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.