MORE FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC TROUBLES.--CIVIL AND CRIMINAL REGULATIONS
OF THE COLONY.--ARRIVAL OF QUAKERS.
And now it seemed as though the little Colony might peaceably return to
its original organization and devote itself to the development of its
natural resources. But the spirit of dissension had struck deep. The
absolute independence which was claimed for religious opinion, led some
to claim an equal independence for civil action. If conscience was to
be the supreme test in the relations between man and God, why should
not conscience decide between man and man? Roger Williams addressed a
letter full of calm wisdom to the Town of Providence, explaining, under
the figure of a ship, the distinction between civil obedience and soul
liberty. A few years later an able advocate of the opposite opinion was
found in William Harris; and for a long while an unhealthy agitation
pervaded the community, justifying, in appearance, the unfriendly
prophecies of the early enemies of Williams and his doctrines.
There was still another ground of contention. Who should take the
lead in restoring the charter government? The Island towns claimed
it on the ground of superior wealth and population, the main-land
towns because they had always held fast to their charter. There were
double elections and two Assemblies, and the dispute grew so warm as
to threaten a permanent division. At the same time the Island towns
entered zealously into the Dutch war, issuing letters of marque
and making captures which led to new controversies with the United
Colonies. Williams became alarmed, and leaving Mr. Clarke in charge of
their common business hurried back from England to meet the danger.
Sir Henry Vane, who had already been a firm friend of Rhode Island,
wrote in a public letter, "Are there no wise men among you? no public,
self-denying spirits who can find some way of union before you become a
prey to your enemies?"
At last, in August, 1654, a full Court of Commissioners met at Warwick,
and on the 31st set their hands to articles of reunion. To meet
the difficulties that arose from the different acts of independent
assemblies, it was agreed that all such acts should be held good for
the towns and persons who originally took part in them. Then the
charter was once more made the fundamental law of the land, and finally
the General Assembly recognized by fixing the number of delegates from
each town at six for all purposes except the election of officers.
Two days were then devoted to general legislation, and among other
acts the delicate question of a Sunday law was reconciled with the
distinguishing principle of the Colony, by referring the matter to the
several towns under the head of a day "for servants and children to
recreate themselves."
As the danger of civil commotions passed away, came the danger of an
Indian war. The Narragansetts had old quarrels with the Indians of
Long Island, and in 1654 a new quarrel broke out between them. For
the Colony itself there was nothing to fear from the Narragansetts
with whom it had always maintained friendly relations. But should
the Long Island Indians prevail, an inroad upon the main would
bring them dangerously near to the new towns. The United Colonies,
proceeding as usual with a high hand, summoned Ninigret, the chief
sachem of the Narragansetts, to Hartford. He refused to go, saying
that the enemy had slain a sachem's son and sixty of his people--all
he asked of the English was that they would let him alone. "If your
Governor's son were slain," he said, "and several other men, would
you ask counsel of another nation how and when to right yourselves?"
The spirit of the Narragansetts was not yet broken. Williams, who was
then President, wrote to the government of Massachusetts defending
the Indians, asserting that the war was a war of self-defence, and
that the Narragansetts had always been true to the English. But the
Commissioners were resolved upon war, and without listening to his
remonstrances sent Captain Willard with a body of troops to seize the
refractory chief. The wily Indian took post in a swamp where the troops
were unable to reach him. The Commissioners were sorely annoyed, but
Massachusetts, listening, perhaps, to the energetic representations of
Williams, refused to sanction the war, and without her coöperation it
could not be carried on.
There were still dissensions and jars, but the Colony throve and grew
in industry and strength. Newport above all increased in wealth and
population. In estimating the population, however, we must bear in mind
that not every inhabitant was a freeman, nor every resident a legal
inhabitant. A probationary residence was required before the second
step was reached and the resident became an inhabitant with certain
rights to the common lands, the right of sitting on the jury and of
being chosen to some of the lower offices. This, also, was a period of
probation, and it was only after it had been passed to the satisfaction
of the freemen that the name of the new candidate could be proposed
in town meeting for full citizenship. Even then he had to wait for
a second meeting before he could be admitted to all the rights and
distinctions of that honorable grade.
As a picture of the times it deserves notice that there was still a
struggle with crime which called for stocks and a jail; that the sale
of liquors was regulated by a license, and the number of taverns that
could be licensed in a single town limited to three; that the bars were
closed at nine in the evening; that a fine of ten pounds or whipping,
"accordinge as y^e court shall see meete," was the penalty of giving
a blow in court; that malicious language was treated as slander and
made ground for legal prosecution. The Assembly seldom sat beyond three
or four days, and six in the morning was the usual hour of entering
upon the business of the day. Absence from roll call was punished by a
fine of a shilling. As an illustration of the degree in which the idea
of the duties of citizenship prevailed over the idea of the dignity
of office, it deserves to be recorded that when the first justices'
court was established in Providence for the hearing of cases under
forty shillings, Roger Williams though President of the Colony was
appointed one of the justices, and of the other two Thomas Olney was
assistant for Providence, and Thomas Harris a member of the Assembly.
The principle of the reciprocal obligation of citizen and state seems,
as we have already observed, to have found early acceptance. High
treason was recognized as a great crime and provision made for sending
the accused to England for trial--a dangerous measure even in that
early day, and which in the following century became a just ground of
alarm. But now, even Coddington not only came off unharmed from his
daring usurpation, but appears again in 1656 as member of the Court
of Trials. A written submission and a fine for refusing to give up the
public records were the only penalties that he paid for his offence.
Early provision was made for the protection of marriage, and to give it
that publicity which is essential to security the bans were announced
in town meeting, or at the head of a company on training days, or by
a written declaration signed by a magistrate and set up in some place
of common resort. If objections were made the parties were heard by
a tribunal of two magistrates, or for final decision by the Court of
Trials. Freedom in the young society was always connected with morality.
There were still questions to arrange with Massachusetts, which had
not yet given up the hope of enlarging her territory at the expense of
her diminutive neighbors. The Pawtuxet controversy which began almost
with the beginning of the Colony, was a fruitful source of anxiety
till 1658, when it was finally settled by the acknowledgment of the
claims of Rhode Island, Roger Williams again appearing in his favorite
character of mediator. Hog Island, at the mouth of Bristol harbor,
gave rise to other disputes which extended through several years. In
the original purchase of Aquidneck the grass only had been bought.
To secure the fee of the land itself a second purchase was required.
Other purchases also were made, which gave rise to long and vexatious
disputes. Small as it was, it was almost inch by inch that Rhode
Island won its narrow territory.
From time to time, also, there were alarms of Indians. In 1656 their
movements excited so much apprehension in Providence, that a fort was
built on Stamper's Hill for the protection of the town. In this same
year the fundamental principles of the governments of Rhode Island and
of Massachusetts were brought into striking contrast by the arrival
of the Quakers. In Massachusetts they were imprisoned, scourged,
mutilated, put to death, and with the increase of persecution increased
in numbers. In Rhode Island they were allowed to follow their own
convictions and became useful and industrious citizens. And when the
United Colonies urged the General Assembly, not without threats, to
join in the persecution, it appealed to Cromwell, asking "that it might
not be compelled to exercise any civil power over men's consciences
so long as human orders, in point of civility, are not corrupted or
violated."
In these days great changes were taking place in England. Cromwell
was dead. Richard Cromwell soon resigned the Protectorate. A general
reaction for royalty followed, and Charles II. was received as King
with general satisfaction. How would the young and dissolute monarch
look upon the claims of Rhode Island? It was well for her that at this
perilous moment she was represented at the new court by so earnest,
clear-headed, and dexterous a diplomatist as John Clarke. By his
exertions a new charter was obtained, and, on the 24th of November,
1663, accepted "at a very great meeting and assembly of the Colony of
Providence Plantations, at Newport, in Rhode Island, in New England."
With the adoption of this charter begins a new period in the history of
Rhode Island.