And it is but a branch of this to say, according to my second proposition,—­

2.  That if every thing offered had been proved, if in the nature of the case these facts and proceedings could have been received as proof, the court could not have listened to them, because every one of them is regarded by the State in which they took place as a criminal act.  Who can derive any authority from acts declared to be criminal?  The very proceedings which are now set up here show that this pretended constitution was founded upon acts which the legislature of the State had provided punishment for, and which the courts of the State have punished.  All, therefore, which the plaintiff has attempted to prove, are acts which he was not allowed to prove, because they were criminal in themselves, and have been so treated and punished, so far as the State government, in its discretion, has thought proper to punish them.

3.  Thirdly, and lastly, I say that there is no evidence offered, nor has any distinct allegation been made, that there was an actual government established and put in operation to displace the Charter government, even for a single day.  That is evident enough.  You find the whole embraced in those two days, the 3d and 4th of May.  The French revolution was thought to be somewhat rapid.  That took three days.  But this work was accomplished in two.  It is all there, and what is it?  Its birth, its whole life, and its death were accomplished in forty-eight hours.  What does it appear that the members of this government did?  Why, they voted that A should be treasurer, and C, secretary, and Mr. Dorr, governor; and chose officers of the Supreme Court.  But did ever any man under that authority attempt to exercise a particle of official power?  Did any man ever bring a suit?  Did ever an officer make an arrest?  Did any act proceed from any member of this government, or from any agent of it, to touch a citizen of Rhode Island in his person, his safety, or his property, so as to make the party answerable upon an indictment or in a civil suit?  Never.  It never performed one single act of government.  It never did a thing in the world!  All was patriotism, and all was paper; and with patriotism and with paper it went out on the 4th of May, admitting itself to be, as all must regard it, a contemptible sham!

I have now done with the principles involved in this case, and the questions presented on this record.

In regard to the other case, I have but few words to say.  And, first, I think it is to be regretted that the court below sent up such a list of points on which it was divided.  I shall not go through them, and shall leave it to the court to say whether, after they shall have disposed of the first cause, there is any thing left.  I shall only draw attention to the subject of martial law; and in respect to that, instead of going back to martial law as it existed in England at the time the charter of Rhode Island