Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/131

] Charles I. to his grandfather; this, on his audience with the king, he presented to his majesty, which is said to have materially influenced the king in his favor. On the 23d of April, 1662, he obtained a patent under the great seal, granting the most ample privileges, and confirming to the freemen of the Connecticut colony, and such as should be admitted freemen, all the lands which had been formerly granted to the Earl of Warwick, and by him transferred' to Lord Saye and Sele, and his associates. This charter established over the colony a form of government of the most popular kind, and continued the fundamental law of Connecticut for the space of one hundred and fifty-eight years. "It is remarkable," says an able writer in the North American Review, "that, although it was granted at a period of the world when the rights of the people were little understood and little regarded, and by a sovereign who governed England with a more arbitrary sway than any of his successors, the form of government established by this charter was of a more popular description, and placed all power within the more immediate reach of the people, than the constitution for which it has been deliberately exchanged, in these modern days of popular jealousy and republican freedom." The colony of New Haven was included in the new charter of Connecticut; but the inhabitants for several years refused to consent to the union, till the apprehension of the appointment of a general governor, and of their being united with some other colony, with a charter less favorable to liberty, induced them to yield a reluctant assent.

Clarke, the agent for Rhode Island, having secured the favor of Lord Clarendon, the prime minister, was successful in obtaining the ratification of the charter for Rhode Island. How this little State was originated and increased by refugees from the intolerance of Massachusetts has been already described. Freedom of conscience, and liberty of discussion, had only, upon further experiment, become more dear to its citizens ; they had been exempted from the theological disputes and bloody persecutions that had disgraced Massachusetts, and in their petition to Charles II. they declare "how much it is in their hearts to hold forth a lively experiment, that a most flourishing civil state may stand, and best be maintained with a full liberty of religious concernments." The general terms of the charter differed but little from that of Connecticut, but it contained the especial provision, that "no person within the said colony shall be molested, punished, disquieted, or called in question, for any differences of opinion in matters of religion, who does not actually disturb the civil peace; but that all persons may, at all times, freely enjoy their own consciences in matters of religious concernment, they behaving themselves peaceably and quietly, and not using this liberty to licentiousness and profaneness, nor to the civil injury and outward disturbance of others." A very considerable part of Providence Plantation having been included in the charter of Connecticut, Clarke and Winthrop entered into an agreement