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NOTE 50. The Re-Opening of the Narragansett Claims, 1679-1683

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Volume 1, Chapter 50, The Reopening of the Narragansett Claims, 1679 to 1683

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During his first four years in high office in New England, Edward Randolph exerted a most powerful influence on the Narragansett country.

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We have seen that the settlement by the Royal Commission in 1665 granted the Narragansett country as King's province to Rhode Island,

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Land, but continued the arbitrary Atherton Company land claims in force. Before 1676,

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the land dispute had been more or less academic, but the eradication of the Narragansett Indians

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in King Philip's War now opened the entire country to land settlement. Aware that the

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Narragansett lands were now a glowing prize, the Atherton Company claimed that Rhode Island

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had forfeited jurisdiction by failing to do its part in New England's extermination of

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the Narragansett Indians. In early 1679, the King wrote to the colonies, ordering the status

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quo to remain in the Narragansett lands, and suggesting that all interested parties submit

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their claims to England. In reply, the commissioners of the New England Confederation got together

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In the same year, the Atherton Company expanded its membership, with Richard Wharton soon

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becoming a leading partner. The Company petitioned Connecticut to assume jurisdiction, but to

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and no avail.

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Randolph now agreed to plead the Atherton Company's case and in 1680 backed up the

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new Atherton plan for an independent charter for King's Province.

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The company also managed to win the support of Governor Andros of New York for its claims.

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But its most important friend at court was Lord Culpepper, the royal governor of Virginia,

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This support was purchased by Wharton in exchange for a partnership in the Atherton Company.

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Lord Culpepper urged the Lords of Trade to appoint a new set of commissioners to decide

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the Narragansett Problem, for which he suggested a list of substantial, able and uninterested

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persons.

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The list included such an uninterested group as Fitz-John Winthrop, son of the late John

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Winthrop Jr., and a partner in the Atherton Company, Winthrop's brother-in-law, Edward

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Palms, Edward Randolph, and William Stoughton and Joseph Dudley of the pro-crown opportunist

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group of Massachusetts merchants.

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The Lords of Trade accepted Culpepper's suggestion. Their agreement being facilitated by Wharton's

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discreet offer sent via Randolph to the Secretary of the Lords, William Blathewaite, a payment

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for services rendered. In April 1683, the Lords appointed a new royal commission to investigate

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the Narragansett claims. They accepted Culpepper's eight-man list, adding to it only Governor

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The Commission, reeking with built-in bias, gathered at the house of one of the Atherton

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proprietors and surrounded itself with several of the other partners.

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The Rhode Island government vigorously protested these proceedings and ordered the Commission

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out of its jurisdiction.

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The Commission sent in its report in October 1683, Finding for Connecticut and the Atherton

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and Company, and invalidating the previous Royal Commission and the jurisdiction of Rhode

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Island.

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Typical of the Commission's almost egregious cynicism was Chairman Cranfield's message

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to Blathwaite, accompanied the report.

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The message informed the latter that the Atherton proprietors do all intend to complement you

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with a parcel of land within their claim.

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So it was that the Cranfield Commission paved the path for the land grab of the Narragansett

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country by the Atherton Company.