654 



RHODE ISLAND. 



ropean, were appointed to secure cooperation 

 and close union of the several churches in the 

 work of the mission-field. A committee on 

 " the Desiderata of Presbyterian History " re- 

 ported that the work of collecting the returns 

 was still incomplete, and was continued. Com- 

 mittees were appointed to reconsider the desir- 

 ableness of defining the consensus of the Re- 

 formed Churches as required by the constitu- 

 tion of the Alliance, and report at the next 

 meeting of the Council, and to define grounds 

 for and act upon applications for admission to 

 membership in the Alliance. A resolution was 

 adopted in favor of arbitration as a means of 

 preserving peace among nations. It WHS de- 

 cided that the next meeting of the Council 

 should be held in Belfast, Ireland, in 1884. 



RHODE ISLAND. The adjourned, or Jan- 

 uary, session of the General Assembly of Rhode 

 Island began on the 20th of January and con- 

 tinued until the 16th of April. There was 

 little of general interest or importance in its 

 proceedings. An effort to secure to women the 

 right to vote on matters pertaining to public 

 education was defeated, as was an attempt to 

 amend the insolvency hiws and to pass a new 

 act in relation to the sale of intoxicating liq- 

 uors. An act was passed abolishing the tribal 

 authority and tribal relations of the Narragan- 

 sett Indians, also one for the punishment of 

 tramps. The Legislature of 1879 assigned to a 

 joint special committee the duty of examining 

 and reporting " as to what course is most ad- 

 visable for the State to pursue in relation to the 

 future management of the Providence Reform 

 School," etc. The committee reported at the 

 January session in favor of the transfer of the 

 institution to the State, and an act was passed 

 in April to effect this purpose. The Board of 

 State Charities and Correction was requested 

 to make a report to the Legislature at the May 

 session on the general subject of Reform School 

 management. 



Before the adjournment of the General As- 

 sembly the State election had been held and a 

 new Legislature chosen. The first of the po- 

 litical conventions was that of the Prohibitory 

 party, which was held in the hall of the House 

 of Representatives at Providence, on the 19th 

 of February. A letter was received from Gov- 

 ernor Van Zandt expressing his gratitude for 

 the "constant support of the temperance men 

 of Rhode Island," and declining the use of his 

 name for a renoinination. Albert C. Howard, 

 of East Providence, was nominated for Gov- 

 ernor ; T. M. Seabury, for Lieutenant-Gov- 

 ernor; Joshua M. Addeman, for Secretary of 

 State ; Willard Sayles, for Attorney-General ; 

 and Samuel Clark for General Treasurer. Mr. 

 Seabury subsequently declined to be a candi- 

 date for Lieutenant-Governor, and the name of 

 Harrison H. Richardson was substituted by the 

 State Central Committee of the party. The 

 Convention adopted no platform. 



The Republican Conventionwasheld at Provi- 

 dence on the 18th of March. The candidates 



nominated for State officers were : Alfred H. 

 Littlefield, of Lincoln, for Governor ; Henry 

 H. Fay, of Newport, for Lieutenant-Governor; 

 Joshua M. Addeman, of Providence, for Secre- 

 tary of State ; Willard Sayles, of Providence, 

 for Attorney- General ; and Samuel Clark, of 

 Lincoln, for General Treasurer. Delegates to 

 the National Convention of the party were 

 also chosen, but no platform was adopted. 



The Democrats held their Convention at 

 Providence on the 22d of March. Horace A. 

 Kimball, of Burrillville, was nominated as a can- 

 didate for Governor; Stephen P. Slocum, of 

 Newport, for Lieutenant-Governor; W. B. \V. 

 Hallett, for Secretary of State; Hugh J. Car- 

 roll, for Attorney- General ; and Daniel B. Pond, 

 for General Treasurer. Delegates to the Na- 

 tional Convention at Cincinnati were chosen, 

 and the following declarations were adopted : 



The Democrats of Rhode Island, in convention as- 

 sembled, congratulate the country upon the multiply- 

 ing evidences that the Republican party is passing 

 into a condition of disintegration and decay. It has 

 outlived its usefulness ; the old leaders who brought 

 it into being Seward, Chase, Sumner, Lincoln, Mor- 

 ton, and a long list of great men have passed away, 

 and in their places we see the Conklings, the Blaines, 

 the Shermans, the Camerpns corrupt and scheming 

 men, the names of many of whom have become a stench 

 in the nostrils of the body politic. These men, already 

 gorged with plunder, are pushing to the front, eager 

 to slake their drunken thirst from the very vitals of 

 the nation's life. Another four years of Republican- 

 ism in power will furnish a spectacle of greed, reck- 

 lessness, and rascality never witnessed since the for- 

 mation of the republic. This country is at the crisis 

 of its fate. All good men see the necessity of a change 

 of administration and methods. The Democratic party 

 is the only power ready and able to face the impending 

 peril andVescue the Government from the grasp of the 

 usurper and destroyer. With returning prosperity 

 should be dealt the final blow to rapacity and dishon- 

 esty. Unless that blow is struck in this year of grace 



" trong Govern- 

 rasp perpetual 

 best lor Demo- 



crats to look the danger in the face. And that the 

 people of this enterprising State may understand the 

 objects and motives which actuate us, we herewith put 

 forward the following declaration of principles : 



Whereas, The Democracy of the State of Rhode Isl- 

 and, anxious to bear their part in the great work of 

 redeeming the nation from Republican misrule, find 

 themselves hampered and restricted by an unjust and 

 oppressive enactment in contravention of the Consti- 

 tution of the United States, and the great principles of 

 manhood suffrage which lies at the basis of all popular 

 liberty ; and 



Whereas, This enactment alone prevents Rhode 

 Island from becoming a Democratic State by a deci- 

 sive and permanent majority ; therefore, 



fiesolved, That we give notice to liberty -loving men 

 in all parts of these United States that fully one fourth 

 of the citizens of this Commonwealth are deprived of the 

 right of suffrage by the accident of birth, no citizen of 

 the United States of foreign nativity, no matter how 

 long his residence, how upright his character, or how 

 eminent his usefulnesSj being allowed access to the 

 polls unless endowed with a property qualification not 

 exacted of the meanest vagabond or vilest criminal of 

 native birth. 



Resolved, That, having borne this wrong meekly for 

 successive generations, we now resolve unitedly and 

 courageously to wage war upon it by all lawful means 

 until it is stricken from the Constitution ; and we ap- 

 peal to Democrats everywhere to make common cause 



1880, the party of centralization, a " strong Govern- 

 ment," and imperialism, will make its grasp perpetual 

 and too powerful to be shaken off. It is best lor Demo- 



