[319]. Hubbard, chap. lxiv.
[320]. Hawes’ Tribute to the Memory of the Pilgrims, p. 149.
[321]. Dr. Wisner’s Historical Discourses, p. 10.
[322]. Hawes’ Tribute to the Memory of the Pilgrims, p. 150.
[323]. A resolution to alter the third article of the Constitution of Massachusetts, as a preparatory step towards the repeal of the laws for the support of religion by taxation, has been adopted by the people, since the text was written. It will, undoubtedly, be followed by a repeal of the laws.
[324]. It is an honorable proof of steadiness of character in the people of Rhode-Island, that they have continued to prosper under this charter for one hundred and seventy years. No interruption of the government has occurred during this long period, and no attempt has been made to resist it. No community ever enjoyed more perfect freedom, and yet none was ever more quiet and obedient to the laws. It is a gratifying evidence, that a truly free government is more stable than any other. The growth of the State has made some provisions of the charter operate unjustly. Providence, for example, with sixteen thousand inhabitants, sends only four representatives to the General Assembly, while Portsmouth, with seventeen hundred inhabitants, sends four, and Newport, with eight thousand, sends six. An attempt was made, a few years since, to obtain a new Constitution, but it did not succeed.
[325]. See the charter, Appendix, G.
[326]. It is worthy of notice, that on May 9, 1663, the town of Providence voted, that “one hundred acres of upland and six acres of meadow shall be reserved for the maintenance of a school in this town.”
[327]. At this session, Captain John Cranston was licensed to practise physic, with the title of “Doctor of Physic and Chirurgery.”
[328]. Mr. Williams felt a great esteem for Mr. Clarke. In the library of Brown University, is a copy of “The Bloody Tenet yet more Bloody,” bequeathed to the library by the Rev. Isaac Backus. On a blank leaf are these words, in Mr. Williams’ hand writing: “For his honored and beloved Mr. John Clarke, an eminent witness of Christ Jesus, against the Bloody Doctrine of Persecution, &c.”