g _substantially_ the
_same_ provision--whether their constitution shall be carried out by
_force of arms without_ a majority, or the present government be
supported _until_ a constitution can be agreed upon that will command
a majority. Neither their constitution nor ours has as yet received a
majority of the free white males over 21 years of age. _There is no
doubt upon that subject_, and I very much regret that your mind should
have been influenced (if it has) by the paper called the Express. Nearly
all the leaders who are professional men have abandoned them, on the
ground that a majority is not in favor of their constitution. I _know_
this to be true. I do hope that you will reconsider this vital question
and give us a full hearing before you decide.

With great respect, very truly and sincerely, yours,

JOHN WHIPPLE.

His Excellency JOHN TYLER,

_President of the United States_:

The undersigned, having been deputed by Samuel W. King, the governor
of the State of Rhode Island, to lay before you the present alarming
condition in which the people of that State are placed, and to request
from you the adoption of such prudential measures as in your opinion may
tend to prevent domestic violence, beg leave most respectfully to state
the following among the leading facts, to which your attention is more
particularly invited:

That the people of Rhode Island have no fundamental law except the
charter of King Charles II, granted in 1663, and the usage of the
legislature under it. Legislative usage under their charters has been
decided by the Supreme Court of the United States to be the fundamental
law both in Connecticut and Rhode Island.

That from the date of the Rhode Island charter down to the year 1841, a
period of nearly two hundred years, no person has been allowed to vote
for town or State offices unless possessed of competent estates and
admitted free in the several towns in which they resided.

That since the statute of 1728 no person could be admitted a freeman of
any town unless he owned a freehold estate of the value fixed by law
(now $134) or was the eldest son of such a freeholder.

That until the past year no attempt has been made, to our knowledge, to
establish any other fundamental law, by force, than the one under which
the people have lived for so long a period.

That at the January session of the legislature in 1841 a petition signed
by five or six hundred male inhabitants, praying for