power of the State," and intended, as was declared, to prevent the election of officers and the organization of a government under the people's constitution, although disregarded and violated openly and boldly for a long while, still no arrests were made, or attempts made to enforce the same, until after a successful application to the President, and its consequences fully seen throughout the State.

This law was believed by the suffrage party to have no binding force. I herewith submit answers to the several questions submitted by the committee, being a true statement of facts, to the best of my knowledge; together with such historical matter as the questions involved, which were well authenticated and believed to be true.

WELCOME B. SAYLES.

WASHINGTON, May 3, 1844.

Then the above-named Welcome B. Sayles made solemn oath that the foregoing testimony, by him subscribed, is, in his belief, true. Before me, EDMUND BURKE,

Chairman of the Select Committee on the Rhode Island Memorial.

No. 14.-(A.)

Proceedings of the mass convention held at Newport, R. I., May 5, 1841.

Whereas it is the undeniable right of the people, at all times, peaceably to assemble for consultation and conference touching the government under which they live, and which they assist in supporting; and independently to utter and set forth, on such occasions of meeting together, their views, sentiments, and plans relative to the correction, as well of defects in the organization of government, as of faults in the administration of the same: We, a portion of the people of this State, now assembled at Newport in mass convention, from all parts of the State, and acting on behalf of the great body of our unenfranchised fellow-citizens, do declare their and our opinions and purposes in the following

RESOLUTIONS:

1. Resolved, That it is repugnant to the spirit of the declaration of American independence, and derogatory to the character of Rhode Island republicans, to acknowledge the charter of a British king as a constitution of political government. While we venerate the illustrious names of Roger Williams and John Clarke, to whose untiring ability and perseverance the colony of Rhode Island was indebted for this grant from the throne of England, so well adapted at the time to the wants of his Majesty's subjects, and so liberal in its concessions,--we are at the same time aware that in almost all respects, excepting the immortal declaration and guaranty of religious freedom, it has become insufficient and obsolete; that it should be laid aside in the archives of the State, and no longer be permitted to subsist as a barrier against the rights and liberties of the people.

2. Resolved, That, in the opinion of this convention, on the occurrence

of the American Revolution, when the ties of allegiance which bound the subjects of this colony to the throne of England were dissolved, the rights of sovereignty, in accordance with the principles of republican government, passed to the whole body of the people of this State, and not to any special or favored portion of the same; that the whole people were and are the just and rightful successors of the British king, and as such were and are enti tled to alter, amend, or annul the form and provisions of government then and now subsisting, with the sole restriction imposed by the constitution of the United States; and, in their original and sovereign capacity, to devise and substitute such a constitution as they may deem to be best adapted to the general welfare.

3. Resolved, That no lapse of time can bar the sovereignty inherent in the people of this State; and that their omission to form a constitution, and their toleration of the abuses under which they have so long labored, are to he regarded as proof of their long suffering and forbearance, rather than as arguments against their power and their capacity to right themselves, whenever, in their opinion, redress from the governments at present subsisting is hopeless.

4. Resolved, That the time has now fully arrived for a vigorous and concentrated effort to accomplish a thorough and permanent reform in the political institutions of this State.

5. Resolved, That a system of government under which the legislative body exercise power undefined and uncontrolled by fundamental laws, according to its own "especial grace, certain knowledge, and mere motion," and limits and restricts, and makes and unmakes the people at its pleasure, is anti-republican, and odious in its character and operations, at war with the spirit of the age, and repugnant to the feelings of every right-minded Rhode Island man, and ought to be abated.

6. Resolved, That the public good imperatively requires that the powers of the legislature, and rights of the citizens, should be defined and fixed by a written State constitution.

7. Resolved, That the representation of the towns in the General Assembly, as originally established by the provisions of the charter of King Charles II, had reference to the then existing population of the same, and was at that time not unfairly adjusted to it; but that, by the great increase of population in the towns, the existing apportionment has become exceedingly une qual and unjust in its operations; and that a new assignment of representatives among the towns, according to population, will be an indispensable article in a constitution for this State. A majority of the representatives to the General Assembly are now elected by towns containing less than onethird of the population of the State; and some of the towns, from twice to twenty times what they are entitled to, under the just principles of distribution above named-an inequality not uncommon in the monarchies of Europe, but, with the single exception of Rhode Island, unknown in the United States.

8. Resolved, That, at the foundation of this State, and long after, property in land was not only the principal property of the citizens, but was so easily attainable, that a landed qualification for voters (first definitely established in the colony by the legislature in 1724) excluded only a small portion of the people from political power; but that the circumstances of the people have since greatly changed, and the existing qualification for voting has the effect, contrary to the designs of those who first established it, of exclu

ding the great majority of 16,000, or 25,000 over the age of twenty-one years, from all political privileges and participation in the affairs of government; and that, although we entertain a high and becoming respect for farmers, and their just influence in the State, we are not insensible to the merits of their younger sons-of the mechanics, the merchants, the working men, and others-who own no land; and that we are of opinion that the longer continuance of a landed qualification for voters is a great injustice, and is contrary to the spirit and principles of a republican government; and that a constitution for this State will be altogether insufficient, unsatisfactory, and impracticable, that does not restore to the body of the people of this State the rights and principles of American citizens.

9. Resolved, That a continuance of the provisions of the charter relating to representation, and of the act of the legislature requiring a freehold estate to entitle a citizen to vote for public officers, has the effect not only to vest the control of the General Assembly, as we have before seen, in less than one third of the population, but, as the voters in this third are only a third part of the whole number of male adult citizens, this further effect also the most odious of all-of placing the control of the Assembly and the State in one ninth part of its adult population; or, in other words, in the hands of less than three thousand men out of twenty five thousand, who are over twenty-one years of age.

10. Resolved, That such a state of things is a bold and hardy defiance of all popular rights, and is a tota! departure from the principles advanced at the first session of the General Assembly in the year 1647, who then solemnly declared and voted that the government of this State should be a democracy.

11. Resolved, That the American system of government is a government of men, and not of property; and that while it provides for the ample protection and safe enjoyment and transmission of property, it confers upon it no political advantages, but regards all men as free and equal, and exacts from them no price for the exercise of their birthright; and that, therefore, the undoubted rights and privileges of the people, as well as the true honor and prosperity of the State, can only be completely obtained and permanently insured by a written constitution, whose framers shall be chosen from the people of the towns, in proportion to population, and which shall be approved and ratified by the people at large; and that, in the exercise of this high act of sovereignty, every American citizen, whose actual permanent residence or home is in this State, has a right to participate. And we accordingly pledge ourselves individually to each other, and collectively to the public, that we will use our unremitting exertions for such a constitution, in the way that has been described.

12. Resolved, That we disclaim all action with or for any political party in this great question of State rights, reserving to ourselves individually our own opinions on all matters of State or national politics, which we call upon no man to sacrifice; and that we heartily invite the earnest co-operation of men of all political parties in the cause which we have at heart, and which we believe to be the cause of liberty, equality, and justice to all men.

13. Resolved, That the General Assembly should have called the convention to frame a constitution in such a manner as to apportion the delegates to the convention among the several towns, according to population, and to give to every American citizen as aforesaid the right of voting for

delegates and for the constitution which may be proposed for the ratification of the people.

14. Resolved, That the friends of reform in each town he requested forthwith to establish an association for the purpose of a better organization for correspondence, and generally for the promotion of the objects of this couvention.

15. Resolved, That a State committee of eleven persons be appointed by this convention to correspond with the associations of the several towns, and to carry forward the cause of reform and equal rights, and to call a convention of delegates to draught a constitution at as early a day as possible.

16. Resolved, That the State committee be requested to obtain, without delay, a list of all the citizens in the several towns who are ready to vote for and sustain a constitution based on the principles herein before declared, and to present the same at the adjourned meeting.

17. Resolved, That the State committee be requested to prepare and send forth an address to the people of this State on the subjects contained in the foregoing resolutions, and to report proceedings at an adjourned meeting.

18. Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be transmitted to the gov ernor, to the lieutenant governor, and to each member of the Senate and House of Representatives, whose attention is especially and respectfully asked to the resolution relative to the call of the convention for framing a constitution.

19. Resolved, That the support and patronage of all the friends of reform are urgently requested in behalf of the "New Age," a newspaper exclusively devoted to the cause which we have this day assembled to promote.

20. Resolved, That these resolutions be signed by the president and secretaries of the convention, and published in the several newspapers throughout the State, and that the publishers be requested to give them a gratuitous insertion in their respective papers.

21. Resolved, That this convention, when it adjourns, will adjourn to meet at Providence on the 5th day of July next.

The following gentlemen were then appointed a State committee, in accordance with the 15th resolution:

Newport county.-Hon. Charles Collins and Hon. Dutee J. Pearce.
Providence county.-Samuel H. Wales and Benjamin Arnold, jr.
Washington county.-Wm. S. Peckham and Sylvester Himes.
Kent county.-Silas Weaver and Emanuel Rice.
Bristol county-Samuel Allen and Benjamin M. Bosworth.

No. 15.-(B.)

Resolutions of the mass convention held at Providence, R. 1., July 5, 1841.

Resolved, That on this, the anniversary (5th July, 1841) of our national independence, we recur, with emotions of deep and patriotic gratitude, to the principles, the measures, and the men of the American Revolution. Resolved, That the doctrines of liberty and equality, first promulgated in modern times by the immortal founders of our State, and re-asserted by

the illustrious author of the declaration of independence, lie at the foundation of all that is just and free in our political institutions; and that the vindication of these doctrines, when impaired, and the development of them in all their force and effect, are duties of the most sacred and imperative obligations, and enjoined upon us by the venerable fathers, who, being dead, yet speak to us, by our character as republicans and as men, and by our regard to the rights and interests of our successors.

Resolved, That, in the language of Jefferson, "It is not only the right, but the duty, of those now on the stage of action, to change the laws and institutions of government, to keep pace with the progress of knowledge, the lights of science, and the amelioration of the condition of society;”– and that "nothing is to be considered unchangeable, but the inherent and unalienable rights of man."

Resolved, That the political institutions of this State have long since lost their character of liberty and equality, which belong to a republic; and that, inasmuch as in the words of Washington, "the basis of our po litical institutions is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions," it has now become the duty of the people of Rhode Island, acting upon the principles which have been recited, and animated by the ex ample of their patriotic ancestors, to apply with a firm hand, without unnecessary delay, and in their original and sovereign capacity, the necessary corrective to existing political evils, by the formation and adoption of a written republican State constitution.

Resolved, "That we unanimously and cordially re-affirm the views, sentiments, and plans" set forth in their resolutions by the convention of the friends of equal rights, held at Newport on the 5th day of May last; and that, inasmuch as the General Assembly of this State, at their last session, in June, have finally decided that the freeholders are exclusively the people of Rhode Island, and have denied to the great majority of the people, so far as it is in their power thus to deny, any participation in the convention to be held in November next, the time has now fully arrived for the people, in their original and sovereign capacity, to exercise their reserved rights; and that we hereby approve the call by the State committee of the people's convention, on the basis of the resolutions aforesaid, at an early day, for the formation of a constitution.

Resolved, That when the constitution, so framed, shall be adopted by a majority of the whole people of the State, by their signatures or otherwise, as the convention may provide, we will sustain and carry into effect said constitution, by all necessary means; and that, so far as in us lies, we will remove all obstacles to its successful establishment and operation: and we hereunto solemnly pledge ourselves to each other and the public.

Resolved, That we hail with pleasure the presence among us of the venerable remnants of our revolutionary worthies; and entertain the hope that they may be spared to witness another anniversary, when they will be deemed not only worthy of shedding their blood for the defence of their country, but of voting for their rulers, and of taking an equal share of the concerns of government.

Resolved, That we enter our solemn protest against the principles upon which the landholders' constitution is called, as by that call a large majority of the people of this State are excluded from a participation in the choice of delegates to frame a constitution, by the provisions of which they are to be governed.