that the president of the United States would furnish such troops as the charter government might require to sustain itself against the people's constitution.

This information was immediately spread over the state, and the most strenuous efforts were made to induce suffrage men to believe that an army of national troops, with bristling bayonets, only waited the call of the governor to strike down every man who dared to go forward and vote for officers under the people's constitution.

Now, why were all these unparalleled efforts made at home and abroad to defeat the government under the people's constitution? Was there any thing essentially wrong in that document, or in the proceedings which had taken place under it? Did the new government threaten to overthrow or disturb any wholesome and cherished institutions of the state? Certainly not. No objections were made or fears raised on any of these accounts. But the old government brought all their ostensible opposition to a single focus; their sensibilities had become very acute, and they saw, as they pretended, with deep concern, that the people's constitution was illegal! And if that party are to be believed, it was on that single ground that they opposed it. Now, if we trace back their own history a few years, we shall find that, in 1832, this same charter government, to all intents and purposes, legally fell through and terminated, and every particle of legislative authority under that instrument came to a final end. And if the coalition which controlled the state had been half as scrupulous in 1832, as they professed to be in 1842, the whole government should have been surrendered, like a sinking ship to the underwriters. The facts are these. The charter required that the governor, lieutenant governor, and the ten senators, or assistants, as they were called, should be "newly chosen" every year. Therefore, on the first Wednesday of May annually, the official functions of the governor and Senate for the previous year expired, and the "newly-elected" incumbents, whether they were the same or different individuals, were engaged and sworn to discharge the duties of their respective offices for the ensuing year, and no longer. Now, it so happened, that in 1832 there was no election of governor, lieutenant governor, or Senate for that entire year. The House of Representatives had no authority except in concurrence with the Senate. Therefore the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was destitute of a legislature.

The good old charter had aborted, and the government had expired. Where were the fastidious "law and order" men at that time, and what did they do in that extremity? Why, they declared that the government must not thus unceremoniously fall through, and the dear people be put to the trouble of instituting a government de novo; therefore they brought back the last year's governor, and last year's senators, placed them in their seats, and ordered them to go on as if nothing had happened, until a new election could be brought about. Might not the whole people, if they had thought proper, during this interregnum have rallied round and formed a constitution, and set up a government in room of the charter government? And if they had done so, would the national executive have sent his troops to demolish such a democracy? Would he rashly have stained his own hands with the blood of men striving for freedom? When we recollect that Andrew Jackson, and not John Tyler, was president of the United States at that time, the question is answered; he would have taken upon himself the responsibility of sustaining the democracy of the people against all its enemies.

Notwithstanding the combined efforts of the state and national authorities to terrify the people, and induce them to abandon their constitution, when the third Wednesday of April arrived, regularly-organized town meetings were held, and a full complement of state officers elected. And on the 3d day of May following, the members elect of the legislature, as required by their constitution, met in the city of Providence. Eight or nine hundred state troops in uniform, and two or three thousand citizens, attended the procession. As it had been previously ascertained that the charter authorities had closed and barred the state house, the people's legislature proceeded to hold their session in another place. On counting the votes, it was found that the whole number, 6359, had been given for Thomas Wilson Dorr, of Providence, for governor, and that Amasa Eddy, Jr., had been also elected to the office of lieutenant governor, William H. Smith, secretary, and Jonah Titus, attorney general. These officers were then duly sworn, as provided in the constitution.

As soon as the ceremonies of inauguration were completed, the governor was requested to notify the president of the United States of the organization of a government under the constitution, and also to notify the presiding officers of both Houses of Congress of the same fact, and request them to lay the information before their respective Houses; and also to notify the governors of the several states of the same, to be communicated to their legislatures.

In the afternoon of the same day Governor Dorr delivered the following Message to both Houses in joint

SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES:

It is with no ordinary emotions that I proceed to discharge the duties imposed upon me by the constitution of this state, in submitting such suggestions for your consideration as the occasion requires.

This is the first session of a legislature ever convened under a written constitution of government, proceeding from the people of Rhode Island. That a majority of the people should have been so long debarred from a participation in those rights which are elsewhere so well recognized, and that we have been so slow in arriving at a point long since attained in other states, are facts ill adapted to elevate our feelings of state pride, as successors of those venerated men who here proclaimed, for the first time, the just principles of religious and political freedom which are now the common inheritance of American citizens. On the other hand, the peculiar circumstances in which the people of this state have been placed, and the extraordinary difficulties with which they have had to contend, render the establishment of their constitution a subject of the deepest satisfaction to the people themselves, and to all who sympathize in the progress of rational liberty. If the people of Rhode Island are true to themselves, the democracy of Roger Williams has this day been restored in the place where it originated. The sacred fire, so long extinguished, has been rekindled upon our altar. The sovereignty of the people has been vindicated. The distinctions of caste and privilege have been abolished. Our institutions are rendered conformable to the standard of our sister republics. While the rights of those heretofore denominated the freemen of the state have not been impaired, the rights of others have been placed on a sure basis, by constitutional provisions securing the common welfare of the whole people.

On this peculiar occasion, it is due to ourselves, and to our fellow-citizens abroad, who entertain so lively an interest in our affairs, to pass briefly in review the history of our proceedings, and to submit them to the scrutiny of public opinion - the arbiter of political questions in a free country, and to which, in the confidence inspired by a righteous cause, we are ever ready to appeal. The idea of imposing a government on the people of this state by mere power, and without right, is one which will be promptly discarded by the constitionalists of Rhode Island. They maintain the ground that they are not only a majority, but that they have proceeded rightfully to alter and reform their government, according to well-defined principles in our republican system.

The people of Rhode Island have, for many years past, complained of manifest defects in their form of government; the most serious of which were the limitation of the right of suffrage, an unequal representation, and the absence of all fundamental laws to limit and regulate the powers and functions of the General Assembly. The operation of the suffrage law of this state has for a long time excluded from the right of voting three fifths of its adult population. The largest vote ever polled by the freeholders was at the election of the president in 1840, when eight thousand six