The constitution provided that the new government should commence and be organized at the expiration of the then existing political year. Article XIV. contained the following provisions :

The present government shall exercise all the powers with which it is now clothed, until the said first Tuesday of May, one thousand eight hundred and fortytwo, and until their successors, under this constitution, shall be duly elected and qualified.

All civil, judicial, and military officers now elected, or who shall hereafter be elected by the General Assembly, or other competent authority, before the said first Tuesday of May, shall hold their offices, and may exercise their powers, until that time.

All laws and statutes, public and private, now in force, and not repugnant to this constitution, shall continue in force until they expire by their own limitation, or are repealed by the General Assembly. All contracts, judgments, actions, and rights of action, shall be as valid as if this constitution had not been made. All debts contracted, and engagements entered into, before the adoption of this constitution, shall be as valid. against the state as if this constitution had not been made.

The convention, before they adjourned, directed the committee which counted the votes to present to his excellency the governor a certified copy of the same, and also an attested copy of the constitution which the people had adopted, with a request that he should communicate the same to the two Houses of the General Assembly then in session.

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That communication was made accordingly, signed by the following committee:

PROVIDENCE, January 13, 1842.

Every step that had been taken had been done openly and boldly, with all due respect to the existing government. No attempts were made to disturb or imvalidate any acts of the existing legislature, or other laws of the state, unless they should be found inconsistent with the constitution. The new government was not intended to overthrow, but to succeed the old. No state constitution was ever formed and adopted in a more quiet and orderly manner, or met a more hearty approval from the people. But it soon became evident that those who held the government would not willingly surrender their authority. The constitution and its framers and advocates were treated with a haughty contempt, and all available means were made use of to deter the people from supporting it.

CHAPTER IV.

LANDHOLDERS' CONSTITUTION FORMED AND REJECTED. PROCEEDINGS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE ΤΟ FORM CONSTITUTIONS CONSIDERED, AND AUTHORITIES QUOTED.

IN the mean time the landholders' convention, which was composed of delegates chosen only by freemen, met and formed their constitution, which was ordered to be submitted to such only as were ascertained to be entitled to vote under its provisions. The 21st, 22d, and 23d days of March, 1842, were fixed upon for its adoption, and the General Assembly, at their January session, ordered five thousand copies of that constitution to be printed, and with twenty-five thousand ballots, to be distributed throughout the state, and the most strenuous efforts were made by the charter government to induce the people to go forward and adopt it. At length the time for voting arrived, the polls were kept open three days, and when the votes came to be returned and counted, it was found that this constitution had been rejected by a majority of six hundred and seventy-five votes. The result of this contest may justly be considered as a second demonstration in favor of the people's constitution.

As we have said before, the convention which

counted the votes given for the people's constitution communicated their doings to the legislature then in session in Providence, and thereupon the Hon. Samuel Y. Atwell, then a member of the House, and one of the most able and high-minded statesmen that Rhode Island has ever had, introduced a bill which provided for the surrendering of the charter government at the expiration of that political year to the government that was to be organized at that time under the constitution. which had been adopted. An opportunity was now offered the charter authorities honorably and quietly to surrender the government to the rightful authorities. Such had been the case at every change that had before taken place in the government of that state. When the first charter was received, each of the colonial governments readily and cheerfully surrendered to the government under the charter; and again, when the government under the first charter was superseded by the charter from Charles II., the old government surrendered its authority to the new one the very next day after the charter was received. Therefore, in compliance with former usage, and by every principle of law and reason, - by every principle of honor, justice, and humanity, -every member of that legislature was bound to support the resolution offered by Mr. Atwell.

But that proposition was unceremoniously rejected; and when doubts were expressed about the majority of votes given for the people's constitution, Mr. Atwell proposed to the legislature to go into an examination of those votes, which had been carefully preserved by the convention, and were tendered to the General Assembly

for that purpose. That proposition was treated with scorn, and promptly rejected. The legislature held that it was of no consequence whether a majority had or had not voted for the constitution. We may well presume that every member of the legislature was perfectly satisfied that votes enough had been given for it, and that nothing could be gained by an investigation. At the same time the Assembly saw that if they should take that issue, and find the votes correctly returned and counted, that body would be expected to yield up its authority.

The refusal to examine the votes was an implied acknowledgment of their correctness, and therefore the legislature were driven to the necessity of resting their case upon another horn of the dilemma. The whole of the proceedings of the people in the formation and adoption of their constitution were declared void ab initio for want of legislative authority, and this is the point upon which the whole case, with all its consequences, rests; it therefore deserves to be duly considered. Had the legislature any authority to require or authorize the people to form and adopt a constitution? The charter gave them no such authority, nor had the people at any time or in any manner conferred such power upon the General Assembly; therefore, if the legislature had pretended to have or exercise any such authority, it would have been usurpation, and in itself illegal. Those who knew any thing about it, knew very well that the Assembly had no power to pass any act that should be of binding force, or confer upon the people any legal power to take measures for