FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC TROUBLES.--UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT AT USURPATION
BY CODDINGTON.
And now, just as the new Province was entering upon that chartered
existence which was to lead to such brilliant results, the wise and
peaceable Canonicus died, closing in humiliation and sorrow a life
which had begun in strength and hope. He had seen the first foot-prints
of the stranger; had aided him in his weakness; had resisted him in
his strength; had lived to see his destined successor fall victim to
an unholy policy, and his people, impoverished and enfeebled, vainly
strive to avenge the murder on their adversaries; and thus with a heavy
heart he passed away from the scene of his early glory and his long
humiliation. We shall see bye and bye the miserable end of the great
Narragansetts.
The new Colony entered upon its career with two great problems before
it. The first was almost solved. An experience of eleven years had
demonstrated the possibility of soul liberty, which had taken a hold
upon the hearts of the colonists too strong to be shaken. But did
it leave the needed strength in the civil organization to bear "a
government held by the free and voluntary consent of all, or the
greater part, of the free inhabitants?" Thus the reconciliation of
liberty and law formed from the beginning the fundamental problem of
Rhode Island history.
At first there were great and frequent dissensions. There were
dissensions between Newport and Portsmouth. There were still greater
dissensions in Providence. Enemies exulted, foretelling an early
dissolution of the feeble bands which held the dangerous Colony
together. Friends trembled lest their last hope of the reconciliation
of liberty and law should fail them. But still the great work of
solution went on, each new dissension revealing some new error, or
aiding in the demonstration of some new truth. It would take us far
beyond our limits were we to attempt to follow up the history of these
dissensions in detail, even if the materials for a full narrative of
them had been preserved. There were other difficulties, also, which
demand more than a passing allusion.
Massachusetts had not yet renounced her designs upon the territories of
the heretical Colony. A party in Pawtuxet which had put itself under
the protection of the Bay Colony had opened the way for action, and the
dispute with Shawomet had enlarged it. Gorton was in England in 1647,
exerting himself to answer the assertions of the Massachusetts agent,
Winslow. Three years later the question became so complicated and the
danger so imminent that Roger Williams was asked to go again to England
on behalf of the Colony. Meanwhile there were menacing indications
of an Indian war, and a serious effort was made on the part of the
Island towns to obtain admission to the New England confederation. The
application was refused unless on terms equivalent to the surrender of
all right to independent existence. The time for justice and a clear
comprehension of the common interest was not yet come. Especially
strong was Massachusetts' dread of the Baptists, who were becoming a
powerful body in Rhode Island, and three of the prominent members of
that communion, among whom was John Clarke, one of the most illustrious
of the colonists, were seized at Lynn--whither they had been summoned
to give comfort and counsel to an aged brother--cast into prison,
fined, and one of their number, Obadiah Holmes, cruelly scourged with a
three-corded whip.
Another danger menaced the Colony. William Coddington, who had been
chosen President, but had never taken the legal engagement, had gone
to England, and, as was soon ascertained, with the design of applying
for a commission as Governor of the Island. For two years he was unable
to obtain a hearing. The new government of England was too busy with
its own concerns to lend an ear to the agent of a distant and humble
Colony. At last the favorable moment came, and, on the 3d of April,
1651, he received a commission from the Council of State, appointing
him Governor for life of Rhode Island and Connecticut. By what
representations or misrepresentations he obtained the object of his
ambition, history does not tell us. A council of six, nominated by the
people and approved by him, were to assist him in the government. The
charter government was apparently dissolved.
But the men of Providence and Warwick did not lose heart. Roger
Williams, who had already given proof of his diplomatic skill at home
by his successful negotiations with the native chiefs, and in England
by obtaining a charter, was still with them, and to him all turned
their eyes in this hour of supreme danger. It was resolved that he
should repair to England without delay, and ask for a confirmation of
the charter in the name of Providence and Warwick. To provide money for
the support of his family during his absence he sold his trading-house
in Narragansett, and, obtaining a hard-wrung leave to embark at
Boston, set forth in October, 1651, upon his memorable mission. In
the same ship went John Clarke, as agent for the Island towns, to
ask for the revocation of Coddington's commission. On the success of
their application hung the fate of the Colony. Meanwhile the Island
towns submitted silently to Coddington's usurpation, and the main-land
towns continued to govern themselves by their old laws, and meet and
deliberate as they had done before in their General Assembly.
It was in the midst of these dangers and dissensions that on the 19th
of May, in the session of 1652, it was "enacted and ordered ... that
no black mankind or white being forced by covenant, bond or other wise
shall be held to service longer than ten years," and that "that man
that will not let them go free, or shall sell them any else where to
that end that they may be enslaved to others for a longer time, hee or
they shall forfeit to the Colonie forty pounds." This was the first
legislation concerning slavery on this continent. If forty pounds
should seem a small penalty, let us remember that the price of a slave
was but twenty. If it should be objected that the act was imperfectly
enforced, let us remember how honorable a thing it is to have been the
first to solemnly recognize a great principle. Soul liberty had borne
her first fruits.
In the same month of May the embarrassments of the Colony were
increased by the breaking out of a war between England and Holland,
which interrupted the profitable commerce between Rhode Island and the
Dutch of Manhattan. But welcome tidings came in September, and still
more welcome in October. Williams and Clarke, who went hand in hand in
their mission, had obtained, first, permission for the Colony to act
under the charter until the final decision of the controversy, and a
few weeks later the revocation of Coddington's commission. The charter
was fully restored. Williams had again proved himself a consummate
diplomatist, and Clarke had proved himself worthy to be his colleague.
We shall soon see him using his newly acquired skill under more
difficult circumstances.