APPOINTMENT OF ATTORNEY AND SOLICITOR-GENERAL.

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laws, prerogatives, and liberties of the people, and these penal laws, he shall underhand and seal, take forth summons from the President or General Assistant, to command any delinquent, or vehemently suspected of delinquency, in what kind soever, according to the premises, to appear at the General Court, if it be thereunto belonging, or to the General Assembly in those matters proper thereunto; and if any refuse to appear at that mandamus, in the State of England's name, and the people of this State, he shall be judged guilty, and so proceeded against by fine and penalty.

"It is ordered, that in case of prohibitions, (any concerning guns, powder, lead, &c., it being proved that such and such, or any one, had a gun, &c.,) or the Solicitor, bona fide, in his own knowledge, do know or can swear, &c., that such a one was possessed of a gun, &c., as his own proper goods, and upon demand of the Solicitor, cannot produce or cannot give a good account of what has become of it, before one or two persons, or the Attorney, he shall be judged guilty of the breach of the law, and to be accordingly dealt withal; and that the law shall extend to inquiry, especially to guns and other prohibitions, as powder, shot, lead, wine, or liquors, that hath been merchandized or conveyed away to the Indians, since the law made on that subject."

And the people, by general ticket, elected in May, 1650, William Dyre, Attorney-General, and Hugh Burt, SolicitorGeneral.

Mr. Dyre was one of the original settlers, and owned the farm north of Easton's Point, at present owned by Charles Hunter, Esq., of the U. S. N. Mr. Dyre was highly respected for his talents, which is clearly shown by his appointment to so important an office as that of Attorney-General of the Colony. He also held a commission from the English Government, as Surveyor and Searcher-General. His commission extended to New-York.

Mr. Dyre, in the active part which he took with Wm. Coddington, in advocating and justifying the separation of the Islands from the Plantation, incurred the hatred and the displeasure of the people in that section. But there was no just and valid cause, why he should be charged with a "want of public spirit, and being ruined by party purposes," in his adhe rance to Mr. Coddington. He no doubt acted conscientiously,

as did Mr. Coddington, believing in the then present condition of affairs, that it would prove for the interest of the Islands to maintain a separate and distinct form of government.

The jealousy of the Plantations, was, however, awakened, and it called forth the indignation of some of the leaders, as appears by Staple's "History of Providence," who looked on the measure as a gross insult offered to the people of the North. Mr. Dyre felt called upon to uphold a government with such an able leader as Coddington, a man of unblemished reputation, and whose reasons for his course of conduct, were founded on the immutable principle of right.

And whatever invidious reflections may be cast on the measures of these men, it will only recoil on the heads of those who made them. The charge preferred against Mr. Dyre being actuated by sinister motives, had no doubt its rise in that feeling of jealousy before mentioned, which existed between the Plantations and the Islands, which were independent, and which owed no allegiance, only to the Prince.

There is but one male descendant of Mr. Dyre, now living in Newport. It will be seen that the manner of spelling the name is different from those in other parts of the State, which shows that there was no connection between them.

Mr. Dyre's grave is to be found on the Dyre farm, for by that name it has always been known, as the inhabitants of Newport respect and venerate antiquity.

It was ordered that "Persicus, the Indian Sachem, shall have liberty to get as many chesnut bush, upon the commons of the Island, as may cover him a wigwam." How humiliating the thought, that the once rightful owners of the island, must now supplicate for permission from the "new-comers," for materials to cover them from the pelting storm! But these vicissitudes are of every day occurrence, and teach a salutary lesson of the uncertainty of all terrestrial things.

In 1651, the inhabitants, on the main, refused submission to Coddington's government.

THE ISLAND INDEPENDENT.

Before we proceed to notice this event, we will go back a lit tle, and show the reader the position which the Island occu pied from the settlement in 1638, to 1644.

THE ISLAND INDEPENDENT.

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"The towns of Portsmouth and Newport, erected their own separate governments, independent of that of the Plantations, and there was no political connection between them from the settlement in 1638 to 1644, and during these six years they were independent governments, free from every other power but the mother country. During this period, they enacted many laws, which were the foundation of the future statues and bill of rights, which distinguished the early laws and character of the State and people of Rhode Island, from the other English Colonies in America. For when the government of the Island was united with the Providence Plantations, by the Charter of 1643, and in General Assembly they enacted laws for the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, the town of Providence instructed their commissioners to hold correspondence with the whole Colony, 'in the model that hath been lately shown unto us by our worthy friends of the Island.' And it appears that the plan of the government was formed by the people of the Island, and shown to those of Providence, who agreed to adopt them; and thus from the legislation of the people of the Island, the free institutions emanated."

This being an established fact, "that the plan of government formed by the people of the Island," and subsequently adopted by the Plantations, was a virtual admission of the profound wisdom, which dwelt in the minds of the Islanders; and proves in a word, any or every attempt made to engraft new principles, conflicting with those which they held as most sacred and binding, should be resisted at every hazard by the people of the Island, as they valued their peace, liberty and happiness.

The legislative acts, many of which seem to approximate to the former blue laws of Connecticut, and which is in direct conflict with the letter and spirit of the laws which originated from the Island, and which were made the basis of the government of the State, has led us to doubt the propriety of ever having formed an alliance with the Plantations after the Island had once become independent. For however tolerant the Island may be in the execution of laws, associated and confederated as they are with the Plantations, involves them in the disgrace and obloquy of sanctioning such arbitrary measures as are in force in the Plantations.

To obviate the difficulty as far as possible, the Islanders

should instruct their representatives in General Assembly, to oppose every law introduced into that body, which has the least appearance of despotism, and as aiming to subvert and to overthrow the rights and liberties of the people; and in case of their not doing it, and making it imperative on their legislators to act in accordance with the principles of their fathers, they in fact become a party concerned in upholding such tyrannical and unjust measures, which are at war with every principle of moral right.

ENCOURAGEMENT OF SETTLERS.

The proprietors, to encourage the settlement of the Island, sold out at a small price, and on easy terms, to such as were inclined to build and to whom they saw fit to admit to ownership of the soil. Those whom they considered turbulent aud unruly, they would not admit to "ownership, or to exercise the privi leges of freemen." A very proper precaution, and calculated to avoid much evil. The spirit which animated the minds of the early settlers of the Island, was enlarged and liberal, and prompted them to render aid and assistance to all worthy persons who desired to take up their abode with them.

In March, 1641, in General Assembly, it was determined unanimously, that this government was a Democracy, saving only the right of the king. And it was ordered that none be accounted a delinquent for doctrines, provided it be not repugnant to government established, which was again confirmed at the next General Court, as follows:

"It is ordered that the law of the last Court, made concerning conscience, in point of doctrine, be perpetuated."

Mr. Bull says: "This appears to be the first act allowing every man free to act and advocate what religious opinions he chooses, and which has highly distinguished the State of Rhode Island."

The principles adopted by Clark and Coddington operated like leaven in diffusing itself through the minds of the masses, and was the neucleus, out of which ultimately sprang the Declaration of American Independence, and the freedom of the Colonies British misrule and oppression.

It has been already remarked that the Island had a separate

A SEAL FOR THE STATE.

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form of government for six years. It then become united with the Plantations, but in 1657, William Coddington went to England and procured a commission constituting him Governor, for life, of Rhode Island, of Cannanicut, and Prudence, and these islands again became separated from the towns on the main land. This continued for three years, when they again became united.

A SEAL FOR THE STATE.

A Seal was ordered to be provided for the State, viz., the government of the islands, with the device of a sheaf of arrows bound up with a motto: "Amor vincit omnia." Love conquers every thing.

"In General Court, held at Newport, Sept. 17th, 1641, it was ordered that if any person or persons on the Island, whether freeman or inhabitant, shall by any means, open or covert, endeavor to bring any other power than what is here established, except it be from our prince, by lawful commission, shall be accounted a delinquent under the head of perjury."

The inhabitants living on islands, and consequently being isolated, and generally clanish in their views and feelings, and more opposed to innovations of every form, than those who live on the main, practices which originated with the early settlers have been transmitted down to the present generation. The inhabitants of Newport have felt a reverence for their ancestors which rendered them remarkably sensitive in relation to changes of evey kind, and it is evidence of stability of character which we hope to see perpetuated. We are aware that in this age of progress, it is thought sensible to disdain conventional rules, and long established usages of antiquity, and to substitute a licen tious course of policy, baptized by the sacred name of Liberty, and thus open wide the floodgates of anarchy and misrule, which will ultimately overwhelm us in an avalanche of desolation. To dissent from the popular opinions of the day, would be to place ourselves in battle array with the march of improvement, and consequently subject us to the anathemas and reproaches of the new lights of the age, whose vanity has become so much inflated as to render it almost presumptuous to differ from them.

A certain class of men and mind make the "nineteenth cen