A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents: Tyler by Compiled by James D. Richardson

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I shall be always most happy to hear from you, and your letters will
never be used to your prejudice.

Accept assurances of my high respect.

JOHN TYLER.

PROVIDENCE, _May 16, 1842_.

The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

SIR: At the request of Governor King, I inclose to you an extra of the
Providence Daily Express of this morning, containing the proclamation
of Thomas W. Dorr to the people of this State.

It states definitely the position assumed by him and his faction against
the government of this State and of the United States.

His excellency tenders to you the highest respect and consideration.

Respectfully, yours,

THOS. A. JENCKES,
_Private Secretary_.

STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.

A PROCLAMATION.

BY THOMAS W. DORR, GOVERNOR AND COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE SAME.

FELLOW-CITIZENS: Shortly after the adjournment of the general assembly
and the completion of indispensable executive business I was induced by
the request of the most active friends of our cause to undertake the
duty (which had been previously suggested) of representing in person the
interests of the people of Rhode Island in other States and at the seat
of the General Government. By virtue of a resolution of the general
assembly, I appointed Messrs. Pearce and Anthony commissioners for the
same purpose.

Of the proposed action of the Executive in the affairs of our State you
have been already apprised. In case of the failure of the civil posse
(which expression was intended by the President, as I have been
informed, to embrace the military power) to execute any of the laws of
the charter assembly, including their law of pains and penalties and of
treason, as it has been for the first time defined, the President
intimates an intention of resorting to the forces of the United States
to check the movements of the people of this State in support of their
republican constitution recently adopted.

From a decision which conflicts with the right of sovereignty inherent
in the people of this State and with the principles which lie at the
foundation of a democratic republic an appeal has been taken to the
people of our country. They understand our cause; they sympathize in the
injuries which have been inflicted upon us; they disapprove the course
which the National Executive has adopted toward this State, and they
assure us of their disposition and intention to interpose a barrier
between the supporters of the people's constitution and the hired
soldiery of the United States. The democracy of the country are slow to
move in any matter which involves an issue so momentous as that which is
presented by the controversy in Rhode Island, but when they have once
put themselves in motion they are not to be easily diverted from their
purposes. They believe that the people of Rhode Island are in the right;
that they are contending for equal justice in their political system;
that they have properly adopted a constitution of government for
themselves, as they were entitled to do, and they can not and will
not remain indifferent to any act, from whatever motive it may
proceed, which they deem to be an invasion of the sacred right of
self-government, of which the people of the respective States can not
be divested.

As your representative I have been everywhere received with the utmost
kindness and cordiality. To the people of the city of New York, who have
extended to us the hand of a generous fraternity, it is impossible to
overrate our obligation at this most important crisis.

It has become my duty to say that so soon as a soldier of the United
States shall be set in motion, by whatever direction, to act against the
people of this State in aid of the charter government I shall call for
that aid to oppose all such force, which, I am fully authorized to say,
will be immediately and most cheerfully tendered to the service of the
people of Rhode Island from the city of New York and from other places.
The contest will then become national, and our State the battle ground
of American freedom.

As a Rhode Island man I regret that the constitutional question in this
State can not be adjusted among our own citizens, but as the minority
have asked that the sword of the National Executive may be thrown into
the scale against the people, it is imperative upon them to make the
same appeal to their brethren of the States--an appeal which they are
well assured will not be made in vain. They who have been the first to
ask assistance from abroad can have no reason to complain of any
consequences which may ensue.

No further arrests under the law of pains and penalties, which was
repealed by the general assembly of the people at their May session,
will be permitted. I hereby direct the military, under their respective
officers, promptly to prevent the same and to release all who may be
arrested under said law.

As requested by the general assembly, I enjoin upon the militia
forthwith to elect their company officers; and I call upon volunteers to
organize themselves without delay. The military are directed to hold
themselves in readiness for immediate service.

Given under my hand and the seal of the State, at the city of
Providence, this 6th day of May, A.D. 1842.

[L.S.]

THOMAS W. DORR,

_Governor and Commander in Chief of the State of Rhode Island and
Providence Plantations_

By the governor's command:
WILLIAM H. SMITH,
_Secretary of State_.

PROVIDENCE, R.I., _May 25, 1842_.

The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

SIR: Since my last communication the surface of things in this city and
State has been more quiet. The complete dispersing of the insurgents and
flight of their leader on Wednesday last, 18th instant, seem to have
broken their strength and prevented them from making head openly in any
quarter.

But another crisis now appears to be approaching. By the private
advices received by myself and the council from our messengers in the
neighboring States we learn that Dorr and his agents are enlisting men
and collecting arms for the purpose of again attempting to subvert, by
open war, the government of this State. Those who have assisted him
at home in his extreme measures are again holding secret councils and
making preparations to rally on his return. Companies of men pledged to
support him have met and drilled in the north part of this State during
the present week.

From the forces which he can collect among our own citizens we have
nothing to fear. Our own military strength has once scattered them, and
could as easily do so a second time. But if the bands which are now
organizing in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York should make the
incursion which they threaten, with Dorr at their head, we have reason
to apprehend a civil war of the most destructive and vindictive
character. Our own forces might be sufficient to repel them, but having
little discipline and no officer of military experience to lead them,
they could not do it without the loss of many valuable lives.

For the evidence that such forces are organizing in other States, I
refer Your Excellency to a letter from Governor Seward, of New York, and
to a statement made by one of our messengers to the council, which will
be handed you. Other messengers confirm to the fullest extent the same
intelligence.

In this posture of affairs I deem it my duty to call upon Your
Excellency for the support guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of
the United States to this government. I would submit to Your Excellency
whether a movement of a sufficient body of troops to this quarter, to be
stationed at Fort Adams, and to be subject to the requisitions of the
executive of this State whenever in his opinion the exigency should
arise to require their assistance, would not be the best measure to
insure peace and respect for the laws and to deter invasions.

You will see by the statement[120] of the secret agent of the government
that the time set for this incursion is very near. The mustering of the
insurgents and their movement upon the city will probably be with the
greatest expedition when once commenced--in a time too short for a
messenger to reach Washington and return with aid. I therefore make this
application before any movement of magnitude on their part, in order
that we may be prepared at the briefest notice to quell domestic
insurrection and repel invasion.

SAM. W. KING
_Governor of Rhode Island_.

[Footnote 120: Omitted.]

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,

_Albany, May 22, 1842_.

His Excellency SAMUEL WARD KING,

_Governor of Rhode Island_.

SIR: In compliance with your excellency's requisition, I have this day
issued a warrant for the arrest of Thomas Wilson Dorr, esq., charged in
Rhode Island with the crime of treason. The warrant will be delivered to
a police officer of this city, who will attend Colonel Pitman and be
advised by him in regard to the arrest of the fugitive should he be
found in this State.

May I be allowed to suggest to your excellency that a detention of the
accused in this State would be liable to misapprehension, and if it
should be in a particular region of this State might, perhaps, result in
an effort to rescue him. Therefore it seems to be quite important that
your excellency should without delay designate, by a communication to
me, an agent to receive the fugitive and convey him to Rhode Island.

I have the honor to be, with very high respect and consideration, your
excellency's obedient servant,

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

WASHINGTON CITY, _May 28, 1842_.

His Excellency Governor KING.

SIR: I have received your excellency's communication of the 25th
instant, informing me of efforts making by Mr. Dorr and others to embody
a force in the contiguous States for the invasion of the State of Rhode
Island, and calling upon the Executive of the United States for military
aid.

In answer I have to inform your excellency that means have been taken
to ascertain the extent of the dangers of any armed invasion by the
citizens of other States of the State of Rhode Island, either to put
down her government or to disturb her peace. The apparent improbability
of a violation so flagrant and unprecedented of all our laws and
institutions makes me, I confess, slow to believe that any serious
attempts will be made to execute the designs which some evil-minded
persons may have formed.

But should the necessity of the case require the interposition of the
authority of the United States it will be rendered in the manner
prescribed by the laws.

In the meantime I indulge a confident expectation, founded upon the
recent manifestations of public opinion in your State in favor of law
and order, that your own resources and means will be abundantly adequate
to preserve the public peace, and that the difficulties which have
arisen will be soon amicably and permanently adjusted by the exercise
of a spirit of liberality and forbearance.

JOHN TYLER.

The Secretary of War will issue a private order to Colonel Bankhead,
commanding at Newport, to employ, if necessary, a private and
confidential person or persons to go into all such places and among
all such persons as he may have reason to believe to be likely to give
any information touching Rhode Island affairs, and to report with the
greatest dispatch, if necessary, to the President. He will also address
a letter to General Wool conveying to him the fears entertained of a
hostile invasion contemplated to place Dorr in the chair of state of
Rhode Island by persons in the States of Connecticut and New York,
and also to General Eustis, at Boston, of a similar character, with
instructions to adopt such inquiries (to be secretly made) as they may
deem necessary, and to report with the greatest dispatch all information
which from time to time they may acquire.

(Indorsed: "President's instructions, May 28, 1842.")

WAR DEPARTMENT, _May 28, 1842_.

Colonel BANKHEAD,

_Newport, R.I._

SIR: The governor of Rhode Island has represented to the President that
preparations are making by Mr. Dorr and some of his adherents to recruit
men in the neighboring States for the purpose of supporting his
usurpation of the powers of government, and that he has provided arms
and camp equipage for a large number of men. It is very important that
we should have accurate information on this subject, and particularly in
relation to the movements made in other States. I have therefore to
desire you to employ proper persons to go to the places where it may be
supposed such preparations are making to possess themselves fully of all
that is doing and in contemplation, and report frequently to you. It is
said that Mr. Dorr's principal headquarters are at the town of Thompson,
in the State of Connecticut. It may be well for you to communicate
personally with Governor King and ascertain from him the points and
places at which any preparations for embodying men are supposed to be
making, and to direct your inquiries accordingly.

It is important that you should select persons on whose integrity and
accuracy the fullest reliance can be placed. They should not be
partisans on either side, although to effect the object it will of
course be necessary that some of them should obtain (if they do not
already possess) the confidence of the friends of Mr. Dorr. You will
please communicate directly to me all the information you obtain, and
your own views of it.

It is scarcely necessary to say that this communication is of the most
private and confidential character, and is not to be made known to
anyone.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

J.C. SPENCER.

WAR DEPARTMENT, _May 29, 1842_.

Brigadier-General EUSTIS,

_Boston_.

SIR: The governor of Rhode Island has represented to the President that
preparations are making in other States (particularly in Massachusetts)
for an armed invasion of that State to support the usurpations of Mr.
Dorr and his friends and foment domestic insurrection. It is very
important that we should have accurate information on this subject, and
I have to desire you to take all necessary means to acquire it, and
communicate directly to me as speedily and frequently as possible. It is
said that 1,000 stand of arms have been procured in Boston, some pieces
of artillery, and a large quantity of camp equipage for the use of the
insurgents. Your attention to this is particularly desired to ascertain
its truth or falsehood. It is also said that there are 200 men enrolled
and embodied in a town upon the borders of Rhode Island, the name of
which has escaped me. Please inquire into this. If it becomes necessary
to employ confidential persons to discover what is doing, you will do
so, being careful to select those only that are entirely trustworthy;
and it will be desirable to avoid heated partisans on either side. Their
inquiries should be conducted quietly and privately.

I desire you to communicate fully and freely what you may learn and your
views concerning it for the information of the President and the
Department.

It is scarcely necessary to say that this communication is strictly
private and confidential.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

[J.C. SPENCER.]

NEW YORK, _June 3, 1842_.

The PRESIDENT.

MY DEAR SIR: I came to this city yesterday, having taken a severe cold
on the Sound, and am now just out of my bed. I transmit herewith a
letter from ----, a friend appointed by me, as you requested, to look
into the Rhode Island business. Mr. ---- has had access to authentic
sources in Governor Dorr's party, and I have no doubt his account of the
whole matter is perfectly just. I supposed I should receive the foreign
mail here, but I shall not wait for it if I should feel well enough to
travel to-morrow.

Yours, truly,

DANL. WEBSTER.

NEW YORK, _June 3, 1842_.

Hon. DANIEL WEBSTER,

_Secretary of State_.

DEAR SIR: In pursuance of the arrangement made when you were in Boston,
I have visited the State of Rhode Island, and, so far as could be done,
possessed myself of a knowledge of the existing state of things there.
I had a full and free interview with Governor King and his council, as
well as with several other gentlemen upon each side of the matter in
controversy. All agree that, so far as the people of Rhode Island are
concerned, there is no danger of any further armed resistance to the
legitimate authorities of the State. It was never intended, probably, by
the majority of those called the suffrage party to proceed in any event
to violence, and when they found themselves pushed to such an extremity
by their leaders they deserted their leaders and are now every day
enrolling themselves in the volunteer companies which are being
organized in every part of the State for the suppression of any further
insurrectionary movements that may be made. A large majority of those
elected or appointed to office under the people's constitution (so
called) have resigned their places and renounced all allegiance to that
constitution and the party which supports it, so that the insurgents are
now without any such organization as would enable them to carry out
their original purposes if they otherwise had the power.

Governor King and his council alone, of all the intelligent persons with
whom I consulted, fear an irruption upon them of an armed force to be
collected in other States, and this is the only difficulty of which they
now have any apprehension. This fear is excited by the boasts frequently
made by the few who still avow their determination to adhere to the
constitution that they have at their control large bodies of armed men,
as well as camp equipage, provisions, money, and munitions of war, which
have been provided for them in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York.
The supposition that Rhode Island is to be invaded by a foreign force,
when that force would neither be led nor followed by any considerable
number of the people of the State, does not seem, to say the least,
to be a very reasonable one. If those who think they are suffering
injustice are not disposed to make an effort to redress their supposed
wrongs, they would hardly expect the work to be done by others.

The ostensible object of the insurgents now is not the real one. They
meditate no further forcible proceedings. They bluster and threaten for
several reasons:

First. Because they suppose they shall thus break their fall a little
and render their retreat a little less inglorious than it would be if
they should beat it at once.

Second. They believe that if they keep up a shew of opposition to the
existing government they shall be more likely to revolutionize it by
peaceable measures; and

Third. They think they can make their influence so far felt as to
operate favorably upon those who are now under arrest for treason or who
may be hereafter arrested for the same offense.

That these are the views and purposes of the insurgents I am
confidentially assured by the notorious individual from whom I told you
I could learn their plans and designs; and no one has better means of
knowing than he, having been himself one of Mr. Dorr's confidential
advisers from the beginning.

The meeting at Woonsocket on the 1st did not amount to much, being but
thinly attended. The projected fortifications at that place have been
abandoned. It is said they will be thrown up in some other spot to be
designated hereafter, but this is not believed.

Mr. Dorr is now understood to be lurking in this city. Warrants have
been issued for his arrest both by the governor of this State and the
governor of Massachusetts, but he moves so privately and shifts his
whereabouts so often that he eludes his pursuers.

Under all the circumstances I think you will come to the opinion
entertained by seven-eighths of all the people of Providence (the scene
of his operations thus far) that, deserted by his followers at home and
disgraced in the estimation of those who sympathized with him abroad;
Mr. Dorr has it not in his power to do any further serious mischief.

Yours, very truly,

---- ----.

PROVIDENCE, R.I., _June 22, 1842_.

Hon. J.C. SPENCER,

_Secretary of War_.

SIR: When I last had the honor to write to you I felt confident that
there would be no further disturbance of the peace in this State.
Governor King was of the same opinion. But I now fear, from strong
indications, that Mr. Dorr and his party are determined to enter the
State in force, and that in a few days serious difficulties will arise.

On my arrival here this morning from Newport, on my way to New York,
I learnt from undoubted authority that several large boxes of muskets,
supposed to contain about eighty, were received the evening before last
at Woonsocket from New York; that several mounted cannon had been also
received there and forwarded on to Chepachet; that a number of men, not
citizens of the State, with arms, were in and about Woonsocket and
Chepachet; that forty-eight kegs of powder were stolen on Sunday night
last from a powder house in this neighborhood, and that Dorr, with about
twenty men, landed last evening at Norwich.

An unsuccessful attempt was made two nights ago to steal the guns of the
artillery company at Warren, and at several other places where guns had
been deposited by the State, by some of Dorr's men, one of whom has been
identified and arrested.

It has been observed for several days past that many of the suffrage
party and residents of this city have been sending off their families
and effects. The inhabitants of the city are seriously alarmed and in a
state of much excitement. An express to convey the above intelligence to
Governor King at Newport will be immediately sent down by the mayor of
the city.

I shall be in New York early to-morrow morning ready to receive any
instructions you may think proper to honor me with.

I have been compelled to write this in haste.

I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant,

JAS. BANKHEAD,
_Colonel Second Regiment Artillery_.

CITY OF PROVIDENCE, MAYOR'S OFFICE,

_June 23,1842_.

SIR:[121] Governor King, having gone to Newport this afternoon, has
requested me to forward his letter to Your Excellency, with such
depositions as I could procure concerning the state of affairs in
the north part of the State. These documents will be taken on by the
Hon. William Sprague, our Senator, who intends leaving to-night for
Washington. Should any accident prevent Mr. Sprague from going, I shall
forward them to be put in the mail. I inclose the depositions[122] of
Messrs. Samuel W. Peckham and Charles I. Harris. Messrs. Keep and
Shelley, whom I sent out, have just returned. If I can get their
depositions in time, I shall also forward them.

[Footnote 121: Addressed to the President of the United States.]

[Footnote 122: Omitted.]

About 11 a.m. this day a body marched from Woonsocket to Chepachet
amounting to 90 men, and other small bodies are marching in that
direction, so that I suppose that about 400 will be concentrated at
Chepachet this evening.

In this city there is much excitement, but no symptoms as yet of men
gathering with arms. There are many who I fear will be ready to join
in any mischief should Dorr's forces approach us. Up to 8 o'clock this
morning Mr. Dorr was in Connecticut, but a gentleman from Chepachet
informs me his friends expect him this day.

I remain, with great respect, your obedient servant,

THOS. M. BURGESS,
_Mayor_.

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,

_Providence, June 23, 1842_.

His Excellency JOHN TYLER,

_President of the United States_.

SIR: After my last communication the excitement and military operations
of the insurgents against the government of this State appeared to
subside, and I indulged hopes that no open violence would be attempted,
but that they were disposed to await the action of the general assembly,
now in session at Newport. I regret that I am obliged to inform Your
Excellency that within a few days past appearances have become more
alarming. Several iron cannon have been stolen from citizens of
Providence, and during the night of the 19th a powder house, owned by a
merchant of Providence, was broken open and about 1,200 pounds of powder
stolen therefrom. Yesterday the military operations of the insurgents
became more decided in their character. At Woonsocket and Chepachet
there were gatherings of men in military array, pretending to act under
the authority of Thomas W. Dorr. They established a kind of martial law
in those villages, stopped peaceable citizens in the highways, and at
Chepachet four citizens of Providence were seized by an armed force,
pinioned, and compelled to march about 10 miles under a guard of about
forty men to Woonsocket, where they were cruelly treated under pretense
of being spies. The insurgents are provided with cannon, tents,
ammunition, and stores.

It is ascertained that Thomas W. Dorr has returned from the city of New
York to the State of Connecticut, and I have reason to believe he will
be at Chepachet this day, where he will concentrate what forces he has
already under arms with such others as he can collect. Those already
assembled are composed of citizens of other States as well as of our
own, and are variously estimated at 500 to 1,000 men.