RHODE ISLAND. 



789 



Infantry, U. S. A., as brevet second-lieutenant, 

 and shortly afterward he was promoted to the 

 Seventh Infantry and sent on frontier duty. 

 General Kains was engaged in the Seminole In- 

 dian "War, and was severely wounded in the 

 right lung. He distinguished himself in the 

 Mexican War, soon after which he was pro- 

 moted to full major in the Fourth United States 

 Infantry, having been made brevet major for 

 gallantry in action during the Florida War. 

 In the year 1854 his regiment was ordered to 

 Oregon River on the Pacific coast. He distin- 

 guished himself in the various Indian wars in 

 that section, and was considered one of the 

 most successful Indian fighters on that coast. 

 In 1860 he was promoted to lieutenant-colo- 

 nel and ordered to New Mexico ; but the civil 

 war determined him to cast his fortunes with 

 his native section, and, resigning his commis- 

 sion in the Federal army, he went South and 

 was appointed brigadier-general in- the Con- 

 federate army. Just after the battle of Seven 

 Pines, in which he was wounded, he was highly 

 complimented by General D. H. Hill for a rapid 

 and successful flank movement upon the ene- 

 my's right, in which his brigade relieved Gen- 

 eral Rhodes, who was hard pressed, thus turn- 

 ing the tide of battle in favor of the Confeder- 

 ate army. After this battle he was placed on 

 duty in charge of the conscript and torpedo 

 bureaus at Richmond. Rich in the inventive 

 faculties, General Rains organized and matured 

 the torpedo service, and caused the harbors of 

 Charleston, Savannah, Wilmington, Mobile, and 

 Richmond to be effectually protected from out- 

 side attack. He also invented a sub- terra shell 

 which was highly esteemed by the Confederate 

 War Department for defensive purposes, and 

 was used on several occasions to protect the 

 lines around Richmond, the glacis of Battery 

 Wagner, and other places. The death of Gen- 

 eral Rains was occasioned by the breaking out 

 of his war wounds. 



RHODE ISLAND. Of the acts passed by 

 the Rhode Island Legislature at the January 

 session of 1881, there was one which amended 

 the statute relating to "the constitution and 

 organization of the General Assembly." It 

 provides that hereafter " the House of Repre- 

 sentatives shall consist of seventy-two mem- 

 bers." These are distributed among the sev- 

 eral towns in proportion to their respective 

 populations. The ratio of representation is 

 fixed at " one Representative for every three 

 thousand four hundred and fifty inhabitants of 

 each town, and one additional Representative 

 for every fraction of the inhabitants exceeding 

 one half of the ratio aforesaid ; but each town 

 shall be entitled to at least one Representative, 

 and no town shall be entitled to more than 

 twelve Representatives." The highest num- 

 ber is assigned to the city of Providence. 



The election for State officers is held in the 

 first week in April ip each year. The Demo- 

 crats convened at Providence on March 24th, 

 aud nominated for Governor, Horace A. Kim- 



ball; for Lieutenant-Governor, Thomas W. 

 Segur ; for Secretary of State, John G. Perry ; 

 for Attorney-General, Francis L. O'Reilly ; for 

 General Treasurer, Arnold L. Burdict. The 

 party platform was adopted. 



The Republican Convention was held in 

 Providence on March 24th, when the incum- 

 bents of the various State offices Alfred H. 

 Littlefield, Governor ; Henry H. Fay, Lieuten- 

 ant-Governor; Joshua M. Addeman, Secretary 

 of State; Willard Sayles, Attorney-General; 

 and Samuel L. Clark, General Treasurer were 

 severally and unanimously nominated to con- 

 tinue in their respective offices during next 

 year. No platform was adopted. 



The Liquor Prohibitionists assembled at Prov- 

 idence on March 31st, the attendance of dele- 

 gates being much lighter than was anticipated. 

 As to making nominations there was great dis- 

 agreement, and a number of speeches were 

 made, severally advocating the nomination of a 

 ticket in full, in part, and of no ticket at all. 

 In the midst of these conflicting opinions, the 

 chairman of the State Central Committee, who 

 had called the meeting to order, and on its first 

 organization had been elected temporary presi- 

 dent, forcibly dissuaded the nomination of a 

 ticket as hurtful to the interests of the party. 

 Among other reasons, he reminded his hearers 

 of the fact that in the call previously issued for 

 the holding of this meeting " the State Cen- 

 tral Committee had not called the convention 

 to nominate candidates, but to consider the 

 question of making such nominations"; he 

 pointed at the small number of delegates, and 

 concluded with expressing his conviction that 

 " this convention ought not to make a nomina- 

 tion now." The same view was entertained and 

 urged on the assembly by its permanent presi- 

 dent, who, besides other things, said : " Only 

 seventeen towns are represented in the con- 

 vention, and, of the sixty-nine delegates, twen- 

 ty-six are from Providence. . . . The largest 

 and strongest temperance towns are unrepre- 

 sented." The sentiment of nominating a ticket 

 prevailed, however, as, on the question being 

 put, the convention voted " to proceed to make 

 nominations," and they were made as follows : 

 for Governor, Albert C. Howard ; for Lieuten- 

 ant-Governor, A. B. Chadsey; for Secretary 

 of State, for Attorney-General, and for General 

 Treasurer, the convention renominated the in- 

 cumbents of those offices. The renomination of 

 Mr. Sayles for Attorney-General was objected 

 to by some among the delegates, who repre- 

 sented that officer as bent on defeating rather 

 than promoting the Prohibition cause, and re- 

 ferred to certain cases of violation of the pro- 

 hibition law pending before the court and then 

 discontinued, the discontinuance being charged 

 to Mr. Sayles. The objection was removed by 

 the chairman's remark that Mr. Sayles could 

 not be made responsible for the discontinuance 

 of those cases, by reason that at the time when 

 it occurred he was absent from the State. His 

 renomination was then accepted by the con- 



