This, also, was accepted, and a revision of the laws ordered for that purpose.
“5th. That the Colony be put in such a posture of defence that if there should be any invasion upon this island, or elsewhere in this Colony (which God forbid) you might in some measure be in readiness to defend yourselves, or if need be to relieve your neighbors, according to the power given you by the King in your charter and to us in the King’s commission and instructions.”
This, also, struck a familiar cord. Provisions for self-defence had already been made as circumstances called for them. A new militia law was now passed, requiring six trainings a year under heavy penalties, and allowing nine shillings a year for each enlisted soldier. Every man was to keep on hand two pounds of powder and four of lead, and each town was required to maintain a public magazine. To defray the expenses of these magazines Newport was taxed fifty pounds, and the other three towns twenty pounds each.
The Royal Commissioners were well satisfied with the conduct of Rhode Island, and Rhode Island, surrounded by powerful enemies, had every reason to be well satisfied with the Commissioners. Still the encroachments and aggressions of Massachusetts and Connecticut continued. As a prospective means of defence against them John Clarke was again asked to carry the complaints of the suffering Colony to England, and John Greene was chosen to accompany him. In 1672 a new claimant appeared in the lists.
The Council of Plymouth had been lavish of its gifts of land, and in its ignorance of American geography had formed a perplexing map of conflicting claims. In one of its grants it had given the greater part of Maine, together with Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Long Island and the adjacent islands, to the Earl of Stirling. The Earl of Stirling sold his grant to the Duke of York, already proprietor by royal gift of the recently conquered province of New Netherlands. The term adjacent islands would have included Acquidneck and the other islands of Narragansett Bay. Prudence, one of the pleasantest and most valuable of them, had been bought of the Indian proprietors by Roger Williams and John Winthrop. In the course of time it passed by regular sale to John Paine, a Boston merchant, who had won the favor of the Duke of York by contributing liberally to the rebuilding of Fort James, in New York harbor. Governor Lovelace, the Duke’s attorney, felt that such liberality was deserving of a signal reward. Paine was already the owner of Prudence. Lovelace resolved to make it a free-manor by the name of Toply manor, and confer the governership for life on Paine. By a second grant the original quit-rent of two barrels of cider and six pairs of capons was remitted, and this territory of seven miles in length became an untaxed and independent government.
But Rhode Island was an uncongenial soil for feudal tenures. Paine was arrested, indicted and convicted under the law of 1658 against the introduction of a foreign jurisdiction, and Prudence without any formal act of adjustment returned to its original position as a part of Portsmouth.
Thus the Rhode Island Colony grew apace. From time to time questions of practical government arose, to be worked out and solved by experience. It was not easy to make citizens feel their duty to the State. More than once the Assembly failed in attendance, to the serious detriment of the public. Fines were imposed, and that some inducement to greater regularity might be held out, a small pay of three shillings a day, which was soon reduced to two, was attached to the function of delegate. To facilitate the expression of opinion voting by proxy was permitted, and to secure the election of the most acceptable candidate it was enacted, “that whereas there may happen a division in the vote soe that the greater half may not pitch decidedly on one certaine person, yett the person which hath the most votes shall be deemed lawfully chosen.” The laws of the Colony had been the growth of circumstances, expressing new wants and representing a progressive society. Committees were appointed on several occasions to revise and harmonize them. On the committee of October, 1664, we find Roger Williams and John Clarke.
The progress of society has established a fundamental distinction between legislative, executive and judicial powers, which was not known to ancient publicists. The Court of Trials was composed of members of the Assembly, and thus the whole body of law-makers was gradually led to exercise judicial authority.
The Colony was poor, and the persecutions of Massachusetts and Connecticut compelled it to incur expenses greatly beyond its means. When Roger Williams went on his second mission to England he sold part of his estates in order to raise the money for his expenses. When John Clarke was sent to negotiate the second charter he was obliged to burthen his estate with a mortgage. The whole sum due him by the Colony was but three hundred and forty-three pounds, and yet so hard was it to collect the tax by which this sum was to be paid that it was not until twenty years after his death that the mortgage was lifted.
Internal dissensions and the alarm of foreign war troubled the Colony in 1667. Two names long prominent in Rhode Island, Harris and Fenner, appear at the head of two hostile factions in Providence and continue for a while to disturb the public peace. England, whose wars now found a reëcho in the colonies, was again at war with France and Holland. Efficient measures were taken to put the Colony in a state of defence, and thus new burthens were imposed. A council of war was organized in each town. Ammunition was collected. Officers were commissioned. Cannon were mounted at Newport. Cavalry corps were formed in the towns. The Governor and Council met in frequent deliberations. The Indians were disarmed and sent off the Island. A line of beacons was established from Wonumytomoni Hill, near Newport, to Mooshausick Hill, in Providence. Abundant proof was given of the energy and good statesmanship of the Colony. But the day of real trial was not yet come.