George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 2, 17th edition.

‘ [63] question, for any difference in opinion in matters of

Chap XI.} 1663

religion; every person may at all times freely and fully enjoy his own judgment and conscience in matters of religious concernments.’ The charter did not limit freedom to Christian sects alone; it granted equal rights to the painim, and the worshipper of Fo. To the disciples of Confucius it was, on the part of a Christian prince no more than an act of reciprocal justice; the charter of Rhode Island was granted just one year after the emperor of China had proclaimed the enfranchisement of Christianity among the hundred millions of his people.

No joy could be purer than that of the colonists, when the news was spread abroad, that ‘George Baxter,¹ the most faythful and happie bringer of the charter,’ had arrived. On the beautiful island, long

Nov. 24.

esteemed a paragon for fertility, and famed as one of the pleasantest sea-side spots in the world, the whole body of the people gathered together, ‘for the solemn reception of his majesty's gracious letters patent.’ It was ‘a very great meeting and assembly.’ The letters of the agent ‘were opened, and read with good delivery and attention;’ the charter was next taken forth from the precious box that had held it, and ‘was read by Baxter, in the audience and view of all the people; and the letters with his majesty's royal stamp, and the broad seal, with much beseeming gravity, were held up on high, and presented to the perfect view of the people.’ Now their republic was safe; Massachusetts had denied its separate existence; she must yield to the willing witness of their sovereign. And how could the inhabitants of Rhode Island be otherwise