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the sole, obstruction to the passing our bill for | prises us extremely, that a request of this granting twenty thousand pounds for the house, respectfully addressed to the governor, king's use, in this time of imminent danger to that he would be pleased to lay before us those the British interest in North America."-Ad- instructions, or such part of them as might reding, May it please the governor, these re- late to the immediate service of the crown, solutions, which are forced from us, we have and to the preservation of this his majesty's entered into with the utmost reluctancy; colony, in order that we might examine how and, in support of them, or any other part of far they interfered with that allegiance the our present conduct, we conceive it our in- proprietaries themselves, and all of us, owe to dispensable duty to conduct ourselves precise- the crown, or with the privileges granted by ly within the bounds of sincerity and sober our charters, should be represented by our goreason, and to avoid every thing that is not in vernor as an act that might have a tendency our opinion necessary to our own just vindi- to alienate the affections of the people of this cation.' province from his majesty's person and government, and thereby greatly obstruct the measures he is taking, at a vast expense, for the preservation and protection of his subjects upon this continent.' That thus contending for the rights granted us by the royal charter, which is the known rule of our conduct, should have a tendency of that kind, under a king, who has been graciously pleased to declare, that nothing in this world can give him so much pleasure as to see his subjects a flourishing and happy people,' is so foreign from our thoughts, and we trust will be so foreign to every impartial construction, that we may safely leave it without any further remarks of our own. But if it should have a tendency to alienate the affections of the people from being bound by private proprietary instructions, the blame is not with us, who have never been consulted upon them; and if we had been consulted, should have thought ourselves obliged to declare, that we have a great dislike to proprietary instructions, and that so far as they are against the prerogatives of the crown, or an infringement of our charter, they are illegal, and void in themselves."

Yet more to manifest their ingenuity, they declared, in the next place, their readiness to retract the whole or any part of these resolves, on being convinced by a sight of the governor's proprietary instructions, which it was still in his power to communicate, that they had entertained a wrong opinion of them; but then, till that should be the case, they presumed the governor himself could not but allow, that they had good reason to say, they were under a necessity of making their humble application to the crown in support of their civil and religious liberties; and to think, as it was most natural they should, that, if this could have been done, it would have been done; as also, that the governor, at their request, would have concurred with them in an address to the proprietaries in support of their charter, as it regarded the royal instructions only; and that, on the contrary, as circumstances were, their apprehensions of the proprietary instructions, and the operation of them, in defeating the bill by which they proposed to demonstrate their readiness and cheerfulness in answering all the reasonable expectations of the crown, could not but be well grounded: so that it was with extreme concern, they found their governor, who was, or ought to be, set over them for their protection, endeavouring to represent them in a light they detested and abhorred.

They then cite sir William Keith's declarations concerning proprietary instructions before inserted; and at the same time intimate, that he was the first governor who gave bond for the performance of them.-In answer to that part of the proprietary instructions which the governor had so cheerfully laid before them, concerning a militia, &c. they begged leave to say, "that, as it requires money to be levied upon the people for providing arms and stores of war, and building magazines, we are of opinion it may be time enough to deliberate upon it, when we are informed how far he is at liberty by his instructions to pass our bills; and whether himself, or the representatives of the people, are the proper judges of the manner of raising such monies. And when these, our civil and religious rights, are secured, we cannot doubt all will rise up as one man in behalf of our king, our country, and our charters, according to our several stations and abilities."

"The governor is but in the beginning of his administration," said they, "and if, when he received the proprietaries' commission, he was, in a great measure, a stranger to our constitution, we apprehend he still continues a stranger not only to our constitution, but to the inhabitants, if he does not certainly know, that the king has not a more loyal people among all his subjects, than the inhabitants are, and have ever been, since the first settlement of this province; nevertheless they are convinced they ought not to be governed by proprietary instructions in opposition to their charter, which is, in our opinion, the foundation and sanction of our civil and religious liberties; and especially if these instructions must be secreted from them, and by Coming then to the governor's state of their that means the whole country left without any revenue, they show, he was as much a stranknown rule of their conduct. And it sur-ger to that as to the people and the constitu

arise, upon a supposal that our whole principal sum of eighty thousand pounds was always yielding an interest; but this has ever been found impracticable, as considerable sums must be continually changing hands, by virtue of our re-emitting acts. Besides which, the province has, out of that principal sum, lent considerable parts of it, without yielding any interest at all; and particularly a debt from the city of Philadelphia, still due upon the first and second thirty thousand pounds' acts, long since expired. And, until that is in our hands, it would be unjust to compute an interest arising from it, or upbraid us with it, as money which ought to have been in our hands by law, whilst some may think we have no power to sue for it by the laws in being.”

tion; and, that instead of having fourteen or fifteen thousand pounds in bank, they could not have above seven thousand pounds; as also, that, what with the very large sums they had paid for the support of government, and for Indian and other expenses, their treasury and loan-office were almost quite exhausted. After which they proceed as follows: "But admitting the governor's computation in all its extent, if twenty thousand pounds, as he is pleased to inform us, will go but a very little way to raise and maintain such troops as he may think necessary, and without which we had better, in his opinion, do nothing at all, how can the inconsiderable sum we have any power over, answer his demands, though we should ruin the persons now outstanding in our loan-office, by the immediate sale of their Again: concerning the royal instructions, lands? we are unwilling to make any further or act of queen Anne, said to have been remarks on this head, which has, we find, shamefully slighted and disregarded in that been heretofore insisted upon by our late go- and the neighbouring provinces, they argued vernor, but carries with it, as we conceive, thus: "the neighbouring provinces must ansuch appearances of severity, without answer-swer for themselves; but, so far as regards ing any good purpose, that we think it our indispensable duty to oppose it, as far as in justice we may; and now more especially, when we have offered a bill which would raise a generous sum of money immediately, for the use of the crown, in a manner that would be most easy and most agreeable to us all. Whilst we are upon this article, as the governor must be in a great measure a stranger to our accounts, we take the liberty to remark, that the proprietary patents make, as we are informed by the trustees, near one half of the mortgages now outstanding. These, after paying for their lands out of the money borrowed from the province, are to improve them with the remainder, if any; and as they must have shelter for themselves at least, however mean, and some land cleared for their subsistence, it necessarily puts them in arrears, let them be ever so honest and industrious; whilst the purchases of such their lands are constantly complied with on granting the patents, the bulk of which, we presume, may have been remitted to Great Britain, and makes a very sensible diminution of the silver and gold current among us: so that all ranks of people, however flourishing the governor may be pleased to represent us, complain justly for want of a due medium to carry on our trade; but as this inquiry is not immediately before us, we shall at present leave it, and proceed to inform the governor yet farther, that his computation of our annual income is also too high; for as our excise, communibus annis,yields about three thousand pounds (out of which five hundred pounds is yearly applied towards sinking the sum of five thousand pounds, heretofore granted to the king's use) the interest payable into the loan-office is much about the same sum; and his error in the last article, we presume, might

this colony, we find, by the votes of the house, that whilst col. Thomas had the act before him, for emitting and re-emitting eighty thousand pounds, this very act of the sixth of queen Anne was considered, debated, and so fully explained, that although exchange was then higher than at this time, he (who was undoubtedly under the same oaths and bonds to observe the acts of trade with our present governor) after mature deliberation, gave his assent to that act on the nineteenth of May, 1739; which, after having been recommended by the merchants in England trading to this province, as an act not only reasonable, but likewise necessary for carrying on the commerce of this country," the king was pleased to confirm it in a full council on the twelfth day of May following. What then the governor does, or can mean, by saying, we know that this province has shamefully slighted a royal instruction, intended to enforce an act of the sixth of queen Anne, is what we are entirely at a loss to imagine; neither can we conceive any good reason, why our governor should choose to call our bill for granting twenty thousand pounds for the king's use, a bill for striking forty thousand pounds, without any further explanation, though that bill had been repeatedly under his consideration. It would be, perhaps, too unkind to suppose, as the bill itself, and the contents of it, would in all probability be unknown to our superiors, further than the grant to the crown, he could have the least intention to misrepresent the purport of it, and for this reason we leave it entirely to his own reflection. The title of that bill is, "an act for striking forty thousand pounds in bills of credit, and for granting twenty thousand pounds thereof to the king's use, and to provide a fund for sinking the same; and for ap

plying the remainder to the exchange of torn | contented themselves, from motives of pruand ragged bills now current in this pro- dence and moderation, with barely pointing vince; and the governor well knows, it out this transaction, in hopes our honourable adds no more to our paper-currency than the proprietaries would see themselves at least very twenty thousand pounds granted the equally concerned with the representatives of king, and even that struck for no other rea- the people both in fact and right, and thereby son than to answer the immediate call of the might be induced to join cordially with the crown, and to make the grant effectual." people of this province, in vindicating our charter from the continual infraction of such instructions; which, if they must operate in the manner the governor is pleased to contend for, and our proprietary instructions must be binding upon us also, the rights derived to us by the royal charter is a name only, whilst the very essence of it is effectually destroyed: under the sanction of which charter, a sober, industrious people, without any charge to the crown or the proprietary, first settled this wilderness, and by their frugality, and the equity of their laws, laid the foundation of a flourishing colony, which already, within the ordinary life of a man, has made a considerable addition to the dominions of the crown, by an increase of dutiful and loyal subjects, and bears no mean rank in contributing to the wealth and trade of our mother country.

In answer to the governor's assertion, that the French were already in possession of part of their province, they instance the language constantly used here at home: to wit, that the French had invaded his majesty's territories in Virginia; as also a map then lying before them, founded on authorities supplied by the board of trade and their own proprietaries, wherein every fort built by the French is placed beyond the western boundaries of Pennsylvania; and they again took refuge behind the cautions so minutely expressed and strongly insisted upon, in the first letter from the secretary's office, urging, that while the two crowns were still in a state of amity, it could answer no good purpose to contravene them; and that the king himself, having most graciously interposed, it would be more prudent and becoming to consider him as the most proper judge of the limits of his own dominions.

In their next section, they dispute the probability and almost the possibility of the arrival of such a body as six thousand of the best troops of France at the lower fort upon the Ohio, as asserted by the governor; insinuate, that such accounts would have deserved more credit, if they had been transmitted from Oswego, near which they must have necessarily passed; and from whence very minute intelligence was received of the passage of those forces which first laid the foundation of the enemy's strength upon the Ohio; and leave the fact to rest upon its own evidence. After this referring to their dispute with governor Hamilton, and the information they gave him of an instruction from the crown, not to pass any private act, or act of privilege to any individual, without a suspending clause, which had never been enforced by the proprietaries, or observed by any governor, they plead a necessity of informing the governor, though with great reluctance, "That in the year 1735, governor Gordon passed an act for vesting more effectually certain lands in George M'Call, in direct contradiction to that instruction, without the least mention of a sus pending clause."

And with an elevation of sentiment, style, and manners, seldom seen in public papers, they finish their reply as follows:

"As we have reason to believe the assembly was then acquainted with that instruction, and as the bill particularly related to our honourable proprietaries, our last assembly, notwithstanding the indiscreet call upon them,

"Whether the above act for granting five thousand pounds for the king's use, or the act for vesting lands in George M'Call, were ever sent home for the royal approbation, very little concerns us, as we presume the transmitting our acts is the immediate duty of our proprietaries, or their lieutenants, in pursuance of the royal charter, which we look upon as the anterior solemn royal instruction, for the rule of their conduct, as well as of our own.

"Upon the whole, from what we have said, we presume it evidently appears, that proprietary instructions and restrictions upon their governors, as they have occasionally been made a part of the public records at different times, have been judged and resolved by our governor, council, and the representatives of the people, either,

"1. Inconsistent with the legal prerogative of the crown settled by act of parliament.

"2. Or a positive breach of the charter of privileges to the people.

"3. Or absurd in their conclusions, and therefore impracticable.

"4. Or void in themselves.-Therefore, "Whenever the governor shall be pleased to lay his proprietary instructions before us for our examination, and if then they should appear to be of the same kind as heretofore, his good judgment should lead him to conclude, that such considerations in life' as our allegiance to the crown, or the immediate safety of the colony, &c. are sufficient inducements for him to disobey them, notwithstanding any penal bonds to the contrary, we shall cheerfully continue to grant such further sums of money for the king's use, as the cir

cumstances of the country may bear, and in a | science to disavow resistance by force; those manner we judge least burdensome to the inhabitants of this province."

Lastly, that they might be able to set all imputation and misrepresentation whatsoever at defiance, they applied themselves to find out some expedient, by which the service recommended to them by the crown might be promoted as far as in them lay, even without the concurrence of the governor. In order to which, having thoroughly weighed the contents of sir Thomas Robinson's last letter, and the state of the provincial treasury in which there was scarce five hundred pounds remaining, they unanimously resolved to raise five thousand pounds on the credit of the province, for the accommodation of the king's troops; and impowered certain members of their own to negotiate the loan, and allow such interest as should be found necessary.

expressions, he would needs have it, had the tendency he ascribed to them; because, "he very well knew how fond the people were of their currency, and how averse to any restraint upon it." He endeavoured to embroil them with the crown, for having called the instruction in question, an infraction of the royal charter. He reproached them both with ingratitude and with injustice, for being pleased to be angry with their proprietaries. In vindicating the affections of those gentlemen to the province, he derived his argument from their interest in it; and he is peremptory, that, instead of entertaining designs to invade the just rights and privileges of the inhabitants, there was nothing they so much detested and abhorred; he adhered to the resolution he had taken, nevertheless, not to lay his instructions before them at that time; being sensible they were no way necessary, and that the assembly, having already declared them destructive to their liberties, they were not in a proper temper for the consideration of them; to show he was not reAccordingly, down came another message strained by proprietary instructions from passfrom him, in which he complains to the as- ing bills for the defence of the country, he sembly, of the very great obscurity, unneces- declares himself ready to pass a law for esta sary repetitions, and unmeaning paragraphs blishing a militia, &c. and for emitting any contained in their last performance; and sum in paper-money, on proprietary terms; through the whole, manifests that spirit of that is to say, on such funds as might sink perverseness, which is but too prevalent with the same in five years. He perseveres in inost men on the like occasions. Of the in-maintaining, that the act of the sixth of accuracies before acknowledged in the performance (and which are perhaps unavoidable in pieces drawn up from a variety of suggestions, and subject to a variety of alterations and additions,) he takes all the advantage he can; and does indeed foul the water, though he cannot divert the current.

The controversy, however, which this new governor had been so ingenious as to work up to such a pitch in so short a time, was, by the continuance of the same ingenuity, to be still continued as warm as ever.

It would be endless to wade through all the minutenesses of so tedious a contest; and odds if the reader did not leave the writer in the midst of it.

queen Anne had been shamefully slighted even in their province; because pieces of eight were then, and had been, for many years past, current at seven shillings and sixpence; whereas, according to that act, they should pass for six shillings only as if money, like all other commodities, would not find and fix its own value, in spite of all the precautions and provisions the wit of man could invent. He also maintained, that, on a re-examination of the provincial accounts, their revenue To be as concise as possible, therefore: his was seven thousand three hundred and eighpaper is as insidious as that of the assembly ty one pounds per annum, clear of the five was candid and open. He would not allow hundred pounds per annum for sinking the five that he had promised them a sight of his in- thousand pounds, formerly given for the king's structions, with regard to their bill for grant- use; and, that the sums due, and which, by ing twenty thousand pounds to the king; the laws in being, should have been paid in which was so far true, because he could have the September preceding, amounted at least none regarding that particular measure; he to fourteen thousand pounds. He averred, would not allow that he had represented they could not but be sensible that the twentheir application for those instructions, as hav-ty thousand pounds currency they proposed ing a tendency to alienate the affections of to give, and called a generous sum, was very the people from the king; which was also insufficient to answer the exigence, and that true, because such his representation had been confined to the expressions they had made use of concerning the invasion of their civil and religious liberties; the last of which is indeed no otherwise to be accounted for, than by the demand made upon them, to establish a militia, and thereby oblige those to carry arms, who made it a point of conVOL. II.... . I

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it was not two pence in the pound, upon the just and real value of the estates of the province; and, in short, he said whatsoever else occurred to him, which could favour his purpose of figuring here at home: as if he was in all respects right, and the assembly in all respects wrong.

Argumentatively then, if not historically,

sembly now thought it high time to make their appeal; in humble confidence, that a fair and modest state of their case, would recommend them to the royal protection, and skreen them from the malignity of their adversaries.

That the governor, however, might not, in the mean time, remain ignorant of their sentiments, they made another application to him by message; in which they apprised him of what they had done, and of their joining issue with him in submitting their cause to his ma

we have now the merits of the case before us, and may safely pronounce, that, if instructions may or can be construed into laws, instructions are then of more value than proclamations, which do not pretend to any such authority. That, though grants from the crown are in the first instance matter of grace, the subject may claim the benefit of them as matter of right. That when the prerogative has once laid any restraint on itself, nothing short of a positive act of forfeiture, or act of parliament, can authorize any species of resumption. That if a subsequent instruc-jesty's decision; as also, of their inclination to tion may cancel or obviate an original grant, adjourn till May, for the sake of their own pricharters, under all the sanctions the preroga- vate affairs, to relieve the province from the tive can give them, are no better than quick- expense they sat at, and suspend the uneasands.-That in the charter given to William siness which a contest, like to be endless, and Penn, Esq. and solemnly accepted as the ba- in which they were treated with so little desis of government, by his followers, there is no cency, had given to them. And having thus, reserve on the behalf of the crown, to tie up as they observed, reduced what immediately the province from making the same use of its concerned them, within a narrow compass, credit, which is the privilege of every private they first declare, it was hard for them to consubject. That, notwithstanding all the pre-jecture, how the governor came by his knowtended sacro-sanctitude of an instruction, pro- ledge of the people's fondness of their currenbationary at first, neither renewed or refer- cy, and aversion to restraints on that head; red to, directly or indirectly, by his majesty seeing they had not petitioned for any increase or his ministers afterwards, and virtually dis- of it, nor the assembly offered any such bill, charged by a subsequent act of parliament, during his administration, except that which which expressly restrained some colonies, comprehended the sum given for the king's and consequently left the rest in possession use, and that only as the best method they of their ancient liberty, the governor was no- could devise for making the grant effectual. toriously ready to dispense with it on proprie- On the behalf of the late assemblies, they next tary terms. That the difference between insinuate, that when they did offer such bills five and ten years for sinking the bills, was a they were but for a very moderate sum, foundpoint in which the national interest had no con- ed on minute calculations of their trade, and cern. That if the eastern colonies, which guarded against the danger of depreciation, were those restrained by the said act, might by such securities as long experience had nevertheless, in case of exigence, make new shown to be effectual. Proceeding then to issues of paper-money, those unrestrained the governor's re-assertion concerning the might surely do the same in the like case, on shameful slights put on the money-act of such terms, and after a mode, as appeared queen Anne, they appeal to the testimony of most reasonable to themselves.-That, accord- the board of trade in favour of their own as ing to all the representations of the governor a reasonable act, and the royal sanction given to the assembly, if true, the fate of the pro- thereto, by which it is declared, that their vince, if not of the public, depended on their provincial bills of credit are lawful money of giving a supply.-That, consequently, no exi- America, according to the said act of queen gency could be more pressing than the pre- Anne; as also to the course of exchange ever sent, nor emission of paper-money better since, as a full confutation of his charge. warranted. And that he could, nevertheless, They further plead a necessity to differ from leave the province exposed to all the calami-him in his state of the public money; assure ties which that exigence could possibly bring upon it, or upon the service in general, rather than give up one proprietary item: whereas the difficulty imposed upon the people manifestly was, either to be a prey to their invaders, or give up every privilege that made their country worth defending: which shows, in the fullest, clearest, and most unanswerable manner, that all proprietary interposition between the sovereign and subject, is alike injurious to both; and that the solecism of an imperium in imperia, could hard-the following spirited manner: ly be more emphatically illustrated.

him the computations he relied upon were made without skill, or a sufficient knowledge of their laws; adhere to the justice and rectitude of their own state; maintain, that by the laws in being, seven thousand pounds was the most they had power over, which sum, since their last settlement, had been greatly reduced by the very heavy charges of government; and, having recapitulated what the governor had been pleased to say concerning the insufficiency of their grant, &c. conclude in

"What the governor may think sufficient,

To the crown, under this difficulty, the as-is as much a mystery to us, as he may appre