the whole number of all grades and conditions of the once numerous and warlike tribes of Narragansetts (the only tribe now existing in the State), was one hundred and fifty-eight. Of this number, only seven were of genuine Narragansett blood, and several of these have since died; fourteen were half-blood, and one hundred and fifty-eight of different grades, less than halfblood, with twenty foreigners, who have no connection with the tribe, except by marriage and other promiscuous intercourse." Three thousand acres of land in Charlestown, now in their possession, is all that is left to them of their ancient domain. "Canonicus, Miantonomu! friends and benefactors of the colony, thy nation is no more. Simple sons of the forest, the lands of thy fathers have passed into the possession of the descendants of those men, whom, when weak, defenceless and distressed, ye clothed, fed, and protected. And thou too, mighty Philip, who fell fighting for thy native soil, the graves of thy fathers, thy wives and children, and thy own loved Mount Haup, the white man's foot now presses the soil once trodden by thee." The scene is too painful to dwell upon. We turn away from it in sorrow, deeply regretting their sad fate. We have already alluded to the principles which influenced the minds of the early settlers of the Island. As Mr. Callender properly observes, "they fled not from religion, order, or good government, but to have liberty to worship God, and enjoy their own religious opinions and belief." Our fathers professed to believe that "There is in man an individual sovereignty, Which none created might unpunished bind or touch, And in matters relating to civil liberty, this great principle was recognized and practiced. They admitted in their State sovereignty, that the true and legitimate source of power, from whence those in authority and places of trust derived theirs, to legislate for the common good of all, was derived from the people; and by people, they understood not the mere appendages of wealth, which are possessed but by few, as giving an exclusivo privilege to act, to the exclusion of the masses, but rather CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 295 that moral and intellectual possessions were the true characteristics which went to make up the people. Incidental differences in men's circumstances and conditions were not regarded as constituting a qualification, or disqualification, to act in the concerns of the government; and this view of the case rendered the form of government purely democratic. We are aware that the idea has become prevalent in the minds of a certain class, that the masses are unfit to govern ; but we apprehend no danger, where the people are intelligent, and educated to believe that they are men-not merely in form, but intellectually and morally so-and bound to love the institutions of their beloved country, and to aid in their preservation. Deny to them this right, and you at once generate a band of villains, the counterparts of the Ishmaelites, "who will be against every man, and every man against them." It behooves us, then, to see to it that education is imparted to all, irrespective of rank or condition, and to be careful that honest poverty, where all the other requisite qualifications are possessed, is not overlooked, and that wealth be not allowed a complete monopoly in all things. The notion of the incompetency of the people to govern themselves, has had its origin on the other side of the water; and its baneful influence and demoralizing effects have been severely felt, sufficient to alarm every true patriot and friend of human rights, and should act as an incentive to vigilance in guarding our liberties—the birth-right of high heaven-and never, never suffer them to be wrested from us by the rapacious cruelty and injustice of designing men, who take delight in lording it over the consciences of men. Oppression is contrary to the very nature of man's being. God created the mind originally free; and it is an act of usurpation which should be frowned down most indignantly, whenever our natural rights are invaded. The original settlers of the Island possessed, in a very high degree, the principles of civil and religious liberty, and to their precept and example we may trace some of the same spiri which exists among the people at the present day. Our forefathers had not only felt the hand of oppression in the mother country; but they had also experienced it from their lordly brethren in Massachusetts, and hence they felt constrained to flee to a spot where the standard of liberty could be unfurled, and under its broad shelter an asylum found for the persecuted and the oppressed of every clime. We trust that we shall not be chargeable with vanity or prejudice, in reasserting that the people of the Island were the most truly republican in their manners, of any portion of the maritime towns of New England. In this, we have the concurrence of enlightened minds, whose extensive observation of the world has given weight to their opinions. Among the earliest records of legislation in Rhode Island, we find an act guarding the right of private opinion, and free discussion. In the preamble, they say, "That to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his power into the field of opinions, and restrain the profession or propagation of principles, on the supposition of their ill tendency, is a dangerous fallacy, which at once destroys all religious liberty; because he, being judge of that tendency, will make his own opinions the rule of judg ment, and approve or condemn the sentiments of others, only as they shall square with or differ from his own; that it is time enough for the rightful purposes of civil government, for its officers to interfere when principles break forth into overt acts against peace and good order; and finally, that truth is great and will prevail, if left to herself; that she is the proper and sufficient antagonist of error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict, unless by human power disarmed of her natural weapons, free argument and debate." Such sentiments are worthy to be inscribed, in letters of gold, on our halls of legislation, showing the principles of liberty which were ingrained in the hearts of the early settlers of this Island. God grant that we, their descendants, may cherish and perpetuate the same glorious principles, and never prove recreant to the sacred trust committed to our care. Nor were these rights, nor any part of them, relinquished by our venerable predecessors, when they entered the confederacy. They surrendered no inalienable rights; they made no compromise of the liberty" to know, utter, and argue freely," any of the great principles of civil and religious freedom on which the colony was founded. And when Rhode Island subscribed to and adopted the Constitution of the United States, the voice of freedom echoed from the halls of her convention, proclaiming, ASSENT TO THE CONSTITUTION. 297 with trumpet tongue, "that there are certain natural righrs of which men, when they form a social compact, cannot deprive their posterity, among which are the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety. That all men have an equal, natural, and inalienable right to the exercise of religion according to the dictates of their own. consciences. That the people have a right to freedom of speech and of writing, and publishing their sentiments; that freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and ought not to be violated. "Under these impressions," say they, "and declaring that the rights aforesaid cannot be abridged, and that these declarations are consistent with the Constitution, we, the said delegates, in the name and in the behalf of the people of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, do by these presents assent to and ratify the said Constitution." Such sentiments as these are democratic in the highest sense of the term, and should admonish those who would seek to curtail in the least the liberties of the people, that they have forgotten their sires, and the sacred principles which they promul gated. Their names should be inscribed high on the roll of fame, to be admired and esteemed by their descendants. As so little has been said of Clark and Coddington, by writers who have undertaken to dwell on the history of Rhode Island, we have indulged more at length on their characters, in order to place their names in the front rank instead of in the rear. It is a most singular fact that the grave of Roger Williams, the founder of the Plantations, is unknown to this day. In reviewing the past mercies of God towards our fathers, we have abundant cause of gratitude, thanksgiving, and praise. They came to this Island to rear the temple of civil and religious liberty. No selfish purpose actuated them in leaving the fatherland; it was not to increase their worldly honors that they sacrificed home, with all its endearments. Higher and nobler considerations influenced them. It was to establish an asylum where liberty, the birth-right of man, might be more fully enjoyed than it was in the land of their birth. And the principles which they cherished in their own bosoms, and which they scattered broadcast among the people, have been transmitted down to the present generation. Reflections, however, have been cast on the want of intelligence among the people, as well as the looseness of our religious principles, by a class of bigots and sectarians. But the moral virtues which guided the inhabitants of the Island were as pure and as unmixed as those of any section of the country. Dr. Mather, a little more than a century ago, said, "Rhode Island was occupied by Antinomians, Anabaptists, Quakers, Ranters, and everything else, but Roman Catholics and Christians; and if any man has lost his religion, he may find it in this general muster of opinions-in this Gawzzim of New Eng land, this receptacle of the convicts of Jerusalem, and the outcasts of the land." Now, to us of the present day, such intolerant and abusive language, from a professed believer in Christ, sounds strangely in our ears; yet the age in which he lived is some apology for his singular and unaccountable conduct. But no apology can now be offered for the sensorious remarks which have often been made in relation to our civil and religious institutions, by a class of unprincipled bigots, who view everything through a distorted medium. Considering her geographical extent, with the number of her inhabitants, Rhode Island can justly lay claim to having produced as many distinguished minds as that of any section of the Union. Call it arrogance, if you please to indulge such a thought. We feel called upon to frown down with the most sovereign contempt, the interlopers who dare cast aspersions on her fair fame, whether they be agents of religious bodies, or school teachers whose pride has been elated by receiving the patronage of the people. Ignorance at home, where they are best known, is profound knowledge when the soil of Rhode Island is pressed; and it is owing to this cause alone, of strangers having been preferred to enlighten the dark minds of Rhode Islanders, that the false impression has been given. We trust, for the honor of the State, this disgrace will soon be remedied, and the stigma of reproach wiped from our escut cheon. We have no wish to deny that we had our birth and education on the Island of Rhode Island, where the glorious principles of liberty were first taught, and where none is accounted a delinquent in matters of religion. Happy, thrice |