in very bad condition; the bayonets would not fit, and could not be made to fit. They were afterwards tried, and many of them could not be got off, and the charges had to be drawn. After the muskets were distributed, we proceeded to Pawtucket with the two cannon, and, when half the distance, halted and charged the cannon with canister and grape, and the small arms with ball; then proceeded to Pawtucket bridge, and drew up the cannon so as to command the bridge and the Massachusetts side. We saw no armed persons, nor any disturbance, nor indication of an invasion of Rhode Island from Massachusetts. There was excitement growing out of what had happened the night previous, but no direct interference with us. Colonel Hodges communicated to one of the officers of one of the companies which were at Pawtucket when we arrived, that his orders were to blow up the bridge, and he took the command of the forces. During some parts of the time we were stationed there, there were as many as four hundred troops, I should judge. It was understood that Captain Olney, who commanded one of the companies, (the carbineers,) was a New York man, and not a citizen of Rhode Island. The artillery company occupied this post till Thursday noon, when we took up our line of march for Providence. While we were in Pawtucket, I could not see the least occasion for the company being stationed there. HARVEY CHAFEE. s. } COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, Bristol, ss. Personally appeared the above-named Harvey Chafee, and, being duly cautioned and sworn, made and subscribed the foregoing, reduced to writing by me in his presence. B. F. HALLETT, Commissioner, and Justice of the Peace through the Commonwealth. Before me, We have seen that on the 27th of June, Mr. Dorr caused all the men who had taken up arms in support of the people's constitution to be dismissed, and the charter authorities declared, that by that act, the " war was ended;" but their own wicked outrages did not end here. The charter troops, anxious to gain new laurels, went forward with less fear, when they found that all opposition was withdrawn. Revenge was the watchword, and although their victims were often found among their own quiet neighbors, they still “cried havoc and let slip the dogs of war" upon them. On the night of the 30th of June, 1842, after every indication of opposition to the charter government had been put to silence, Colonel Blodget, who commanded a small detachment of "law and order" troops, marched his forces into the town of Bellingham, in the State of Massachusetts, and a little past midnight, forcibly broke open and entered a public house, and proceeded to search it, and when the keeper demanded of the commanding officer his authority, Colonel Blodget replied, By the authority of the bayonet! At this place the party succeeded in arresting several inoffensive men, whom they marched to Rhode Island to be imprisoned, because they had been known to be in favor of the people's constitution. At the same time similar operations were going on in different parts of the state, as the following deposition will show. Deposition of Stafford Healy. I, Stafford Healy, of Rehoboth, in the county of Bristol, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, yeoman, of lawful age, testify and say: That on the twenty-ninth day of June, in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-two, when at work for Martin Luther, in the town of Warren, in the State of Rhode Island, and being myself at that time a citizen of said Warren, I was forcibly taken by a number of armed men early in the morning, some time before sunrise, who broke into the house and took me therefrom, and carried me to a hotel, when, after making some inquiries of me, I was again removed to the jail of Bristol county, and there confined for the space of seven or eight days, when I was examined by Joseph M. Blake, and discharged in the course of three days-nothing being, as he said, found against me; and all by no authority, to my knowledge, except that of force. STAFFORD HEALY. Many of the principal leaders in these outrages were men, who, all their lives, had either sought or held office, and who were guided on all occasions by motives of self-aggrandizement, and though professedly friendly to the dear people, always sought to crush them, as the following deposition will show. Deposition of Albion N. Olney. I, Albion N. Olney, of Providence, in the State of Rhode Island, attorney at law, depose and say: That on Sunday, the 26th day of June, 1842, I was on the premises of Otis Holmes, in said Providence, but not in his house, when he was forcibly dragged from it by a number of armed men, who had broken into his house. I also saw him carried through the streets, with a person holding him on each side by the collar, and armed men in front and rear. He was marched to the office of Henry L. Bowen. There were from twenty to thirty armed men, and many who were not armed. I saw among the leaders Sylvester Hartshorn, the United States marshal for the district. He was not armed, having only a cane, but appeared to take an active part in the proceedings. I saw Mr. Holmes's brewery broken open, and also his store and counting room, and another store adjoining. Mr. Holmes, in the house and at the brewery, begged them not to break in, and he would furnish the keys; but no attention was paid to his request. While the soldiers were marching Mr. Holmes through Westminster Street, I heard Joseph F. Arnold, who was an inspector in the custom house, say to his son, (who, armed with a musket and fixed bayonet, marched directly in the rear of Mr. Holmes,) "Prick him, Frank; prick the d-d scoundrel." Mr. Arnold was standing in front of his house as the men passed, and said this in an audible voice. I heard and remember the words distinctly. On several days. after, I saw Sylvester Hartshorn, the United States marshal, equipped with a musket and accoutrements, drilling and doing duty with a volunteer company of citizens. On the 18th of May I saw Hon. John Pit-* man, judge of the United States District Court, in the ranks of the charter troops, armed with a musket. During the period of martial law, I saw Edward J. Mallett, the Providence postmaster, doing duty as guard in College Street. At the same time that I saw Judge Pitman in the ranks, I also saw Richard W. Greene, United States district attorney, marching as one of the soldiers to go on Federal Hill, and William R. Watson, collector. ALBION N. OLNEY. PAWTUCKET, May 9, 1844. COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, Bristol, ss. } Personally appeared the above-named Albion N. Olney, and made oath to and subscribed the foregoing, reduced to writing in his presence by me. Before me, B. F. HALLETT, Commissioner, and Justice of the Peace through the Commonwealth. CHAPTER XI. MARTIAL LAW. HITHERTO, in describing and commenting upon the outrages committed upon the persons and property of the people of Rhode Island under the pretext of martial law, we have viewed them as acts of flagrant injustice, unnecessary, and before unknown in this country, without instituting any inquiry into the validity of the act under which they were committed. But the justification set up by the authors and perpetrators of those acts deserves a further and more definite consideration. Every wrong doer in that ruthless tragedy pleads martial law in full justification of all his acts. It is believed that, in this country, martial law is but vaguely understood by the great mass of the people. We have only learned, from history, that this terrible engine was sometimes put in operation in the earlier history of some of the European nations; that it was seldom or never resorted to except in actual warfare, and then proclaimed by a military chieftain. But it is well ascertained that no civil government in the known world, except Rhode Island, has attempted to establish it over a whole empire or single state for the last two hundred years. Its consequences were found to be so abhorrent |