upon to chronicle the interesting part which they took in the political drama.

The first of this family who came to Rhode Island, was Thomas Ward, who came from Glo'ster, in England, to Newport, where he married and settled. His father, John Ward, afterwards came over, and died in 1693. Thomas Ward died the same year, aged 48 years.

Richard Ward, the son of Thomas, was born in April, 1689. He was elected, in 1714, General-Recorder, or Secretary of the Colony, and held the office till 1733. In 1740, he was elected Deputy Governor; and, on the death of Governor Wanton, was appointed by the General Assembly to the office of Governor for the remainder of the year. In 1741-2, he was re-elected by the people to the same office. He died at Newport, 21st August, 1763, leaving a numerous issue; among his sons were Samuel Ward, who was Governor of the Colony in 1762-65; Thomas Ward, who died in 1760, was fourteen years Secretary of the Colony, and Henry Ward, who was Secretary from 1750 until his death in the year 1797, a period of thirty-eight years.

Many of the descendants are now living in New-York, highly respectable ;-R. R. Ward, Esq., John Ward, and Samuel Ward.

The year 1758 is rendered memorable in the history of Rhode Island, as opening the great political drama of Messrs. Samuel Ward and Stephen Hopkins.

Mr. Hopkins at the time filled the chair of the chief magistrate, and Mr. Ward entered the field to contend with him for that honor. The office, at this period, was held in high estimation in Rhode Island. Mr. Ward was the favorite candidate of the South, and received the almost undivided support of the mercantile interest; while Mr. Hopkins was as warmly supported by the yeomanry of the North; and was again re-elected the three succeeding years.

In 1762, Mr. Ward was elected, but was defeated the following year, and Mr. Hopkins elected. The strife of political party raged with increasing violence, until such was the heartburning hostility of the belligerent parties, as very greatly to impair the enjoyment of domestic tranquillity, and interrupt the hospitalities of social life.

In 1763, the office of Deputy-Governor was vacated by the

STRUGGLE FOR OFFICE BETWEEN WARD AND HOPKINS. 145

death of the Hon. John Gardiner, who then filled that place. On the meeting of the General Assembly, Mr. Hopkins and friends proposed that Mr. Ward be invited to fill that office, and that he be elected by the Assembly, then in session. Accordingly, a committee waited on Mr. Ward with this propo sition, which was indignantly rejected, and a message returned, embracing the only conditions of peace, viz.: " that both rival candidates, at the ensuing election, relinquish their pretensions and retire from the field."

Another proposition was then submitted by the House of Assistants, to Mr. Ward, to induce him to accept that office; that five, or one-half of that body, would cheerfully resign their seats in favor of an equal number of his friends, and the division of the spoils of offices should be equally divided between the parties at the approaching election. This proposition was too humiliating for the Spartan spirit of Mr. Ward, consequently, it was as unpropitious as the former one; and he returned for answer, "that no peace could be expected, while Mr. Hopkins was in the chair;"--but repeated his willingness to relinquish his pretensions, on condition that Mr. Hopkins would do the same. Other overtures were made to Mr. Ward, but without success, and both parties prepared to enter the field, with fixed and settled resolution.

The friends of Mr. Hopkins triumphed, and he was again. elected; but the following spring he suffered a defeat, and Mr. Ward and friends were covered with laurels of political glory, which they were permitted to wear the two succeeding years.

At the opening of the spring campaign, in 1667, Mr. Hop. kins' party, having been recruited and drilled for the conflict, entered the field, with a firm determination to oust the incumbents; and achieved a victory, leaving Mr. Ward minus four hundred and fourteen. This was the last pitched battle between the belligerent parties.

At the October session of the General Assembly, overtures of peace were again made by Governor Hopkins to Mr. Ward, which were soon followed by a cessation of hostilities, and finally resulted in a reconciliation of the parties. This propo sition, highly honorable to Mr. Hopkins, was as follows, viz. : that Mr. Ward and friends, should nominate a Governor from those in the interest of Mr. Hopkins; and these should

nominate a Deputy-Governor from among the friends of Mr. Ward, and so forth, alternately, with the whole council; or if Mr. Ward and friends decline the nomination, his Honor, and those associated with him, will nominate a Governor from among the friends of Mr. Ward, and so on as before. Preliminaries were soon entered into by both parties at Providence, and a treaty of peace was finally concluded at Newport, March 29th, 1768.

Newport being the capital of the State, it is really gratifying to learn of the chivalry which she displayed in behalf of Mr. Ward, her favorite candidate. The venerable Moses Brown has said, "that the violent hostility between these rival candidates grew out of a private feud, which had long existed between William Wanton and R. Ward, and that to this cause alone was the political war waged for so long a period." At that day, however, a greater freedom of opinion was manifest; parties were not afraid to shew their colors; the chain had not then been forged to bind the human mind, and crush the intellectual power of man in the dust. There was a pride of character, then possessed by the inhabitants of Newport, which we would feign flatter ourselves may be revived.

These gentlemen were again soon called from the peaceful quiet of domestic retreat, to enter the field, as friends, to contend for the rights of the Colonies, against the encroachments of British power; and engaged in the cause of American freedom, when one soul animated each heart.

They were among the first who fearlessly stood forth in defence of the rights of their country. That they fully enjoyed the confidence of their fellow-citizens, both as patriòts and statesmen, is demonstrated in their choice to represent them in the first Continental Congress. Mr. Hopkins' name, with that of William Ellery, stands inscribed on the proudest monument of fame-The Declaration of American Independence ;-and, though Mr. Hopkins' hand trembled, owing to a paralytic stroke, his heart never.

The following inscription appears on his tombstone, which has a rich coat of arms emblazoned on its head:

THE HARARD FAMILY.

147

This Monument is erected to the Memory of

THE HONORABLE RICHARD WARD, Esq.,

LATE GOVERNOR OF THE COLONY.

He was early in life

Employed in the Public Service,

And for many years

Furnished some of the most Important Offices
For the Colony,

With great ability and reputation.

He was a Member of the Sabbatarian Church of the Town,
And adorned the doctrine of his Saviour,

By a sincere and steady practice

Of the various duties of life.

He died on the 21st day of August, 1763,
In the 75th year of his age.

THE HARARD FAMILY.

The Harards were descended from Thomas Harard, who emigrated from Wales, about the year 1639, to the Jerseys, and from thence to Rhode Island, and settled in Portsmouth in 1640. His son, Robert, at that time about four years old, came with him, and was the only son that did so, as far as can be ascertained. The eldest son of Robert was Thomas, who died in 1745, aged 92. His children were Robert, George, Jeremiah, Benjamin, Stephen, Jonathan, and Thomas. From these sons a numerous issue have descended, and many of them distinguished men.

George Harard, mentioned above in the record, was the son of Thomas, who was Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony in the years 1734, 5, 6, 7, and 8, and great-grandson of the first settlers, who died in South Kingston. George, the youngest, early settled in Newport, as a merchant, and was elected a representative to the General Assembly from that town, for many years. He was the only Mayor of Newport under the city charter, in 1784, and held other honorable and responsible offices in the State. He died at Newport, August 11th, 1797. Nathaniel Harard, third son of Mayor George, was a representative in the General Assembly for several years, and was

Speaker of the House. In 1818, he was elected a representative to Congress. He died in Washington, and was interred in the Congressional burying-ground.

"The late Hon. Benjamin Harard was a profound lawyer, and represented his native town, Newport, in the General Assembly for thirty-one years, and, of course, was subjected to the ordeal of sixty-two popular elections, a singular proof of the enlightened stability of his constituents, of his general high desert, and his peculiar fitness for this important office. This fact, independent of all others, entitles him to claim rank as a distinguished man, and, as it were, demonstrates the possession of those impressive and useful qualities, whose combination render character at once eminent and enduring.

"His knowledge of the affairs of the State was far more extensive than that of any other man, and his attachment to her interest and prosperity was unbounded. Governor James Fenner once said, 'Mr. Harard, you are in every respect a Rhode Island man; this was a high encomium, and well merited. Mr. Harard's course of reading and of study, operating upon a mind of genuine native strength, and confirming and justifying a native steadiness of will, (the germ and guarantee of greatness,) gave to all his literary efforts and political proceedings, an air and cast of originality. In the middle and latter periods of his professional career, he was employed in most of the important lawsuits of the day, both in the Courts of the State, and the United States."-Updike's History of the Narragansett Church.

A block of wood, from the house built by Governor William Coddington, was procured by W. A. Clarke, Esq., cashier of the bank of Rhode Island, and is now used to cancel notes.

In 1772, King, now Franklin, and Pelham-streets, were paved, from the proceeds of lotteries granted for that purpose. On the 16th of July, a packet, from Newport to Providence, with a number of passengers, was captured near the north end of Prudence, by a refugee boat, with eight men. On its being known at Newport, a packet was manned by volunteers, under Capt. Webster, who succeeded in recapturing the vessel, before she could be got to sea, and brought her in, together with five of the men belonging to the boat.

We presume that this was Capt. Nicholas Webster, who was