Voted, and sent up for concurrence.

Mr. Nathaniel C. Smith, a member from Barrington, sent to the speaker his resignation.

Voted, That the same be accepted, and that the speaker issue his warrant to the electors of said town, requiring them to elect another representative in his place.

George Niles, a member from Richmond, resigned his seat.

Voted, That the same be accepted, and that the speaker issue his warrant to the electors of said town, requiring them to elect another representative in his place.

Voted, That the clerks be directed to make out certificates of attendance for the pay of each member, according to the act of this session; and to deliver the same to them respectively.

On motion of Mr. Pearce, Mr. Simmons was appointed a committee to wait upon the governor, and inform him that this House is ready to adjourn if he has no further communications to make to them.

Mr. Simmons, the committee appointed to wait upon the governor, made report that he had performed that duty, and that the governor had nothing further to communicate.

The act relating to the election of military officers, to commissioning the same, and to charter companies, came down concurred, and approved by the governor.

The resolution appointing commissioners to proceed to Washington, came down concurred, and approved by the governor.

Voted, That John S. Harris be allowed, and paid out of the treasury, for his services as clerk this session, six dollars.

Voted, That Levi Salisbury be allowed, and paid out of the treasury, for his services as clerk this session, six dollars.

Voted, That Burrington Anthony be allowed, and paid out of the treasury, for attendance as sheriff, and other expenses this session, the sum of five dollars and fifty cents.

Voted, That Seth Howard be allowed, and paid out of the treasury, for attendance of himself and other officers at this session, the sum of ten dollars.

On motion of Mr. Newman, of Warwick, it is unanimously Voted, That the thanks of this House be presented to the Speaker for the able, dignified, and impartial manner in which he has presided over its deliberations.

Voted and resolved, That all officers not reëlected, and in whose places others have not been appointed, be, and they are hereby, continued in their respective offices until the adjourned session of this General Assembly, to be holden at Providence on the first Monday in July, 1842, with as full power and authority as they have at any time had.

Voted and resolved, That all business lying before this Assembly unfinished, be referred to the adjourned session to be holden on the first Monday in July, 1842; that the secretary cause the acts, orders, and resolutions passed at this session, to be published, with a suitable index, and distributed according to law; and that this Assembly be, and the same is hereby, adjourned to the first Monday in July, 1842, then to convene in the city of Providence.

Voted to be enacted, and sent up for concurrence.

The vote of adjournment came down concurred; and thereupon, the speaker informed the House that they were adjourned accordingly. J. S. HARRIS, Clerk.

Attest:

CHAPTER VII.

THE RIGHT OF THE CHARTER GOVERNMENT TO HOLD

OUT AGAINST THE PEOPLE CONSIDERED. CAUSES OF COMPLAINT SET FORTH, ETC.

FROM PRESIDENT TYLER.

CONFIDENTIAL LETTER

Ir has already been shown that on the 3d of May, 1842, there were two organized political governments in Rhode Island, each claiming the exclusive right to the exercise of legislative functions; they could not both be right. One claimed under an exploded British charter, which the people had never adopted, and which no free, intelligent people ever would adopt; the gov ernment under which had been held by sufferance after the royal parchment had become a dead letter. The other claimed to derive its authority directly from the people. A very large majority of the whole people had, in the exercise of their inalienable sovereignty, conferred upon the latter legislative powers, and by the same act had forever abrogated and withdrawn all authority from the former. Under the charter the whole government of Rhode Island expired and was renewed every year, and the duties and powers of all officers, from the highest to the lowest, ceased and terminated at the end of every year, if they were not

reëlected, and the government under the people's constitution was intended to commence at the time the old government expired by its own limitation. The charter legislature was nothing more than a tenant at will. This being the case, it follows of course that the government which had been set up by the people themselves had an undoubted right to make use of all necessary means to sustain itself. The people had committed their political interests to this new legislature, and it had become the duty of that legislature to protect and defend them. This each member of that legislature had sworn to do; therefore if any government ever had a right to defend and sustain itself by physical power, the people's legislature had that right, and must stand perfectly justified in the use of any measures necessary for that purpose. The question is simply this, Was the people's government set up upon the true principles of American democracy? The advocates for the charter government have told us that the people had no right to set up a government or to take any measures for that purpose without permission from the General Assembly. We have seen that fourteen thousand out of twenty thousand gave their votes for the constitution under which the people's government was organized; but we are told that that is of no consequence so long as the legislature did not give the people a license to proceed in the manner they did, and that therefore the old government must be considered as the rightful government until the General Assembly should authorize the people to set up a different form of government. Now if a government which had been

set up by three fourths of the people was illegal and void because the legislature refused to sanction it, then if every man in the state, except the eighty-four who composed the General Assembly of the State of Rhode Island in 1841, had voted for the people's constitution and agreed to support it, it would still have been just as illegal, and the eighty-four men who composed that legislature might just as rightfully have declared the whole proceedings of the people void, and still claimed their right to rule the state, and have called upon the president of the United States, or any foreign power, to sustain them; and if, by means of menaces from abroad, and concessions and promises at home, that body found themselves able to subdue the people, they would maintain their power by the same right that the charter government was maintained in 1842. If three fourths of the people could not rightfully set up a government without the consent of the legislature, then all the people could not. It was upon that ground alone that the charter government held on to power in 1842; and we ask if there is a single unprejudiced individual living under the democratic institutions of the United States, who has any claim to common sense, who agrees to that doctrine? But we are told that the people of Rhode Island had no reason to complain of the government under the charter. Has it not been shown that more than half of the male citizens of that state over twentyone years of age were by law excluded from all participation in the affairs of the government, whilst at the same time they were required by law to do duty in military and fire companies, and also to pay their full pro