Votes had done all that the mere expression of opinion could do. But underlying every lawful vote was the law which gave it validity, and this law had prescribed the form and manner in which these votes became effective. It had said that while the source of all power was in the people, the people themselves in order to secure progress and guard against revolution had set limits to their authority, and told when, where and for what it should be employed. And now it was seen that there was another government which claimed to be in sole possession of this power, and the moment that the new government attempted to perform its executive functions it found itself face to face with the old. It was evident that one of the two parties must give way or there must be a collision and bloodshed. The first attempt of the Suffragists to organize was made at Providence on the 3d of May, and was repelled. The moral strength was with the charter government which had the chartered companies, the organized militia and a strong body of volunteers at its control. It had also the strong moral support of that clause in the Constitution of the United States which guarantees to every state a republican government and protection against internal violence. Should Federal intervention become necessary, the time and the form of it had been provided for. But it was not needed. We have seen that on the 3d of May the government of Governor, Dorr had attempted to displace the government of Governor King, and failed. On the 18th an attempt was made to seize the Arsenal, which also failed. Men who had grown up side by side in peaceful intimacy, had seized their arms under a strong political excitement, but when the moment for using them came, shrank from the fearful responsibility. Hundreds would have fought gallantly, but no one was prepared to begin. And thus when on the 25th of June an attempt was made to make a stand at Chepachet, the Suffragists gave way at the approach of the State troops, and returned to their homes without shedding a drop of blood. By the 28th of June all was over. The great body of the insurgents went quietly back to their stores and their farms. Their leader was tried for treason and condemned to imprisonment for life. But Rhode Island was not a place where so severe a punishment could be meted out to such an offence. In 1847 an act of general amnesty set him free, and in 1851 he was restored to his political and civil rights. Forgiveness went still further, and his sentence was reversed as illegal and unjust. But the Supreme Court refused to sustain this reversal as an assumption of judicial authority by the Legislature. Dorr's early death left him no time for new aspirations.