The Rhode-Island Republican. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1809-1841, 1833-01-22
MgMorR OF r. ISLAND.



". have given the entire doings oftho
General Assembly of the freemeu st the
whole province uf n. Island. {" their hr"
meeting m Por,,mou'h. under the char
Ter obtained nv Mr.. n. Williams (excep'
,be digest of the iaws) which b-,ng very
volumincus we're oIni,trd. They are.
however, worthy the perasai ~ every
mau desirnus of an acquaintance with
the early institutions Of Rhode-Isl"nd (;
and for their iutrinsick merit ms "b"dy
of very good aud wh"les"me laws "re
we'll worthy the perusal of m"dern Lrg-
islaiors aud Juris's.
We here suhjin C.Lendsrs brief nc
coun, of the charter aud the acts aud
duings under il and al'hong'' they have
been already drtailrd-fhe 1ondensed
form in which he hns summed up the
most prominent features Of the G"vrr"-
tnent then established. has induced us to
extract the following:
"But all the inhabitants m the Narra-
ganseit Bay, heing without n patent. and
ANY legal authority, l643 Mr.. X. wil-
Lams, went To England as Agent. and by
the help aud assistance of SIR Henry
vaue, jun. obtained Of the Earl "f War
wick (appnin,ed by Parliament GHrr-
nor aud Admiral of aIl the Plantn,i"nsj
and his Council. IA free aud absolute
"charer of civil Incorporation, by the
"name of the Incorporation of PIovi-
"dence Plantations iu the Narrsganssit
"Bay in New EnglanI :" impo~~ring
them "io rule Themselves, aud such as
"should inhabit within their bounds, by
'isucir farm of civi Government, ns ny
"the voluntary agreement of all, or the
"grenier pnrt. shall be found most ser
"viceable. IN their estaie aud condition (;
"and to make suitable laws. agreeable to
"ths laws uf England, SO far M The ma
"turs aud const,,ntion Of the place will
"admit, &c."--It was dated l7th of
March. lob Charles. j. 1894 hut i,
don't appear how long it ~ns before Mr.
Williams brought il over. II is not Ia
be wondered at, if il topk them some
time to agree ia a method.
In I647 May 10Th. a General Assem-
bly, of the Province las then cnlled) es.
tabIished a body ofvery good and wlhoIe-
some laws, agreeable To the English
Statute Bu"k aud erected fnrm ofcivil
Government CIR the Adm,nisira ion of
the laws, aud the making such other, nv
should be found nrccs.ary. The su-
preme power was left in the body of the
people, assembled in an orderly way q
court of ofCommissinners, consisting ofsix
persons. chosen hy each of the four
towns of Providence, Portsmouth,, New
port and Warwick, huI a Legislative
authority, nj least, their acts were 70 br
in force. unless repealed i,I'in limited
time, by The vote ofilr n'njor a fihe
freemen of the province, Z" be collected
At their respective town meetings np,
pointed for that end. fs1f
A Tres'den, and fnur Assistants were
chosen yearly, To he conservators "f the
peace. with all civil puwer, aud by
special commission, they were Judges
of the court of trials, assisted by the two
Wardens or Justices of the particular
town, ia which tho cour, sat from time
10 time.
Every town chose Council of six
persons, to manage their town affairs.
and their town court, had ,he trial of
small cases, hut with an appeal To the
court of the President and A.socia,es..