and friend of
Roger Williams, and the "first Baptist Elder in Rhode Island." Now that
the buildings of the city have crept up the hill, and, gathering round
the college grounds, have stretched out far beyond them, thus shutting
out the nearer prospect, the eye can still take in from the top of the
building the same varied and beautiful landscape, which once constituted
one of the chief attractions of the site.

On Saturday, December 7, 1776, Sir Peter Parker, the British commander,
with seventy sail of men-of-war, anchored in Newport harbor, landed a
body of troops, and took possession of the place. Providence was at once
thrown into confusion and alarm. Forces, hastily collected, were massed
throughout the town, martial law was proclaimed, college studies were
interrupted, and the students were dismissed to their respective homes.
The seat of the Muses now became the habitation of Mars. From December
7, 1776, until May 27, 1782, the college edifice was occupied for
barracks, and afterwards for a hospital, by the American and French
forces.

In the spring of 1786, President Manning, whose graceful deportment,
thorough scholarship, and wise Christian character had commended him to
all his fellow-citizens, was unanimously appointed by the General
Assembly of Rhode Island to represent the state in the Congress of the
Confederation. This was during a crisis of depression and alarm, when
the whole political fabric was threatened with destruction. He, however,
returned to his college duties at the close of the year, being unwilling
to remain longer away from the scenes of his chosen labors. With the
momentous questions of the day he was thoroughly familiar, and he
afterwards, by his voice and by his pen, contributed very materially to
the adoption of the Federal Constitution by the State, in 1790. He died
very suddenly in the summer of 1791, in the fifty-fourth year of his
age. His death was regarded as a public calamity, and his funeral was
largely attended, not only by the friends of the college, of which he
may be regarded in one sense as the founder, but by a vast concourse of
people from all parts of the town and the State in which he lived.

Dr. Manning was succeeded in the presidency by the Rev. Dr. Jonathan
Maxcy, who during the previous year had held the temporary appointment
of Professor of Divinity. The career of this remarkable man indicates a
high order of genius. At the early age of fifteen he had entered the