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In these days of commercial prosperity, Newport was not less preeminent for intelligence, taste, and learning, and was, as Dr. Waterhouse said in 1824, (Boston Intelligencer,) 'the chosen resort of the rich and philosophic from nearly all parts of the civilized world.' In this characteristic of the old town there was a foreshadowing of the special features of the new; for, with all its opulence and refinements, the social Newport of the nineteenth century by no means exceeds that of the eighteenth, in elegance and culture, or even approaches it in truc dignity and courtliness of manners, in princely liberality, or in hightoned morale. These were yet the stately days of the old aristocratic régime, when the unwashed democracy of modern times was all undreamed of.

Among the earliest of the distinguished names associated with the story of Newport is that of the venerable Bishop Berkeley, who made his appearance there in 1729, tarrying some two years. The memory of this amiable and learned philosopher is often and vividly recalled to the mind of the present people and visitors at Newport. On the edge of the town, within sound of the surf on the sea-shore, there yet stands the house which he built and occupied, under the name of Whitehall, beneath the humble roof of which he wrote some of his finest works, among them the famous ode in which occurs the oftquoted line, Westward the course of empire takes its way. In a recess of the rocky bluff near by, on the Sachuest or Second Beach,

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MALBONE PLACE. RESIDENCE OF MR. J. PRESCOTT HALL.

known to us as the Hanging Rocks, he is said to have penned the pages of his Minute Philosopher,' under the inspiration of the voiceful sea. The worthy Bishop's eloquence was occasionally heard from the pulpit of the venerable Trinity Church, and the organ in use there to this day, was the gift of his generous hand.

In the society which Berkeley met in Newport was found his clerical friend Honeyman, the rector of Trinity Church, and the god-father of the lofty observatory-crowned eminence on the north of the city. Then there was the Rev. John Callender, the author of the famous 'Historical Discourse; the wise divines Stiles and Hopkinson, and Abraham Redwood, the generous founder of the beautiful Redwood Library, so attractive to the stranger in the town at the present day; and besides these learned worthies, there were the hospitable Malbones, Godfrey and John, many merchant princes, and other large-hearted specimens of the fine old gentry of by-gone days. It would be pleasant to recall here the numerous anecdotes which have come down to us of the social life of Newport at this period, but we must hasten on to the eventful story of later days. Before we glance at this, the revolutionary epoch, no less in the fortunes and fate of Newport than in the political character of the country, let us hastily chronicle the names of yet a few others whose lives have shed lustre upon the place, as that of Gilbert Stuart, the illustrious painter, and of Edward Malbone, another estimable artist, and of yet a third, the venerable Charles B. King, yet living, as long may he continue to, among us. The eloquent voice of Channing was often heard on the old isle of Aquidneck, and his homestead is among the picturesque relics of the region. So, also, are the home and tomb of Oliver Hazard Perry, the illustrious Commodore of the Lake.

VIEW FROM SPOUTING ROCKS.

It was thus, under the most propitious breezes of fortune, material and moral, ruffled only in earlier years by the neighboring wars of King Philip, and the still carlier rumors of wars between the French and Indians in the north, that old Newport lived from her birth to the troublous days of the Revolution, which robbed her of her population and wealth, never to come back again by the old path of commercial enterprise and success.

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The only action which may properly be called a battle that happened in Rhode Island during the Revolution, was fought, with no decided success on either side, on Butts' or Quaker hill, in Portsmouth, the original settlement of the island. Yet the people were staunch adherents of the popular cause, and many opportunities came for the display of their gallantry and valor at home as well as abroad. Long before the actual commencement of hostilities, they performed the first overt act of resistance which was made in the Colonies to the royal authority, by the summary destruction of the armed sloop 'Liberty,' in return for her rude treatment of a vessel from an adjoining colony, and of themselves when they demanded atonement therefor. The incensed Newporters boarded the Liberty,' cut her cables, and let her drift out to Goat Island, where she was soon afterward burnt during a heavy thunder-storm. Subsequently to this act there occurred, further up the bay, the similar exploit of Gaspee Point, in which the obnoxious toll-gathering craft, the Gaspee,' was adroitly persuaded to run upon the unknown, hidden sands, and while thus helpless, was destroyed by a rebellious party from Providence. Not less daring was the attack of the 'Pigot' by the crew of the little sloop 'Hawk,' on the east side of the island. Nothing, either, could have been more neatly done than the bold seizure of the British commander Prescott, at his own head-quarters at Portsmouth, when Colonel Barton, of Providence, and a few trusty fellows dropped down the bay at night,

under the noses of the enemy's ships, and mastering the sentinels, coolly took the old tyrant from his bed and carried him, without superfluous toilette, again beneath the shadow of the British vessels, to the American camp. The General himself said at the moment to his gallant captor: Sir, you have made a bold push to-night!'

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The first threat of war against Rhode Island was made in the fall of 1775, when Admiral Wallace, who commanded an English fleet in the harbor at the time, seemed to be preparing to carry off the live stock at the southern end of the island for the supply of the royal troops in Boston. Foiled seasonably in his project, he swore vengeance against the town, frightening away half of its inhabitants, and sorely terrifying the rest, until a compromise was made by furnishing him certain stores and supplies. He then proceeded up the bay, leaving desolation wherever his demands were denied. In the following spring (1776) Wallace was by a spirited effort driven out of the harbor of Newport; but before Christmas of that same year there came a British fleet, under Sir Peter Parker, from which nine or ten thousand troops, English and Hessians, were landed at Middletown, five miles from Newport; and hereabouts the intruders stayed until the autumn of 1779, now in their camp, and now quartered upon the inhabitants of the towns, but, in camp or not, always aggressive and destructive; so that at their final departure they left only ruin and dismay where they had found prosperity and happy content. On abandoning the island, after their three-years' possession, they completed the destruction they had begun and continued by burning the barracks at Fort Adams and the light-house on Beavertail Point, and by bearing away the town records, which were subsequently regained, but in such condition as to be of little use.

THE PERRY MONUMENT.

The churches had been used and abused as barracks; the Redwood Library was robbed of its treasures; hundreds of buildings had been destroyed, and of all the beautiful trees which formerly adorned the island, scarcely one remained.

The investment of the island by the British, and the gradual wreck which resulted from wanton destruction and from the continual defence of their position, reduced the population from twelve to four thou sand, desolated the country, and ruined Newport, despite the brilliant flicker of life which followed, in the gay occupancy of the town by the French troops under Rochambeau and the Admiral de Ternay.

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A brave but futile attempt had been made the previous autumn, (August, 1778,) with the coöperation of a French fleet, under D'Estaing, to expel the enemy from Rhode Island. The people now confidently hoped for release from the yoke which had so long galled them, but with the exception of a little maneuvering, and sailing to and fro, and the sinking of some boats as obstructions to the navigation, nothing of great moment happened on the water, and nothing on the land but the action (during the retreat of the Americans) at Butts' hill, already alluded to as the only battle of the Revolution fought upon Rhode Island soil. In this attempt from ten to fifteen thousand of the patriot troops were engaged, under the command of Generals Greene and Sullivan. They crossed over from the main-land to the upper end of Aquidneck, at Tiverton. The

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failure of the expedition is attributed to the want of prompt and energetic aid on the part of the Count d'Estaing.

The coming of the second. French fleet, under De Ternay, though not required now to drive the enemy from their threshold, was no less warmly hailed than had been that of

WHITEHALL.

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