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.