CHARTER GRANTED TO PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.—ORGANIZATION UNDER IT.—THE LAWS ADOPTED.

We have seen that in 1643 Roger Williams had been sent to England as agent to solicit a charter for the three colonies of Narragansett Bay. He found the King at open war with the Parliament, and the administration of the colonies entrusted to the Earl of Warwick and a joint committee of the two Houses. Of the details of the negotiation little is known, but on the 14th of March of the following year, a “free and absolute charter was granted as the Incorporation of Providence Plantations in Narragansett Bay in New England.” It was not such as Charles would have given. But one fetter was placed upon the free action of the people—“that the laws, constitutions, punishments for the civil government of the said plantation be conformable to the laws of England”—and that was made powerless by the qualifying condition that the conformity should extend only “so far as the nature and constitution of that place will admit.” Civil government and civil laws were the only government and laws which it recognized; and the absence of any allusion to religious freedom in it shows how firmly and wisely Williams avoided every form of expression which might seem to recognize the power to grant or to deny that inalienable right. The regulation of the “general government” in its “relation to the rest of the plantations in America,” was reserved “to the Earl and Commissioners.”

Yet more than three years were allowed to pass before it went into full force as a bond of union for the four towns. Then, in May, 1647, the corporators met at Portsmouth in General Court of Election, and, accepting the charter, proceeded to organize a government in harmony with its provisions. Warwick, although not named in the charter, was admitted to the same privileges with her larger and more flourishing sisters.

This new government was in reality a government of the people, to whose final decision in their General Assembly all questions were submitted. “And now,” says the preamble to the code, “sith our charter gives us powere to governe ourselves and such other as come among us, and by such a forme of Civill Government as by the voluntairie consent, &c., shall be found most suitable to our estate and condition:

“It is agreed by this present Assembly thus incorporate and by this present act declared, that the form of Government established in Providence Plantations, is Democratical; that is to say, a Government held by y^e free and voluntairie consent of all or the greater part of the free Inhabitants.”

In accordance with this fundamental principle all laws were first discussed in Town Meeting, then submitted to the General Court, a committee of six men from each town freely chosen, and finally referred to the General Assembly. The General Court possessed, also, the power of originating laws, by recommending a draft of law to the towns, upon whose approval the draft obtained the force of law till the next meeting of the General Assembly.

The first act of this first Colonial Assembly was to organize by electing John Coggeshall Moderator, and secure an acting quorum by fixing it at forty. It was next “agreed that all should set their hands to an engagement to the Charter.” Then, after some provision for the union of the towns, the formation of the General Court and the adoption of the laws “as they are contracted in the bulk,” Mr. John Coggeshall was chosen “President of this Province or Colonie; Wm. Dyer, General Recorder; Mr. Jeremy Clarke, Treasurer, and Mr. Roger Williams, Mr. John Sanford, Mr. Wm. Coddington and Mr. Randall Holden, Assistants for Providence, Portsmouth, Newport and Warwick” respectively. Then, entering boldly upon its independent existence, the little Colony—a State in all but the name—proceeded to examine the body of laws which had been prepared for its acceptance. One of the most significant of them, as indicating their commercial aspirations, was their adoption of the laws of Oleron for a maritime code; and another, as illustrating their consciousness of their perilous position in the midst of savages, still able to strike sudden blows, though no longer strong enough to wage long wars, the revival and extension of “the Statute touching Archerie,” and the enactment of a stringent militia law. The laws against parricide, murder, arson, robbery and stealing, show that there were men in the community who were believed to be capable of these crimes. The law against suicide, and still more the law against witchcraft, are too much in harmony with the general spirit of the age to warrant a severe condemnation. The punishment provided against drunkenness reads as though it were not an infrequent offence. Marriage was regarded as a civil contract. The law of debt was wise and humane, forbidding the sending of the debtor to prison, “there,” it says with simplicity and force, “to lie languishing to no man’s advantage, unless he refuse to stand to their order.” The character of the whole code was just and benevolent, breathing a gentle spirit of practical Christianity and a calm consciousness of high destinies. “These,” it says, “are the laws that concern all men, and these are the Penalties for the transgression thereof; which by common consent are Ratified and Established throughout this whole Colonie; and otherwise than thus what is herein forbidden, all men may walk as their consciences persuade them, every one in the name of his God.”

By the same Assembly it was ordered, “that the seale of the Providence shall be an anchor.” A free gift, also, of one hundred pounds was made to Roger Williams, “in regarde to his so great travaile, charges, and good endeavors in the obtaining of the Charter for this Province.” This sum was “to be levied out of the three towns;” and how far the island was in advance of the main-land may be seen by the distribution of the levy which assigns fifty pounds to Newport and thirty to Portsmouth, while Providence was held at twenty. Of Warwick, still poor and weak, nothing was asked.

The spirit of this first legislation may be comprised in four articles: the first of which provides for the protection of the citizen against the government by guaranteeing liberty of property and person, and restricting criminal suits to the violation of the letter of the law. The second forbids the assumption of office by any who are not legally chosen, and the extension of official action beyond its prescribed bounds. The third by making the charter and acts of the Assembly the sources of law, secures the rights of minorities. And the fourth, displaying a comprehension of the true principles of public service which succeeding generations would do well to study, required that every citizen should serve when chosen to office or pay a fine, and that his service should receive an adequate compensation. The engagement of state and officer was reciprocal—the officer binding himself to serve the state faithfully, and the state to stand by her officers in the legitimate exercise of their functions.