of Rhode Island advo cates. He was a sound theoretical lawyer, and an admirable advisor. His practice before the courts must have been of short duration. An event soon occurred which turned the whole current of his life. In 1819, he received a letter from Mr. Chalmers, counsellor at law, living in London, England, inform ing him that there was then before the courts of chancery of England, an immense estate looking for an heir to inherit it, and expressing the belief that he was the legal heir. Counsel was taken of the friends of Mr. Angell in Providence, and it was de cided to send him to England to look after his interest in this vast estate, which lay in some of the most fertile counties in the kingdom. Early in Feb ruary, he left Providence and journeyed by stage to New York. He reached the latter city, as he details in a letter to his mother, at eight o'clock in the morning of Wednesday, the 9th of February, having passed two sleepless nights upon the road, and being necessarily much fatigued. He immediately entered MEMOIR OF JOSEPH K. ANGELL. 9 upon the search for a ship bound for England, and soon found one, — the ship Amity, which was to sail the following morning. In this vessel Mr. Angell took passage for Liverpool, which city he reached after a pleasant voyage of twenty-six days. Here however he tarried not, but made the best of his way to London. From letters written to his mother and to his sister may be gathered the impressions upon his mind of the scenery through which he passed. He speaks with mortification of the fact that Shakspeare's house at Stratford was then in use as a butcher's shop. At Oxford he spends much of his time in the libraries, the like of which he had never seen before. Of these, and of the chapels, halls and paintings, he writes to his mother an ad mirable account. He finally reached London, where he resided at Richards's Coffee House, in Fleet street, near Temple Bar, a central position for the business upon which he went, and near by the men whom he delighted to meet. He entered at once and vigor ously upon the work which he had undertaken, and his letters, while keeping his friends fully informed of his progress in that business, are also filled with 10 HISTORICAL TRACT. descriptions of the things which he saw and the events which occurred and which interested him. Before entering upon a description of his adven ture, it may be well to make mention of some things about which he write's, they seem so well to illus trate his character. He early and often visited Drury Lane, where he frequently saw Edmund Kean, and he writes to his mother minute accounts of his impressions of the acting of Mr. Kean. He dwells with delight upon Mr. Kean's presentations of Lear, Othello, and Richard the Third, — personations upon which the most enlightened judgment of men has set the seal of approval. Benjamin West died in London, and Angell wrote with gratitude of the honors bestowed upon his distinguished countryman. Much of his time was given to the courts. Of two celebrated trials he gave interesting accounts. That of Thistlewood, the leader of the Cato street con spiracy, and that of Queen Caroline, the consort of George the Fourth. The former was tried, con victed, and executed ; the latter returned to London from her long residence in Italy. Mr, Angell saw the mob smashing the windows of such as would not MEMOIR OF JOSEPH K. ANGELL. 11 illuminate their houses as the Queen passed, and afterwards sat many days at her trial. Of all these things he has left excellent accounts. Literature was his constant attraction, and his letters are filled with his impressions of such books as were published. Of many of these books time has obliterated every trace, but of one, the " Pirate," by the author of Waverly, Mr Angell has left an opinion which may be set down as the verdict of posterity. He says, " the author, as usual, has certainly excelled in his delineation of human character and in his descrip tions of natural scenery, but the incidents are too far below his genius." While giving much time to such matters as are here noticed, it must not be sus pected that he neglected the main business which carried him to England. To an account of that ad venture let us return. By the will of John Angell, made in 1774, he "gave and devised to the heirs male, if any such there were, of William Angell, the first purchaser at Crowhurst, and father of his great grandfather, John Angell, Esq., and their male heirs forever, all his lands and estates both real and personal, in Sur- 12 HISTORICAL TRACT. rey, Kent and Sussex, nevertheless subject and liable to such conditions as should, be thereafter mentioned, and should not be otherwise disposed of and given ; and if there should be no male heirs or descendants of the same William or the first Angell of Northamp tonshire, in order as they should be found or made apparent, and if there should be none of those in being, or that should be apparent and plainly and legally make themselves out to be Angells and so related and descended, he then gave all his estates whatsoever, both real and personal, to William Browne, Esquire, grandson to Mrs. Frances, the wife of Benedict Browne, Esquire, who was an Angell, and his male heirs forever." * The claim of Mr. Angell was, that notwithstand ing there were many Angells living in England, none were male heirs of the body of William Angell, the first purchaser of Crowhurst, nor were there any such heirs in existence ; that he was the male heir by collateral descent, tracing his descent from the only brother of William Angell, the aforesaid Thomas 1. Simons and Stuart's Reports, Dunlap's Ed., New York, 1843 Vol. l,p. 84. MEMOIR OF JOSEPH K. ANGELL. 13 Angell, who first came with Roger Williams to plant the town of Providence. In the prosecution" of his search, Mr. Angell exhibited great patience and per severance. He personally examined the register of every parish church in LoLdon in his pursuit of evi dence, and having obtained a vast amount, which could not then well be transmitted by reason of the slow progress of the mails, he determined to return with it to Providence, lay it before his friends, take advice, and start afresh. He reached New York on the 22d of October, 1820, and repaired at once to Providence. Having laid the case fully before his friends, it was determined that he should return to England and press the claim. With this end in view, he sailed from Boston in the ship Parthian, on the 5th of July, 1821, and reached Liverpool on the 1st of August. He entered immediately with renewed vigor upon the business which called him again to England. In the course of it, it became necessary to visit many of the towns and counties in the in terior. In this way he saw much of the rural life of the people, which filled him with pleasure and his letters with charming descriptions. Having with 14 HISTORICAL TRACT. much labor. prepared his case in the spring of 1822, he filed a bill in the Court of Chancery. This bill prayed for a commission to examine witnesses abroad and to perpetuate their testimony. The Vice Chan cellor refused to grant the commission, because there was no action pending, and nothing had been exhib ited to show that an action could not be brought.^ Thus ended the pursuit of this property by Mr. Angell, who did not indeed wait for the decision, but returned to Rhode Island before it had been ren dered, fully persuaded with the belief that " the longer he was absent from home the more he became sensible of the strength of those ties which bound him to his native soil, and which are so natural and interwoven with the heart, that it is impossible to utterly destroy them without destroying the heart itself." Mr. Angell returned to Rhode Island without hav ing reached that success for which he had hoped in the business upon which he went abroad, but an idea had occurred to him while there which resulted in a 1. Simons and Stuart's Reports, Dunlap's Ed., New York, 1843, "Vol. 1, p. 84. MEMOIR OF JOSEPH K. ANGELL. 15 splendid success. He resolved to devote himself to the profession of a law writer, a branch of the pro fession far more consonant to his tastes than that of an advocate or a counsellor, and which he had seen carried to such an extent in England. At the period of his return, the business interests in Rhode Island were in process of transformation from a commercial to a manufacturing industry ; mills for the manufac ture of cotton into cloth were being erected upon every stream where water power could be found. Naturally, therefore, was the attention of Mr. Angell called to the subject of the law relating to water courses, and he chose that subject for the title of his first work. Tt appeared in 1824, since which time many editions have appeared, and more than twelve thousand copies have been sold. The work has been very much enlarged at each successive revision, and is still a leading authority upon the subject. While engaged upon this work, the attention of. Mr. Angell was called naturally to the title which he selected for his second work, " The Right of Property in Tide Waters and in the Soil and Shores thereof," which work appeared in 1826. A second and much en- 16 HISTORICAL TRACT. larged edition was published in 1847. Both works met with a favorable reception from the bench and from the bar. Chancellor Kent said of them, that " they were works which no intelligent lawyer could well practice without." Early in 1837, Mr. Angell published his third work. It was entitled, " An Inquiry into the Rule. of Law which creates a Right to an Incorporeal Hereditament by an Adverse Enjoyment of twenty years, with remarks on the application of the rule to Light, and in certain cases to a Water Privilege." This essay was not at first intended for publication, but the interest in the subject induced the author to publish it. Its object was to investigate" the original establishment of the rule and to trace its progress, to explain the qualifications to which it is subject, and develop the principle and policy on which it is founded. It is a small octavo volume of one hun dred and seventeen pages. Following this came in the same year, " An Essay on the Right of a State to Tax a Body Corporate considered in relation to the Bank Tax in Rhode Island." This was a pamphlet of forty-four pages* MEMOIH OF JOSEPH K. ANGELL. 17 and was called out by the exigency of the times. The General Assembly of Rhode Island had assumed the power to tax banks incorporated by charters granted by this same honorable body, but the char ters of which contained no reservation of power to tax. Neither of these essays were ever repiinted. With the beginning of the year 1829, Mr. Angell began the publication at Providence of the United States Law Intelligencer and Review. The periodi cal, for it was issued monthly, was to be a synopsis or abridged record of the changes and progress of the Law. The first volume only was published in Providence. The work was disposed of to Philadel phia parties, and the office of publication removed to that city. Mr. Angell continued its editor two years. It had but a short life after he left it, three volumes only having been issued . It was a great advance upon any similar journal issued before it in this country, and it pointed the way for other similar enterprises. During this same year, 1829, Mr. Angell published A Treatise on the Limitations of Actions at Law and Suits in Equity, a volume of upwards of five 18 HISTORICAL tract; hundred pages. In 1846 appeared the second edition of the same work, much enlarged, and with many of the errors in the former edition corrected. In the first edition was reprinted. The Reading of that famous Lawyer, Sir Robert Brook, Kt., upon the Statute of Limitations, from the London edition of 1647. This reprint was omitted in the second edi tion. This work Mr. Angell dedicated to his life long friend, John Brown Francis, late Governor of Rhode Island. It was at once favorably received by the profession generally, and by no one more so than by Chancellor Kent. .The copy before us is filled with his manuscript memoranda. Soon after the publication of the first edition, the author sent a copy as a present to Brougham, then Lord Chan cellor of England. In acknowledging its receipt, Lord Brougham used the following language : " Lord Brougham begs Mr. A. would kindly communicate to Mr. Angell, his very grateful sense of the favor done him by the valuable present of Mr. A.'s work. Lord B. has already consulted it, and found it to be by much the best treatise on this very important subject." Unfortunately, this letter is now lost, and MEMOIR OP JOSEPH K. ANGELL. 19 this short extract is all that remains of a manuscript which Mr. Angell cherished as among the choicest of his earthly treasures. It may be doubted whether any event in the literary life of Mr. Angell ever gave him so much pleasure as this letter, which he exhib ited with delight to his friends. Of this treatise six editions, comprising in the aggregate more than eight thousand copies have been issued. In 1832, Mr. Angell, in connection with Samuel Ames, issued a " Treatise on the Law of Private Corporations Aggregate." This work needs no other commendation than an enumeration of its editions, numbering ten, and a statement of the numbers which have been sold, exceeding twelve thousand copies. His next work in order of time was the " Practical Summary of the Law of Assignments in Trust for the Benefit of Creditors." This work appeared in 1835. It- was a duodecimo volume of upwards of two hundred and twenty pages. Notwithstanding the high commendation bestowed upOn it, but one edition was ever published, and the book is now scarce and much sought for. From this time until 1849, Mr. Angell undertook 20 historical tract. the publication of no new work, but revised and edited the successive new editions of his former works. In this year he published his treatise on the " Law of Carriers of Goods and Passengers by Land and Water." It was a stout octavo of upwards of eight hundred pages. A second edition followed in 1851, a third in 1857, and others have succeeded. More than seven thousand copies have been sold, and the book is still the leading authority. It was dedi cated to his life-long friend, John Carter Brown. The various editions of Mr. Angell's books vary in several ways which have not been mentioned in this memoir. For instance, in the case of the third edi tion of this work, which contains the United States laws relating to steamboats, and sundry forms of pleadings. These were omitted in subsequent edi tions and other material substituted. In the first edition were incorporated in the appendix certain leading cases which found no place in subsequent editions. This has been the case, although not per haps to the extent, with the other works of Mr. Angell. It was provided in the act organizing the courts MEMOIR OF JOSEPH K. ANGELL. 21 of Rhode Island, after the adoption of the constitu tion in 1842, that a Reporter of the Decisions of the Supreme Court should be appointed. The law was subsequently modified, directing the Supreme Court to appoint the Reporter, who was to be a person not a member of the court, and further directing the election to be made at the March term, 1845. The Reporter was to publish his Reports annually. He was to be paid one hundred dollars by the State for his services, and was at liberty to make or lose as much money as might happen, he assuming all risk of publication, the State agreeing to purchase one hundred and twenty-five copies for distribution. A worse arrangement for the Reporter could not 'nell be devised, the purchase by the State practically destroying all chances of sale to other parties. The Reports were first issued in pamphlet form. The first of these pamphlets appeared in July, 1847. It contained seventy-one pages, and consisted entirely of opinions given long before the date of its pub lication. The second number soon followed. This also was prepared by Mr. Angell, and was the last prepared by him. He resigned the office of Reporter 22 HISTORICAL tract. at the September term of the court, 1849. Thomas Durfee was elected to succeed him ; and by Mr. Durfee was prepared the third and concluding and by much the larger part of the first volume. In 1854, was published a " Treatise on the Law of Fire and Life Insurance." The following year a second edition was called for, since which time no further issue have been required, other authors hav ing occupied the field. In 1857, appeared a " Trea tise on the Law of Highways." This work was begun by Mr. Angell, and was in process of publication at the time of his death. It was the last of his literary labors. The first, second, and a portion of the fourth chapters were the work of Mr. Angell ; the remain der was the work of Thomas Durfee. The following year a second edition was required, and the work still continues to be a leading authority upon the subject. Here ends the list of books which contain the writings of Mr. Angell. Many of them are still the most valuable treatises upon the subjects of which they treat, and are constantly kept upon the market, which has already absorbed in the aggregate more MEMOm OP JOSEPH K. ANGELL. 23 than fifty thousand copies. On a list, received while printing these sheets, of law books for sale by a prominent firm of law booksellers in London, the first five titles offered were the leading books of Mr. Angell. Mr. Angell was one of the signers of the famous " Nine Lawyers' Opinion." It was upon the right of the people to form a constitution. It was published in 1842, a time of unprecedented political excitement in Rhode Island. It claimed that the power to pre scribe a form of government rested with the people ; that the legislature was the creature of the people, and was not superior to its creator ; that before the Revolution the sovereign power was in the King of England ; that by the Revolution the sovereign power was divested from the King and passed to the peo ple, the whole people, of the colony, and which became the State ; that the charter contained within itself no power of amendment or of change, and that since the Revolution no way had existed for amend ing the form of government ; that the legislature being the creature of the people, possessed no power to enforce the people to change their form of gov- 24 HISTORICAL TRACT. ernment, — their utmost power was to request them to change it ; that the Freeholders' Constitution rested on the request of the General Assembly, while the Peoples' Constitution rested on the request of the people themselves, and therefore rested on the firmest possible basis. Such in a general way is the tenor of this famous document. It was published only in the Daily Express, a newspaper published in Provi dence, on the 16th of March, 1842.i As a writer, the style of Mr. Angell is simple and direct, with little or no effort at ornament or illustration ; to quickly reach the point of a decision and clearly state it was his aim as a writer ; he pre sents the law as he finds it, with no tint or shade of coloring imparted by his own opinions. Doubtless it is these excellencies which lend permanence to his works. Rosina, the sister of Mr. Angell, died in 1831, leav ing him no near relative. He was never married. He died suddenly, in Boston, May 1, 1857, whither he had gone on business. He died as he had lived, without an enemy ; dis- 1. The Opinion appears in full at the clcse of thib Tract. MEMOIR OF JOSEPH K. ANGELL. 25 tinguished through life by the simplicity of his charac ter, by his kindly feeling towards all around him, by his attachment to his friends, by his freedom from prejudice, and by the total absence of all malevolence of spirit. His amiable qualities had won for him many valuable friends who throughout his life re mained strongly attached to him, and after his death provided his body with a resting place, and adorned the walls of Rhode Island Hall with his portrait. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR FRANCES H McDOUGALL BORN WHIPPLE. The subject of the following memoir wrote and published books under three different names. This fact, well known at the present time, might become a source of inquiry to many in the future, who may be interested in such things. To lighten their labor is the present endeavor. Miss Frances H. Whipple was the daughter of Mr. George Whipple, of Smithfield, R. I., where she was born in 1805, in the month of September. She received such advantages for education as the district schools of the time afforded, and later attended a private school in Providence, kept by Dr. Peter W. Feriis. Dr. Ferris probably came to Providence in 1828 or 1829. He first established himself as a phy sician on High street. Two years later, in 1832, he was the teacher of the Fifth District School on Pond street. He continued to be employed as a teacher until, perhaps, 1845 or 1846, when he abandoned the profession of teaching and took that of a dentist. 30 ' historical TRACT. which he retained until either his death or removal from this city, about 1854. It must have been very soon after Dr. Ferris came that Miss Whipple went to his private school. She was 23 years of age in 1828, and the following year, 1829, she began the publication of the " Original," a periodical of which an account will appear later in 1>his memoir. She was at this time a vigorous and fluent writer. She became interested in the temperance reform, which originated about this time (1830), and gave her pen and much time in assisting the movement. At a later period she became very much interested in the anti-slavery movement, and identified herself with it in every possible way. In the political troubles in Rhode Island in 1 842, she took the side of those she considered to be oppressed, and became a very violent partisan of Mr. Dorr. Unfortunately for her personal comfort, she was ever on the unpopular side of every question in Rhode Island. On the first day of July, 1842, Miss Whipple was married, at Lowell, Mass., to Mr. Charles C. Greene, an artist, residing at that time at Springfield, Mass. memoir of FRANCES H. MCDOUGALL. 31 This marriage did not prove a happy one. In Sep tember, 1847, Mrs. Greene obtained a divorce from her husband, and from this time she dwelt with her friends, until about 1860, when she went to live in California, where she soon after (about 1861) mar ried Mr. William C. McDougall, and where she died, June 10, 1878. Having thus presented a sketch of the life of Mrs. Greene, we now venture upon an account of her literary work. Her first publication in order of time was the " Original," which was first issued in Provi dence in May, 1829. It is a 12mo. of upwards of a hundred pages. It was numbered Vol 1, No. 1. It contained fifteen articles ; ten of which were written by Miss Whipple. It was her intention to issue the periodical three times a year, at an annual subscrip tion price of fiftj' cents, but probably from non- support, no other number was issued until January, 1830. This number was again numbered Vol. 1, No. 1. The size was increased to an octavo, and it con tained forty pages. These were the only numbers published. Sketches of local interest are contained in these pamphlets; among them are accounts of 32 historical tract. " Quinsniket," "Scott's Pond," and the "Early Starting of Central Falls." In 1840, the Juvenile Emancipation Society, of Pawtucket, published a small volume, entitled " The Envo}"-, from Free Hearts to the Free." It was a collection by various writers, many of whom lived in Rhode Island, among them Sarah A. Chace of Provi dence, E. B. Chace of Pawtucket, Sophia L. Little of Newport, William Chace of Providence, Anna W. Weston of Providence, and many others, who date their articles from various towns in Rhode Island, but give no names. The work was edited by Miss Whipple, who likewise contributed several articles, the first being the " Charge : " Hither our Envoy! Take thine errand now, Go forth with Love's own myrtle on thy brow; Plead for the bought and sold, the scourged, the dumb, Platter not wealth; nor unto power succumb. The little book was printed at Pawtucket, by R. W. Potter. Miss Whipple was a contributor to the " Liberty Chimes," a neat 12mo. volume, printed at Pawtucket in 1845, by Mr. Potter, for the Ladies Anti-Slavery Society of Providence. memoir of FRANCES H. MCDOUGALL. 33 On the 19th of March, 1842, was published at Fall River the first number of "The Wampanoag and Operatives Journal." It was published in the royal quarto form, semi-monthly, and bore for its legend : " Idleness and Luxury Pamper the Animal, Labor Makes the Man." Frances H. Whipple was announced as the editor ; no publisher's name was given. The second number bears the name of Miss Whipple as the publisher, and also the editor. In her prospectus she presents the chart which she pro posed to use in the guidance of the little periodical : "Like the Wampanoag of old, (King Philip,) our royal namesake, we hope to maintain a perfectly erect, fearless and determined course. Whatever we see of good we shall dare sustain, without stopping to inquire whether it bears the image and superscrip tion of Caesar — whatever we see of wrong we shall cry out against ; whether it be in low places or in high places ; whether it be pilfering hen roosts, or plundering cradles ; whether it be robbing a man of his purse or of himself ; whether it be chaining the limbs or crushing the soul ; whether it be making a woman a toy, or a chattel ; whether it be fiattering or flogging her, whether it be raising and dragging 34 historical tract. her away in chains to the south-western market, or ruinously training her under the forced culture of our fashionable boarding-schools and dra"vdng rooms for the home market." The special object Miss Whipple had in "view was to educate, assist and en courage female operatives in Fall River and such manufacturing districts. Many Providence people contributed to the paper, among them Sarah Helen Whitman, Anne C. Lynch, William M. Rodman, and others whose initials we can only guess. Miss Whipple was, however, the main writer. The paper was essentially literary and of a high tone ; nothing appeared in it which a severe judgment would to day condemn, but the duration of its existence was short. Dissensions arose between Mr. Bowen, the real publisher, and Miss Whipple, and with the issue of the thirteenth number, Mrs. Greene (for she was then married) withdrew, and the " Wampanoag " expired with its fifteenth number, on the 8th of October, 1832. Doubtless the chief difficulty was a lack of support. The political troubles of Rhode Island prevented ]\Iiss Whipple from obtaining the support within that State upon which she con- memoir of FRANCES H. MCDOUGALL. 35 fidently relied. The paper "was neatly printed by Thomas Almy, to whose son, Mr. Thomas Almy, of the Fall River News, to whom the author is indebted for the file to which he has access. Messrs. Burnett & King, the well-remembered booksellers, acted as agents for Miss Whipple in Providence. Her next publication was a work of charity, the " Memoirs of EUeanor Eldridge," 16mo., Providence, 1838. Another edition was published in 1840, and still another in 1842. This little volume of a hun dred and twenty-eight pages was published for the purpose of enabling the subject of it to repurchase some property of which she had been perhaps legally, but at all events unfairly, deprived. The tale, in short, is this : EUeanor was a hard-working, pru dent, saving, colored woman. Her grandfather had been kidnapped at the mouth of the Congo (now the Livingstone) river, on board a ship upon which he had been enticed for the purposes of trade. He was brought to Rhode Island, where he was sold as a slave. He afterwards married an Indian woman, a pure Narragansett. From this marriage descended EUeanor. By dint of hard work and prudence she 36 HISTORICAL TRACT. was enabled to purchase a lot of land on Spring street, in Providence, upon which she built a house, which she at several times enlarged until it became, to her, a valuable property, and was nearly paid for. It had cost about two thousand dollars ; on it there was a loan of two hundred and forty dollars. On this loan she paid an annual interest of ten per cent. Having an opportunity to purchase another estate adjoining her own, which materially improved her means of access to her house, she bought it for two thousand dollars, upon which she paid five hundred dollars cash and gave a mortgage of fifteen hundred dollars on her entire estate. Being taken sick, she rented her property and went away to recover her strength. While gone, the gentleman from whom she borrowed the two hundred and forty dollars died, leaving his estate to his brother. This brother attached EUeanor's property, sold it by the sheriff, and he himself bought it for exactly the amount of the mortgage. EUeanor returned to find herself de prived in a moment of an estate which had cost about four thousand dollars. She was not a woman who would submit quietly to such proceedings, and MEMOIR OF FRANCES H. MCDOUGALL. 37 forthwith set herself to work to obtain justice. General Greene, Attorney General, assisted her, as did many of the best citizens of Providence, to whom she was well known. To assist in raising money, this little book was written, and several edi tions sold. A companion volume, entitled EUeanor's Second Book, was published in 1847. These efforts were successful. EUeanor recovered her property after paying pretty heavily for it, and lived to a good old age, a respected and respectable colored woman, tall and erect in her 80th year as the young oak in the native forests of Rhode Island, through which her grandmother had wandered among the last of a race now unknown. Mr. Griswold, in his notice of Mrs. Greene, in his Female Poets of America, states that 30,000 copies of this (first) memoir was sold, and Allibone has copied from Griswold. Doubtless there were a considerable number, but not nearly as many as 30,000. It is questionable whether there were more than three editions of the first one, and there was certainly but one edition of the second one. An edition of a Rhode Island book numbering 10,000 or 15,000 would be an extraordinary thing, altogether 38 HISTORICAL TRACT. unknown. Both these little books were printed by Mr. B. T. Albro, of course on hand presses, for at that time such a thing as a power book printing press was unknown in Providence. Both volumes are em bellished with a wood cut portrait of the subject, with her white-wash brush in hand prepared for her daily labor. Following these came the Mechanic. It was a 12mo. volume of upwards of two hundred pages, and bears the imprint of Burnett & King. Charles Burnett, the senior of this firm, was one of the best booksellers which Providence ever possessed ; well educated, refined in manner, imbued with a love of literature and of the fine arts — had he lived longer he would have left an impress upon the city of Provi dence which would have lasted many generations ; there was a magnetism about him which drew all kindred spirits toward him — but he died, worn out with incessant toil, while yet almost in his youth, in the year 1848. But to return to our little book. It is the story of laboring men and women, written to plant -ndthin them good thoughts and elevating desires ?nd aspira- MEMOIR OP FRANCES H. MCDOUGALL. 39 tions ; " urging man, however high, or however low in a worldly point of view, to regard his fellow-men as equals and brethren, all walking in different paths it may be — all pursuing different avocations; yet each bearing on his brow the visible signet of Jehovah which confirms the nobilitj' of a God-like nature — each invested with a mission to his race, for the faith ful discharge of which he is accountable to all future generations. When this spirit comes to be diffused, the rich man will cease to be arrogant and the poor man forget to be servile, for will not each feel him self equally a man." A single edition of this volume was all that the public demanded, but the little book has nearly disappeared. Continuing our recoid, in order of time came Might and Right, by a Rhode Islander, (Miss Whipple). It was publi;^hed by Abraham H. Stillwell, in Providence, in 1844. A 12mo. volume of three hundred and twenty-four pages, dedicated " To Thomas Wilson Dorr, the true and tried patriot, the Fearless Defender of Human Rights, this work is respectfully inscribed." A por trait of Mr. Dorr illustrates the book. A second edition, containing an appendix of twenty-two pages 40 HISTORICAL TRACT. on the Life and Character of Thomas Wilson Dorr, was issued the same year. It is, as its dedication in dicates, intensely devoted to a defence of the princi ples of Mr. Dorr in the political struggles of 1842. During these latter years it has been more or less sought for by collectors of books relating to this very interesting period of Rhode Island history, and its present price would astonish its author. In 1854 Mrs. Greene published a Primary class book of Botany designed for common schools and families. This was a thin quarto volume of upward of a hundred pages of text and several hundred Ulus- trations. Mrs. Greene, having been for several years engaged in teaching botany, early perceived the uses of pic torial illustrations in the teaching of that science. This little treatise was " an attempt to disarm the study of a portion of its terrors," and to render it attractive and interesting. She also, in connection with Joseph W. Congdon, of East Greenwich, pre pared the Analytical Class Book of Botany, also a quarto in form. Next in order came Shahmah in Pursuit of Free- MEMOIR OF FRANCES H. MCDOUGALL. 41 dom ; or. The Branded Hand. Translated from the original Showiah and edited by an American citizen, 12mo., pp. 599. New York, 1858. Shahmah was a young Egyptian or Ethiopian prince whom the author takes through this country on a tour of observation, moralizing on things political, religious and social. In the course of her narative, the author pays a high compliment to Catharine R. Williams, another Provi dence writer, for her instrumentality in abolishing flogging in the United States navy. Shahmah was of a black or olive complexion, and in the course of his travels through the Southern States became involved in almost inextricable trou bles, but, in the end, all came out well. In point of size it is the largest of the publications with which its author was connected. Besides these books Mrs. Greene was a contributor to many of the magazines and serial publications of her day. She at timei conducted the publication of such journals. The Wampanoag, previously no ticed, a journal devoted to the elevation of the labor- ino- classes, was one of them The Nineteenth Century was another, to which she was a large con- 42 HISTORICAL TRACT. tributor, as also to the Univercoelum and Spiritual Philosopher, a paper devoted to the exposition of the principles of nature as applied to individual and social life. In 1848, she became editress of the " Young People's Journal," issued monthly in New York. Many of the compositions of Mrs. Greene were in verse. Never having been gathered together in a volume, they remain scattered in the various publi cations in which they originally appeared. One of the best known of Miss Whipple's poems was The Dwarf's Story, characterized by Mr. Griswold as a "gloomy, but passionate and powerful composition." The poem contains two hundred and sixty-four lines, in blank verse, and appears in the Rhode Island Book, published in Providence in 1841. The following extract is illustrative of its stjde : Nay, listen to me Lilian ! I'm not mad. Linger and listen. I would tell a tale — Oh, Godl Sustain me! — but, t'will wring thy heart, I would not grieve thee — thee my only friend I But yet I cannot- — how can I forego Thy precious sympathy? Give here thy hand; MEMOIR OF FRANCES H. MCDOUGALL. 43 I'll hold it thus in mine. There turn away, And look not on me ; for I cannot bear That thou should'st feel disgust— that thou should'st loathe, Though the sharp hiss of universal scorn Has been my only greeting from the world. ****** " "Within this shapeless clod A spirit dwelleth, fervid, pure and high As thy own spotless one. It loveth thee And cannot do thee wrong." Her longest and best poem, according to Mr. Gris wold, is Nanuntenoo, a legend of the Nairagansetts, in six cantos, three of which, according to the same authority, were published in Philadelphia in 1840. This poem he pronounces "to be a work of decided and various merit, giving descriptive powers scarcely inferior to Bryant. The rythm is harmonious, and the style generally elegant and poeticaUy ornate. In the delineation of Indian character and adventure can be seen the fruits of intelligent study, and a nice apprehension of the influence of external nature in psychological development. It is a production that will gratify attention by the richness of its fancy, the justness of its reflection, and its dramatic interest." 44 HISTORICAL TRACT. Nanuntenoo, known by the English as Canonchet, commanded" the Indians at Pierce's Fight, above Pawtucket, the last great Indian battle in Rhode Island.^ It was a terrible defeat to the English. The following is a specimen of this poem : " Pa\5tucket almost slumbered, for his waves Were lulled by their own chanting; breathing low, With a just-audible murmur, as the soul Is stirred in visions with a thought of love, He whispered back the whisper tenderly. Of the fair willows bending over him, With a light hush upon their stirring leaves, Blest watchers o'er his day-dreams. Not a sign Of man or his abode met ear or eye, But one great wilderness of living wood. O'er hill, and cliff, and valley, swelled and waved An ocean of deep verdure. By the rock Which bound and strengthened all their massive roots Stood the great oak and giant sycamore; Along the water courses and the glades Kose the fair maple and the hickory; And on the loftier heights the towering pine — Strong guardians of the forest — standing there On the old ramparts, sentinels of Time To watch the flight of ages." 1. This Fight took place Sunday, March 26, 1676. MEMOIR OF FRANCES H. MCDOUGALL. 45 Touching her minor poems, which are numerous, Mr. Griswold says : " They are marked by characteristics which prove them fruits of a genuine inspiration. Her Songs of the Winds and sketches of Indian life are frequently marked by a masculine energy of expression, and a minute observation of nature. Though occasionally diffuse and sometimes illustrated by images not ap proved, perhaps, by the most fastidious taste, they have meaning in them, and the reader is not often permitted to forget the presence of the power and delicacy of the poetical faculty." The last literary labor with which Mrs. McDougall was connected bears the following title : " Beyond the Veil ; posthumous work of Paschal Beverly Randolph, aided by Emanuel Swedenborg and others, through the minds of Frances H. McDougall and Luna Hutchinson. 12mo. New York. 1878." "One day as Mrs. McDougall sat writing at her home in San Mateo, California, she heard a spirit voice say, " An old friend." On its being repeated, she recog nized it to be from Randolph. He said, " I wish you to leave your work and write for me." She 46 HISTORICAL TRACT. finally consented, but supposed it was only to write a small pamphlet until she at length was told that it was to be a book, and that another woman had been chosen to assist in writing it, and that she must make a long journey to her home and write it there. This she did with much patience, expense and labor, being in the seventieth year of her age." The foregoing extract presents the calling, and the following note the method of the performance : " This account of experiences in the spirit world wa§ given me by General Baker, of Ball's Bluff, the soldier, poet, and statesman, who is here almost an object of idolatry It was written with almost inconceivable rapidity, giving birth to unfamiliar trains of thought. For three months or more after its production, I lived on terms of daily intercourse with this noble spirit ; and during all that time never for one day did he fail to come to me in the morning. After the article was finished the spirit said, " we will revise it." A day was appointed for this purpose and we sat with closed doors. I then read slowly and thoughtfully, and at the close of each succeeding section or paragraph, the portion last read was commented on and was MEMOIR OF FRANCES H. MCDOUGALL. 47 either approved, or criticised and alterations pro posed. The presence and. power of the spirit during the time occupied in this revision was as real to me as any presence could be." Since these pages were in process of printing, information has been given of a poem entitled the Love Life of Dr. Kane. This, never having passed under the observation of the author, he is unable to describe it. A volume bearing exactly the same title and upon the same subject was published by Carleton, of New York, in 1866. It contains the correspondence and a history of the acquaintance, engagement, and secret marriage between Elisha Kent Kane and Margaret Fox, the spiritualist. Thus is presented a sketch of the life and writings of a Rhode Island woman — a woman of whom, not withstanding all her failings, it must be conceded that she possessed many virtues. " Her bounty was as boundless as the sea. Her love as deep." Perhaps the best index to the workings of her mind is presented in this consecutive account of her various writings. THE PUBLICATIONS CATHERINE R WILLIAMS NOTES CONCERNING THEM. Catherine R. Williams, daughter of Captain Alfred Arnold, was born in Providence about the year 1790. She was descended from the Arnolds, of Newport, being the grand-daughter of Oliver Arnold, who died in 1770, holding the office of Attor ney General of Rhode Island, and who, although dying at the early age of thirty-four years, had already acquired the reputation of a profound lawyer and a ripe scholar. General Varnum, Colonel John Brown and the Hon. William Channing were among his most distinguished students. Miss Arnold's mother died while she was yet a child. Her father being a sea-captain, sent the child to the family of two maiden aunts to be educated — ladies of the old" school — strict and dignified in their deportment, as most of those ancient ladies were. Under the care of these ladies the child pursued her studies. Her mind became early imbued with religious sentiments, which lasted her through life. In after days she spoke of these times, and often observed that she she was brought up as a nun. 52 HISTORICAL TRACT. At the age of twenty-three, the death of one of the maiden aunts and the marriage of the other, cast Miss Arnold, with a small patrimony, into the world to make her way as best she could. Some of the productions of her pen had already found their way into the papers of the day — in fact, she had already dreamed of the publication of a book. While on a visit to some friends in the country. Miss Arnold be came acquainted with Mr. Williams, to whom she was, presently married. Mr. Williams was a descendant of Roger Williams, in the sixth generation. He en tertained the idea of emigrating to the west, which idea also possessed Miss Arnold. They proceeded to New York, where they were married by Bishop Onderdonk. About this ceremony Mrs. Williams relates the singular fact that the Bishop had just returned from a funeral service as the wedding party came in. He had still on his mourning scarf, which he was about removing, when Miss Arnold inter posed, saying there was no necessity for his disrobing, and the ceremony proceeded, the Bishop appearing in the habiliments of mourning. The marriage proved a most unfortunate one, but no argument of the super- OATHERnSTE R. WILLIAMS. 53 stitious could convince Mrs. WiUiams that the singu lar circumstances of the wedding foreshadowed the result. Mr. and Mrs. Williams now proceeded to the west to live. It was Mrs. Williams's desire to settle in Michigan, but Mr. Williams concluded to remain in the western part of New York, where they lived about two years, when Mrs. Williams, with her infant daughter in her arms, left her husband, whom she never again saw, for the home of her childhood. Thrown now indeed upon her own resources, she; opened a school, but her health soon gave out, and she gave up her school, and, advised by her friends, concluded to publish a volume of Poems, by sub scription. It was a small volume, published under the name of Original Poems. It was printed by Mr. Hugh H. Brown, and appeared in 1828. Its success Mrs. Williams characterized as beyond her utmost expectations. Many of the poems were writ ten between her fourteenth and seventeenth years. They exhibit a mournful spirit, the author seeming to choose melancholy subjects, thus betraying the spirit of her early training. 54 HISTORICAL TRACT. The pecuniary success of this little venture in duced Mrs. Williams to try her second production, a story in prose. Religion at Home. It was published in 1829, and at least three editions were issued and disposed of, which would be a rare occurrence for even these days in Providence. In 1830 she published her Tales, National and Revolutionary. Among these tales there is a well remembered one, Scott's Pond Thirty Years Ago. The Life of Captain Oliver Read, also in this volume, has now passed into the domain of scarce American History. A second series of these Tales was issued in 1835. It might gratify their author could she have known that these two little volumes were sold in New York in 1870 for fifteen dollars. Aristocracy, or the Holbey Family, was her fourth publication. It was a novel, a satire on the fashion able follies of the day. It appeared in 1832. The History of Fall River, which she published in 1833, is confined almost entirely to a discussion of the mur der of Miss Sarak, M. Cornell and the trials of the Rev. Ephraim K. Avery therefor, and of whose guilt Mrs. Williams was fully persuaded. CATHERINE R. WILLIAMS. 55 The Biography of Revolutionary Heroes was her seventh work. It contained the Lives of General M'illiam Barton and Captain Stephen Olney. It came out in 1839, and, like the National and Revo lutionary Tales, it was classed among the list of scarce books of American History, but since the death of its author, copies have been very plentiful. In 1840 Mrs. Williams made a journey through the British provinces, and while making the visit ob tained many of the facts which form the basis of her Neutral French, or the Exiles of Nova Scotia. This Mrs. Williams always considered to be her best work. Longfellow selected the same theme for EvangeUne. Copies exist on the title pages of which are the words, second edition. The book was copy righted in 1841, and no other date appears. There is no change in either edition, and whether there was reaUy two editions it is difficult to determine. WhUe at the Grand Falls of the St. John, Mrs Williams was the guest of Sir John CaldweU, who afterwards called upon her at her home in Provi dence. At Frederickton she was entertained by Sir John Hervey at the Government House. In a letter 56 HISTORICAL TRACT. to the Boston Traveller she complimented Sir John in the following handsome manner. Mrs. Williams said she had never forgiven General Scott for forbid ding the soldier shooting that tall officer at the battle of Lundy's Lane, as was reported, until she saw Governor Harvey, who was really so handsome that it would have been a pity to destroy such a beautiful specimen of God's handiwork. Sir John was rising sixty, very tall and erect, and presented a very fine face and figure. He was exceedingly pleased with the paragraph. Mrs. Williams's last literary effort consisted of a series of domestic tales published in two parts, under the title of Annals of the Aristocracy of Rhode Island, the first part appearing in 1843, the second in 1845. It was thought by many at the time that some living characters were described in these tales, but the au thor gave the assurance that all the heroes and hero ines had long passed from among the living. Here ends the list of Mrs. Williams's Uterary labors, comprised in the issue and re-issue of twelve publications, the pecuniary success or failure in every case she assumed, and thereby acquired not only a CALHERINE R. WILLIAMS. 57 living, but a surplus fund, the income of which sup ported her. She was a woman of great energy of character. She held an honest, earnest, and some times vigorous pen, but her style often lacked ele gance. There was yet a truthful sentiment about her books which the people of that day liked. She was a warm politician. Democratic to devotion, and in the Rhode Island troubles of 1842, espoused the cause of the suffrage party with all her might. She was a lively conversationalist, and sometimes quick at repartee, as the following anecdotes will prove : While publishing her lives of Barton and Olney, she chanced to be seated at a hotel table with an Eng lishman who was travelling through the States. He became acquainted with her labor, and rudely ac costed her thus : " How can you publish a biography without knowing the genealogy of your hero ? Why, they tell me that even your aristocracy here don't always know who their grandfather was I" " Even then," replied Mrs. Williams, " they have the advan tage of yours, for they often don't know who their fathers were." On another occasion, after the publication of 58 HISTORICAL TRACT. the Neutral French, in which book many Roman Catholics took an interest, Mrs. WUliams was in Washington and was invited to visit the Roman Catholic College at Georgetown. The President of the college gave her a very polite reception, collecting every descendant of the French Neutrals in the in stitution and placing them before Mrs. Williams, asked her if she could discover any resemblance be tween them and the few scattered remnants she had seen in the Provinces. The President spoke of the deep feeling and the spirit of candor displayed in the book while the sufferings of the Neutrals at the hands of the British were under contemplation, and remarked to Mrs. Williams that she must be almost a Roman Catholic herself, whereat Mrs. Williams replied, that would be impossible since there are two things to which she had the most decided antipathy, viz : Kingcraft and Priestcraft. While on her travels in Canada, she stopped one day at a hotel in one of the frontier towns. The landlord expressed great disappointment that she did not arrive the day before, so as to have seen the Governor General review the troops, drawn by six white horses and a beautiful CATHERINE R. WILLIAMS. 59 equipage. Six, did you say, sir? asked Mrs. Wil liams. Yes, six beautiful white horses. Well, truly, I should have admired, said Mrs. Williams, to see the Governor of a single province with six horses, while the President of the whole United States rides with but two. In her personal appearance, Mrs. Williams was short and stout, her face presented a good, healthy color, her eyes were small and piercing ; in addressing persons she spoke perhaps quickly and with sharp ness or decisively ; in her attire she was somewhat careless ; in her visits to various celebrated resorts, she was indebted to the kind care of the ladies with whom she boarded, to see that she went into the street in proper condition. She met with many jokes from her negligence in this respect. Once calling upon a friend at Gadsby's hotel in Washington, she forgot to change her dress, and appeared at the hotel in her morning calico ; the porter showed her into the cellar kitchen, and it was not until the fifth servant was called that one was found bold enough to escort her from the cellar kitchen to the ladies parlor. In a few days she had her revenge. The Prince de Joinville 60 HISTORICAL TRACT. and suite appeared at Gadsby's for quarters and were refused, on the supposition that they were a party of Polish emigrants. About 1849, Mrs. Williams removed to Brooklyn, New York, to soothe the declining years of an aged aunt, one who had brought her up. Here she lived three years, when her aunt died, leaving her about 110,000. She now returned to Rhode Island, and soon after built a snug cottage in Johnston, near by an estate which had once belonged to her ancestors. Here, in the society of her only daughter, she passed happily many years of her life. Subsequently, be coming tired of the quiet of the country, she returned to her old home in Providence, at the corner of Olney and North Main streets, where she passed the re maining years of her life. She left a finished manu script story, entitled Bertha, a Tale of St. Domingo. This manuscript she offered to one of our publishers during the recent excitement about the " annexion," as Mr. Sumner has it, of San Domingo,^ with the 1. This sketch was written in October, 1872, soon after the excite ment In the United states regarding the annexation of San Domingo. Annexion was a term u.sed by Charles Sumner In a speech in the United States Senate concerning the matter. CATHERINE R. WILLIAMS. 61 remark that if his politics would permit it would pay to publish, urging that the book had nothing to do with that project, having been written many years before. The work has never been published. Mrs. Williams had the honor of being elected an honorary member of some of the Historical Societies in other States, an honor not conferred, as she re marked, upon females in Rhode Island. Mrs. Williams died in Providence, October 11, 1 872. In her death has passed away another of those who in their childhood stood by the knee of Wash. ington. The Right of the People of Rhode Island TO FORM A Constitution. THE NINE LAWYERS' OPINION. The following opinion was written by Thomas W. Dorr. Mr. Dorr employed George F. Man, an at torney-at-law, to look up the authorities. He then wrote the opinion and the nine lawyers signed it. The sequence of events which led to it are practi cally thus : Those persons interested in an extension of the suffrage in Rhode Island formed an association in 1840 in Providence, which was followed by similar associations throughout the State. A mass meeting was held by them in Providence in April, 1841 ; another followed at Newport in May, which was ad journed to meet at Providence, July 5th. A State Committee of eleven was appointed by the meeting which was held at Newport.^ This committee issued an address on the 24th of July, 1841, calling upon the people to choose delegates to a convention to be held 1. The foUowlna gentlemen composed the committee : Charles Col lins, Dutee J. Pearco, Samuel H. Wales, Welcome B. Sayles, Benjamin Arnold, Jr., Benjamin M. Bosworth, Samuel S. Allen, Emanuel Rice, Silas Weaver, William S. Peckham, Sylvester Bines. 66 HISTORICAL TRACT. the following October for the purpose of framing a constitution. Delegates were chosen, the convention met, the constitution was framed, and submitted to the people of the State to be by them accepted or rejected. The people voted upon it on the 27 th of December and on the five following days. Every person who voted upon it was required to be an American citizen, twenty-one years of age, and to have his permanent residence or home in Rhode Island ; to write his full name with the fact that he voted for or against the constitution on the back of his ballot. The conven tion re-assembled on the 12th of January, 1842, counted the votes, declared the constitution adopted, and it was proclaimed the law of the land. It was claimed that there were in the State 22,674 free, white male citizens ofthe age of twenty-one years and upwards. Of these, 9,590 were qualified freemen. It w-as also claimed that 13,955 voted in favor of adopting the constitution, and forty-six against adopt ing it. Of those voting, 10,193 voted in person, and 3,762 voted by proxy ; 4,925 were qualified freemen under tl^ then existing laws, and 9,026 were not THE NINE lawyers' OPINION. 67 qualified.^ Thus a majority of freemen qualified to vote under the existing laws voted to adopt the con stitution. At this point, doubts of the validity of the entire proceedings were raised by those opposed to an en largement of the suffrage, and to the correction of the evils which existed under the old system. These doubts the leaders of the suffrage party thought proper to endeavor to allay. Hence arose the document which follows, and which became at once known as the Nine Lawyers' Opinion. It appeared, as stated in the memoir of Angell, only in a single newspaper, and is of course one of the scarcest documents connected with this interesting period. John P. Knowles, at present United States District Judge for Rhode Island, is the only one of its signers now living, unless, possibly, Aaron White may be still alive. It is as here presented an exact reprint, both as to the subject matter and style of composition. 1 . These figures are taken from Burlse's Report. They do not balance in some cases. From the private papers of Mr. Dorr the author gathers the following result: Freemen voting in favor of adopting, 4,960; non- Freemen, 8,984. Total, 13,944, 08 HISTORICAL TRACT. RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO FORM A CONSTITUTION. STATEMENT OF EEASONS. Many citizens in different parts of the State having requested that the reasons, which sustain the recent proceedings of the People, in framing and adopting a Constitution of Government, should be put forth to the public, — the undersigned cheerfully comply with this request ; and ask the attention of their feUow citizens to the following Statement of Reasons, which has been made as brief as the great importance and extent of the subject treated of would permit. By the Sovereign Power of a State we understand that supreme and ultimate power, which prescribes the form of Government for the People of the State. By the Republican theory of this country this power resides in the People themselves. This power is of course superior to the Legislative power, which is derived from, and created by the Supreme power. the nine lawyers' opinion. 69 and exercises its functions according to the funda mental rules prescribed by the People, through the expression of their will called a Constitution of Government. At the American Revolution, the sovereign power of this State passed from the king and Parliament of England to the People of the State ; not to a portion of them, but to the whole People, who succeeded as tenants in common to this power. Before the Revolution, the power to alter the form of government established by the Charter was in the king of England, who granted it. The government of the State was a government of the majority to the time of the Revolution, and for years subsequent. It has long ceased to be such. And if the majority of the People have in any way lost the power of altering and reforming the government of this State, the Revolution has not made them free ; but has only opened a change of masters. The sovereign power of this State having been for ever divested from the king, to whom could it have passed, if not to the whole People ? It did not vest in the Colonies or States, nor in the 70 HISTORICAL TRACT. General Government, which is the creature of the States, or of the People of the States. The General Assembly of this State exercises very general and undefined powers ; but no one contends that the absolute sovereignty of this State is vested in them. It must therefore have passed to a part of the people of this State or to the whole. The whole People of the Colony were the subjects of, and owed a common allegiance to the king of England. The non-freeholders were not the subjects of the freemen, and the freemen the subjects of the king ; but all stood in an equal relation to the head of the State. Those who were equal before the sov ereign, were equal to each other after he ceased to be such ; and when his power passed away, they received it by succession, in equal undivided portions. Sovereignty is an attribute of the persons, and not of the soil of a State. But if the sovereign power of this State, did not pass to the whole People, but only to the qualified freeholders, then it resides in the soil and' freehold ; and, if a few freeholders should be come possessed of all the land, they would become the rightful sovereigns : nay, more, if a State should THE NINE lawyers' OPINION. 71 by any cause become depopulated, the sovereignty, being in the land, would be as complete and perfect as ever, which is a manifest absurdity. If the non-freeholders of that day made any surren der, or disclaimer, to the freemen, of their own right ful shares in the succession, the evidence of it can be produced ; and our opponents are bound to produce it. No such surrender was ever made. If it had been made, we should then have to ask — what right has one generation to bind another in this manner ; and what rights of sovereignty can one generation barter or give away, which their succes sors have not the right to reassume ? The Sovereign power and the Legislative power, being, in the American system of government, dis tinct, and the latter being derived from the former by consent expressed, or implied, there is nothing in the long exercise of the latter power by the freemen in consistent with the exercise of the former power by the whole People, when they shall judge the proper time to have arrived. Sovereign power from its nature can and ought to be but rarely exercised.. A Constitution if it be 72 HISTORICAL TRACT. wisely framed, secure all just rights, and contain an equitable provision for its own amendment, is made to last ; and will become the permanent rule of gen erations and ages to to come, in a free country. It cannot therefore be inferred from the unfre- quent exercise, or the non-exercise of the sovereign power that it has ceased to exist. The king of Eng land made no amendment of our Charter government from 1663 to 1776, a period of one hundred and thir teen years; but he did not lose the power to amend. The People of Rhode Island have made no amendment in the form of government, from 1776 to 1841, a period of 65 years ; neither have they lost the power to amend. " Time does not run against the king ; " nor does it run against the sovereignty and rights of the People. The agent may act in place of his principal ; the Legislature may act under the consent of the sover eign ; but, in both cases, the source of power remains, — the right of revocation remains. What was con ferred by assent may be taken away by dissent. If the present government be valid, because the People as sent to it, it may become invalid by their dissent, defi nitely expressed. The one power involves the other. THE NINE LAWYERS' OPINION. 73 The time of exercising this sovereign power is to be determined by the People ; who are also the judges of the necessity. Neither the People nor the Legislature took any steps (beyond an inquiry) for the forma tion of a Constitution in 1776 ; the government of the State being in the hands of the majority, and by semi-annual elections, — and the State being deeply involved in the war of the Revolution, and subjected to invasion. The necessity for a total reformation has been increasing during the last forty years ; and, in the judgment of the people, has now become abso lute. The mode of proceeding by the People is also immaterial. They are the judges of this also ; and, deeming the right time to have arrived, they have, by Delegates, elected in the proportion of one to every fifteen hundred inhabitants, formed a Constitution. Great stress is laid on the fact, that the Conven tion which framed the People's Constitution was not called by an act of the General Assembly. Such an act was not, in our judgment, necessary to give validi ty to the proceedings of that Convention, or to the votes of the People for that Constitution. 74 HISTORICAL TRACT. The greater power inherent in the People, by vir tue of their sovereignty, to form a Constitution, in volves the less power, viz : that of proceeding in the way and manner, which the People deem proper to adopt. Further, there is no mode whatsoever established in this State by any Constitution, Charter, law, or usage, according to which the People are to proceed in framing and adopting a Constitution. The king of England having power to make a supplemental grant to the Charter, that instrument of course con tained no provision for its own amendment. And no way of amending our Government has been estab lished since the Revolution. One of the complaints made in fact is, that we have no such Constitutional mode of amendment in this State. Still further, the General Assembly never have passed, nor can pass a law for the People to assemble and make a Constitution, A law has no force as law, unless its execution, if it be not complied with, can be compelled, or a non-obedience to its mandate sub ject the offender to penalty or damages. Now, there can be no penalty to a law for the call of a Conven- THE NINE lawyers' OPINION. 75 tion. The people cannot be compelled to elect dele gates, nor punished for not electing them. Nor can the delegates be punished for not making a Constitu tion. They tried to do this in 1834, and failed ; but they were not treated as criminals for their failure. All that the Assembly can do is to request their constituents, or the People, to make a Constitution. If they do not see fit to comply with the request, it goes for nothing. The request of the Assembly has no more binding effect as law, than any other request — than, for instance, the usual resolutions for Thanks giving, with which the people comply, but yet are not punishable, if they do not. The only difference, therefore, between the Free holders' Convention and the People's Convention is, that the former sat by request of the General As sembly, which was not a law ; and the latter sat without a request from the Assembly, but by a re quest from the People. This is all that can possibly e meant, when it is said by any one, that the Peo ple's Convention sat " Without law." In this respect, both Conventions were alike. Again, if there be so much efficacy in the call or re- 76 HISTORICAL TRACT. quest of the General Assembly, and no Convention of the Freeholders, or of the People, can be valid without it, then the General Assembly have a right to make a Constitution themselves ; because they have the right to do that themselves, which others cannot do without their permission or authority. If the Legislature can command others to do an act, it is clear that they have the power to do the same act themselves. And thus the Legislative servants of the people, are greater than the people themselves. This doctrine of a necessary permission, authority or request, from the General Assembly to the People, before they can rightfully proceed to form a Consti-' tution, is an English doctrine, borrowed from the Parliament of England, in which body the sovereignty is lodged by the theory of the English Constitution. It is a doctrine which has no application in this coun try, where the sovereignty resides in the people. The proceedings of the People, therefore, in calling their Convention, and in making and voting their Constitution, in our opinion have been rightful, and not against law, and are only without law in the sense before explained, viz : that they were without a re- THE NINE lawyers' OPINION. 77 quest of the General Assembly ; which request, if made, would have given no additional validity to said proceedings. The opponents of the People's Constitution, are in this difficulty. They say, that the People have no right of themselves to make a Constitution ; that the General Assembly have no right to make a Consti tution ; and that the Freeholders and Freemen have no right to make a Constitution, unless called and authorized thereto by the General Assembly, which has no power I So that there is really no power in this State to make a Constitution ! The People have rightfully determined, that the power is in them, and have exercised it. That the Government, when set up, under the People's Constitution, will be recognized as such by the General Government, we believe, is beyond doubt or question ; as that Government, in all its de partments, will look no farther than the fact, that the Government here is established. We can present only a portion of. the authorities by which the positions that we have taken are sup ported. We ask all our feUow-