council of state authorized thereto having brought a fleete and force before James cittie in Virginia to reduce that collonie under the obedience of the commonwealth of England, and finding force raised by the governour and countrey to make opposition against the said ffleet whereby assured danger appearinge of the ruine & destruction of the plantation, for prevention whereof the Burgesses of all the sever. all plantations being called to advise & assist therein, uppon long & serious debate, and in sad contemplation of the great miseries & certain destruction which were soe neerely hovering over the whole countrey; We the said Commissioners have thought fitt & condescending & granted to signe & 'confirme under our hands, seales & by our oath, Articles bearinge date with theise presents, and do further declare that by the authoritie of the parliament & commonwealth of England derived unto us their commissioners, that according to the articles in generall wee have granted an act of indempnitie & oblivion to all the inhabitants of this coloney from all words, actions, or writings that have been spoken acted or writt against the parliament or commonwealth of England or any other person from the beginning of the world to this day. And this we have done 'that all the inhabitants of the collonie may live quietly & securely under the commonwealth of England. And we do promise that the parliament and commonwealth of England shall confirm & make good all those transactions of ours, Witness our hands & seales this 12 of March 1651. Richard Bennett....Seale. Wm. Claiborne....Seale. Edm. Curtis.....Seale."

The colony supposed, that by this solemn convention, entered into with arm's in their hands, they had secured the ancient limits of their country, its free tradet, its exemption from taxation but by their own assembly, and exclusion of military force** from among them. Yet in every of these points was this convention violated by subsequent kings and parliaments, and other infractions of their constitution, equally dangerous committed.... Their general assembly, which was composed of the council of state and burgesses, sitting together and deciding by plurality of voices, was split into two houses, by which the council obtained a separate negative on their laws. Appeals from their supreme court, which had been fixed by law in their general assembly, were arbitrarily revoked to England, to be there heard before the king and council. Instead of four hundred miles on the sea coast, they were reduced, in the space of thirty years, to about one hundred miles. Their trade with foreigners was totally suppressed, and when carried to Great Britain, was there loaded with imposts. It is unnecessary, however, to glean up the several instances of injury, as scattered through American and British history, and the more especially as, passing on to the accession of the present king, we shall find specimens of them all, aggravated, multiplied and crowded within a small compass of time, so as to evince a fixed desin of considering our rights natural, con

An a. chartered as mere nullities. The der of the countrome of the first fifteen years "Whereas by the

ment wee the commissi、 Art. 8.

** Art 8.

arms.

of his reign The colonies were taxed internally and externally; their essential interests sacrificed to individuals in Great-Britain; their legislatures suspended; charters annulled; trials by juries taken away; their persons subjected to transportation across the Atlantic, and to trial before foreign judicatories; their supplications for redress thought beneath answer; themselves published as cowards in the councils of their mother country and courts of Europe; armed troops sent amongst them to enforce submission to these violences; and actual hostilities commenced against them. No alternative was presented but resistance, or uncon-, ditional submission. Between these could be no hesitation. They closed in the appeal to They declared themselves independent states. They confederated together into one great republic; thus securing to every state the benefit of an union of their whole force. In each state separately a new form of government was established. Of ours particularly the following are the out-lines. The executive powers are lodged in the hands of a governor, chosen annually, and incapable of acting more than three years in seven. He is assisted by a council of eight members. The judiciary powers are divided among several courts, as will be hereafter explained. Legislation is exercised by two houses of assembly, the one called the house of Delegates, composed of two members from each county, chosen annually by the citizens possessing an estate for life in 100 acres of uninhabited land, or 25 acres with a house on it, or in a house or lot in some town: the other

called the Senate, consisting of 24 members, chosen quadrenially by the same electors, who for this purpose are distributed into 24 districts. The concurrence of both houses is necessary to the passage of a law. They have the ap pointment of the governor and council, the judges of the superior courts, auditors, attorney-general, treasurer, register of the land office, and delegates to congress. As the dis. memberment of the state had never had its confirmation, but on the contrary, had always been the subject of protestation and complaint, that it might never be in our own power to raise scruples on that subject, or to disturb the harmony of our new confederacy, the grants to Maryland, Pennsylvania, and the two Carolinas, were ratified.

This constitution was formed when we were new and unexperienced, in the science of gov ernment. It was the first too which was formed in the whole United States. No wonder then that time and trial have discovered very capital defects in it.

1. The majority of the men in the state, who pay and fight for its support, are unrepresented in the legislature, the roll of freeholders entitled to vote not including generally the half of those on the roll of the militia, or of the taxgatherers.

2. Among those who share the representation, the shares are very unequal. Thus the county of Warwick, with only 100 fighting. men, has an equal representation with the county of Loudon which has 1746. So that every man in Warwick has as much influence

in the government as 17 men in Loudon. But lest it should be thought that an equal intersper sion of small among large counties, through the whole state, may prevent any danger of injury to particular parts of it, we will divide it into districts, and shew the proportions of land, of fighting men, and of representation in each:

An inspection of this table will supply the place of commentaries on it. It will appear at once that 19,000 men, living below the falls of the rivers, possess half the senate, and want four members only of possessing a majority of the house of delegates; a want more than supplied by the vicinity of their situation to the seat of government, and of course the greater degree of convenience and punctuality with which their members may and will attend in the legislature. These 19,000 therefore, living in one part of the country, give law to upwards of 30,000 living in another, and appoint all their chief officers executive and judiciary. From

*Of thefe 542 are on the Eaftern shore.

+O thefe, 22,616 are callward of the meridian of the north of the Great Kanhaway.