Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/908

Rh 884 P 11 P K height of 204 feet, and on the west, where there is much more of level surface, to 75 feet ; but both the sides and summits of the hills are occupied by dwelling-houses. To the south lies the Eoger Williams Park (102 acres), bequeathed to the city in 1871 by Betsy Williams, a descendant of the founder of Providence. The best known of all the public institutions is Brown University, whose spacious buildings (University Hall, Manning Hall, Hope College, Rhode Island Hall, Sayles Memorial Hall, Slater Hall, &amp;lt;fcc.) crown the heights on the east side of the river. Originally founded at Warren in 1764 as Rhode Island College, it was removed to Providence in 1770, but did not obtain its present name (bestowed in honour of Nicholas Brown, one of its principal benefactors) till 1804. By the terms of its charter 30 out of the 48 members of its board of fellows and board of trustees must be Baptists, but the management is unsectarian. In 1884 there were 20 professors and instructors, and 248 students. The library, kept in a fire-proof building, numbers 62,000 volumes. Besides the university, the city contains two high-schools, the Friends Yearly-Meeting Boarding-School (1819), the Roman Catholic Academy of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1873), the Athenreum (1836) with a library of over 43,000 volumes, the Providence Public Library with nearlv 32,000 volumes, the Rhode Island Historical Society (1822, present building 1844), the Franklin Society (1823) for the furtherance of the natural sciences and mechanic arts, and many other educational institutions. The Butler Hospital for the insane (1844-47), which takes its name from Cyrus Butler, the principal subscriber, occupies several handsome buildings on the west bank of Seekonk river, capable of accommodating about 200 patients and possessing 140 acres of ground. Dexter Asylum (1827) for the poor, with 39 acres, the bequest of Mr Ebenezer Knight Dexter, receives about 125 inmates; and the Rhode Island Hospital (1863-68), erected at a cost of $450,000, has about 80 patients. Other institutions of a benevolent character are a home for aged men, a home for aged women, a Roman Catholic orphan asylum (1860), and dispensaries. The State prison and county jail used to stand on the north side of the Cove; but the State prison, the workhouse, the house of correction, the almshouse, and the State hospital for the insane are now clustered together at the State farm in Cranston, about 3 miles from the city line. The State house, which dates from 1762, is a plain brick building; but the city-hall, erected about 1878-79, at a cost of more than $1,000,000, is one of the finest buildings of its kind in New England. In front of it is a soldiers and sailors monument designed by Randolph Rogers and erected (1871) by the State in memory of 1741 citizens who fell in the civil war. Worthy of note also are the county court-house (1877), the I rovidence opera-house (1871), the Butler Exchange (1872), the arcade (1828), which runs 225 feet between Westminster and Weybosset Street, with a width of 80 feet. Among the principal churches are a new cathedral (1878-85), St Stephen s Episcopal, the First Baptist, erected in 1775, and St Joseph s and St Mary s Roman Catholic. At one time Providence carried on a good trade with China and the East Indies ; but its shipping interests, though still con siderable, 1 are now mainly absorbed by the coasting-trade, and altogether it has become rather a manufacturing than a commercial centre. In the production of gold jewellery it is one of the leading cities in the United States, and the Gorham silver factory alone employs 560 workmen. Cotton, wool, and iron are all worked up on the most extensive scale into a vast variety of forms 1 The merchandise imported into the district of Providence was valued at 537,800 in 1884, and the imports at $25,296 ; 59 vessels ,10,864 tons) entered from foreign ports, and 41 (5012 tons) cleared. yarn, calico, braids, laces, broad-cloth, worsteds, steam- engines, rifles, sewing machines, boilers, screws, hinges, &c. Among the larger companies are the Providence Tool Company (1500 workmen), the Corliss steam-engine works, the Providence Steam-engine Company, the Allen Fire Department Supply Company, Perry Davis s pain-killer manufactory, tc. Altogether there are about one hundred cotton mills and sixty wool mills. In 1880 the value of the cotton products was $2,250,273, of the wool products and worsted goods $7,139,947, and of the iron castings, machinery, etc., $4,757,401. The growth of the city in population is shown by the following figures : 1708 1,446 1810 10,071 1850 41,513 1730 3,916 1820 11,745 1860 50,666 1774 4,321 1830 16,836 1870 68,904 1800 7,614 1840 23,172 1880 104,857 According to the registrar s returns the total for 1885 maybe estimated at 121,000. From 1855 to 1883 in clusive there has been an average of one birth in 36 -3 7 of the population, one person married in 44 21, and one death in 50 89. The value of real estate in 1883 was $91,642,100; that of personal estate $30,854,400. The municipal revenue was $3,417,593, the expenditure $3,196,382, and the debt $8,142,223. Providence was founded and named by Roger Williams the religious reformer, who, having been expelled from Massachusetts in 1636, landed first at What Cheer Rock near the mouth of Seekonk river and settled some time after at the head of Providence river, where he obtained a grant of ground from the Sachem Canonicus. The town united with others in applying for and re ceiving a charter from the Parliamentary Government in 1643-44. It was partially burned in King Philip s war in 1675. In 1788 De Warville describes it as decayed. A south-easterly storm in Sep tember 1815 raised the water in the harbour 12 feet above the usual spring-tide level and did great damage. The city charter dates from 1832. (W. E. F.) PROVINCE (provinda, etymology uncertain), in the Roman sense, may be defined as the department or sphere of duty assigned to one of the higher magistrates (the con suls and praetors). 2 But when, with the spread of the Roman arms, the government of conquered countries grew to be one of the most important duties of the higher magistrates, the term province, from designating the govern ment of a conquered country as one particular duty of a Roman magistrate, came to be used generally as a designa tion of the country itself. It is to province in the sense of a subject territory lying outside of Italy and governed by Roman magistrates that the following remarks will apply. As distinguished from Italy, the provinces paid tribute to Rome, for, at least from the time of the Gracchi, it was a recognized constitutional principle that the pro vinces were the estates of the Roman people and were to be managed for its benefit. Under the republic the con stitution of a province was drawn up by the victorious Roman general assisted by ten commissioners appointed by the senate from its own body, and the province was henceforth governed on the lines laid down in this con stitution or charter (lex provincise). For administrative purposes the province was divided into districts, each with its capital, the magistrates and council of which were responsible for the collection of the district taxes. For judicial purposes the province was divided into circuits (convening), and in the chief town of each circuit the governor of the province regularly held assizes. Cities taken by the sword were destroyed, and their lands were turned into Roman domains and were let out by the censors at Rome to private persons, who undertook to pay a certain proportion of the produce. Royal domains, such as those of Syracuse, Macedonia, Pergamum, 2 Only those magistrates who had imperium (military power) had a province. When the province of a quaestor is mentioned it refers to the province of the consul or praetor to whom the quajstor is subor dinate. In familiar language any business was called a province.