XI. queathed all his possessions for the relief of the needy, CHAP and the education of the young. Others have sought office to advance their fortunes; he, like Roger Wil- 1663. liams, parted with his little means for the public good. He had powerful enemies in Massachusetts, and left a name without a spot. It requires but small acquaintance with authors to discover those who bestow praise grudgingly, even where most deserved. Men of letters have the passions and frailties of human nature, and display them in their writings; and there are not wanting historical inquirers who are swayed by some latent motive of party to impair the merits of the illustrious dead, and envy the reputation of states. The laws of Rhode Island, which had been repeatedly revised by committees, were not published till after, not only the revolution of 1688, but the excitements consequent on the Hanoverian succession; and we find in the oldest printed copy now extant,' that Roman Catholics were excepted from the enjoyment of freedom of conscience. The exception was not the act of the people of Rhode Island; nor do the public records indicate what committee of revisal made the alteration, for which the occasion grew out of English politics. The exception was harmless, for there were no Roman Catholics in the colony. When, in the war for independence, French ships arrived in the harbors of Rhode Island, the inconsistent exception was immediately erased by the legislature. There have been those, who, arguing plausibly from the printed copy, have referred this exception to the first general assembly that met at Newport after the patent arrived. I have carefully 1 I have seen none older than the edition of 1744. VOL. II. 9 CHAP. examined the records, and find that the people of XI. Rhode Island, on accepting their charter, affirmed the great principle of intellectual liberty in its widest The first assembly1 did little more than 1664. Scope. Mar. organize the government anew, and repeal all laws inconsistent with the charter-a repeal which precludes 5. every creed. "No per the possibility of the disfranchising of Roman Catholics. May In May, the regular session was held, and religious freedom was established in the very words of the charter.2 The broad terms embrace not Roman Catholics merely, but men of son shall at any time hereafter be any ways called in question for any difference of opinion in matters of religion." As if to preserve a record that should refute the calumny, in May, 1665, the legislature asserted that "liberty to all persons, as to the worship of God, had been a principle maintained in the colony from the very beginning thereof; and it was much in their hearts to preserve the same liberty forever."3 Nor does this rest on their own testimony in their own favor. The commissioners from England, who visited Rhode Island, reported of its people, "They allow liberty of conscience to all who live civilly; they admit of all religions." And again, in 1680, the government of the colony could say, what there was no one oppressed individual to controvert, "We leave every man to walk as God persuades his heart; all our people enjoy freedom of conscience."5 Freedom of conscience, unlimited free 1 This appears from the R. I. Records, March, 1663-4. 2 Records. If Roman Catholics were disfranchised (which they were not) in March 1663-4, that disfranchisement endured only two months. Compare Eddy, in Walsh's Appeal, 429, &c.; and Bull, in the R. I. Republican for Jan. 15,1834.-Chal mers, 276; Douglass, ii. 83. 104; 3 Mass. Hist. Coll. xvii. 98. XI. dom of mind, was, from the first, the trophy of the CHAP. Baptists. What more shall we relate of Rhode Island in this 1664 early period? That it invented a new mode of voting, since each freeman was obliged to subscribe his name on the outside of his ballot? that, for a season, it divided its general assembly into two houses-a change 1665 which, near the close of the century, was permanently adopted? that it ordered the towns to pay the deputies three shillings a day for their legislative services? that it was importuned by Plymouth, and vexed by Connecticut, on the subject of boundaries? that, asking commercial immunities, it recounted to Clarendon the merits of its bay, "in very deed the most excellent in New England; having harbors safe for the biggest ships that ever sayled the sea, and open when others at the east and west are locked up with stony doors of ice"? It is a more interesting question, if the rights of conscience and the freedom of mind were strictly respected. The There have not been wanting those who have charged Rhode Island with persecuting the Quakers. calumny has not even a plausible foundation. The royal commissioners, in 1665, less charitable than the charter, required the oath of allegiance; the general assembly, scrupulous in its respect for the rights of conscience, would listen to no proposition except for an engagement of fidelity, and due obedience to the laws. To refuse the engagement was to forfeit the elective franchise. Could a milder course have been proposed? When, by experience, this engagement was found irksome to the Quakers, it was the next year repealed.1 1 Brinley, in Mass. Hist. Coll. v. 216-220; Holmes, i. 341. Compare, in reply, Eddy in Mass. Hist. Coll XI. CHAP. Once, indeed, Rhode Island was betrayed into inconsistency. There had been great difficulties in collecting taxes, and towns had refused to pay their rates. In 1671, the general assembly passed a law, inflicting a severe penalty on any one who should speak in town-meeting against the payment of the assessments. The law lost to its advocates their 1672. reëlection; in the next year, the magistrates were selected from the people called Quakers, and freedom of debate was restored. George Fox himself was present among his Friends, demanding a double diligence in "guards against oppression," and in the firm support "of the good of the people." The instruction of "all the people in their rights," he esteemed the creative power of good in the colony; and he adds,— for in his view Christianity established political equality, -"You are the unworthiest men upon the earth, if you do lose the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free in life and glory."! 1661. For Maryland, the restoration of the Stuarts was the restoration of its proprietary. Virginia possessed far stronger claims for favor than Rhode Island and ConApril necticut; and Sir William Berkeley himself embarked 30. for England as the agent of the colony. But Virginia was unhappy alike in the agent whom she selected and in the object of her pursuit. 1 The leading printed authorities for early Rhode Island history, are Callender's Century Sermon, Backus's History of the Baptists, and Knowles's Roger Williams. The Mass. Hist. Coll. contain many useful documents, too various to be specially cited. Our Rhode Island Historical Society has published three valuable volumes. Hopkins's History of Providence is not accurate; it is in the Mass. Hist. Coll. Compare, also, Walsh's Appeal, Berkeley was eager 431, &c. Let me not forget to add the reprints from the Records, and the Commentaries of Henry Bull, of Newport. Besides printed works, I have large MS. materials, which I collected in part from the public offices in Rhode Island. I am especially indebted to William R. Staples, who, with singular liberality, intrusted to me the MS. collections which he has been gathering for years. Such kindness demands my gratitude. XI. in the advancement of his own interests; and Virginia CHAP. desired relief from the pressure of the navigation act,' which Charles II. had so recently ratified. Relief was impossible; for it was beyond the prerogative of the king, and lay only within the power of parliament. Virginia received no charter, nor any guaranty for her established constitution, except in the instructions to her governor. The confidence of loyalty was doomed to suffer heavy retribution; and to satisfy the greediness of favorite courtiers, Virginia was dismembered by 1669 lavish grants, till at last the whole colony was given away for a generation, as recklessly as a man would 1673. give away a life-estate in a farm. Meantime Sir William Berkeley made use of his presence in England for his own account, and set the example of narrowing the limits of the province for which he acted, by embarking with Clarendon and six 1663. other principal courtiers and statesmen of that day, in an immense speculation in lands. Berkeley, being about to return to America, was perhaps esteemed a convenient instrument. King Charles was caricatured in Holland, with a woman on each arm, and courtiers picking his pocket. This time they took whole provinces; the territory which they obtained, if divided among the eight, had given to each a tract as extensive as the kingdom of France. To complete the picture of the territorial changes made by Charles II., it remains to be added, that, having given away the whole south, he enfeoffed his brother with the country between Pemaquid and the St. 1664. Croix. The proprietary rights to New Hampshire and 1677 1 Albany Records, xviii. 158. In reply, the Dutch W. I. C., July 15, 1662. “Gov. Berkeley has as yet effected very little in favor of the |