Note 324 — Chapter XXIII
Reading edition
It is an honorable proof of steadiness of character in the people of Rhode-Island, that they have continued to prosper under this charter for one hundred and seventy years. No interruption of the government has occurred during this long period, and no attempt has been made to resist it. No community ever enjoyed more perfect freedom, and yet none was ever more quiet and obedient to the laws. It is a gratifying evidence, that a truly free government is more stable than any other. The growth of the State has made some provisions of the charter operate unjustly. Providence, for example, with sixteen thousand inhabitants, sends only four representatives to the General Assembly, while Portsmouth, with seventeen hundred inhabitants, sends four, and Newport, with eight thousand, sends six. An attempt was made, a few years since, to obtain a new Constitution, but it did not succeed.