50. The Reopening of the Narragansett Claims, 1679-1683

During his first four years in high office in New England, Edward Randolph exerted a most powerful influence on the Narragansett Country. We have seen that the settlement by the royal commission in 1665 granted the Narragansett Country “as King’s Province” to Rhode Island, but continued the arbitrary Atherton Company land claims in force. Before 1676 the land dispute had been more or less academic, but the eradication of the Narragansett Indians in King Philip’s War now opened the entire country to land settlement. Aware that the Narragansett lands were now a glowing prize, the Atherton Company claimed that Rhode Island had forfeited jurisdiction by failing to do its part in New England’s extermination of the Narragansett Indians.

In early 1679 the king wrote to the colonies, ordering the status quo to remain in the Narragansett lands, and suggesting that all interested parties submit their claims to England. In reply the commissioners of the New England Confederation got together and strongly backed the claim of Connecticut to the territory. They asserted bitterly that the citizens of Rhode Island “were an ungoverned people, utterly incapable to advance His Majesty’s interest, or the peace and happiness of their neighbors.” In the same year, the Atherton Company expanded its membership, with Richard Wharton soon becoming a leading partner. The company petitioned Connecticut to assume jurisdiction, but to no avail. Randolph now agreed to plead the Atherton Company’s case and in 1680 backed up the New Atherton plan for an independent charter for King’s Province. The company also managed to win the support of Governor Andros of New York for its claims. But its most important friend at court was Lord Culpeper, the royal governor of Virginia, whose support was purchased by Wharton in exchange for a partnership in the Atherton Company.

Lord Culpeper urged the Lords of Trade to appoint a new set of commissioners to decide the Narragansett problem, for which he suggested a list of “substantial, able and... uninterested persons.” The list included such an “uninterested” group as Fitz-John Winthrop, son of the late John Winthrop, Jr., and a partner in the Atherton Company; Winthrop’s brother-in-law Edward Palmes; Edward Randolph; and William Stoughton and Joseph Dudley, of the pro-Crown opportunists group of Massachusetts merchants.

The Lords of Trade accepted Culpeper’s suggestion, their agreement being facilitated by Wharton’s discreet offer—sent via Randolph—to the secretary of the lords, William Blathwayt, of payment for services rendered. In April 1683 the lords appointed a new royal commission to investigate the Narragansett claims. They accepted Culpeper’s eight-man list, adding to it only Governor Cranfield of New Hampshire as chairman. The commission, reeking with built-in bias, gathered at the house of one of the Atherton proprietors, and surrounded itself with several of the other partners. The Rhode Island government vigorously protested these proceedings and ordered the commission out of its jurisdiction. The commission sent in its report, in October 1683, finding for Connecticut and the Atherton Company, and invalidating the previous royal commission and the jurisdiction of Rhode Island. Typical of the commission’s almost egregious cynicism was Chairman Cranfield’s message to Blathwayt, accompanying the report. The message informed the latter that the Atherton proprietors “do all intend to compliment you with a parcel of land within their claim.” So it was that the Cranfield commission paved the path for the land-grab of the Narragansett Country by the Atherton Company.