History of Delaware : 1609-1888, Part 22

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia : L. J. Richards
Number of Pages: 776

USA > Delaware > History of Delaware : 1609-1888 > Part 22

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"XIV. Inni kennes on legal conviction, fine of five shillings, or five day - in work-heter on bread and water; second and each subsequent uff .h-s, dontle penalty. 'And be it Vated further, by the authority atorroad, that they who do enfer such evers of drinking at their holtses shall be holde to the same prin-hment with the drunkard.' Drinking health, as cotulurive to hand drinking, is subject to five of five shillings.

HISTORY OF DELAWARE.

The penalty for selling rum to Indians is a fine of five p nads. Arson is punished with Amercement of double the value destroyed, corporal punishment at discretion of the beach, and a year . impri-nintent. House-breaking and larceny demand fourteld satisfaction and clover months in work-honse; if offender be not able to make pat ate in, thea seven years' imprisonment. All thieves required to make fourtold sata- faction ; forcibly entry to be treated as a breach of th . prace, aud satis- fa tion to be made for it. Hiating is an offenen what h cont be copinntted by three persons, and is planshed according to common lin avlthe ben ch'a discretion. Viole ner to parents, lo tuprisonment in work-hear st pa- rout's pleasure ; to magistrates, tiue at discretion of com'r and a month in work-bonse ; usaults by betvanty on masters, penalty at duer-tion uf the court, so also with assault and battery.

"XXVII. Challenges to duels and acceptance of challenge defind a penalty of five rounds fine and three months in work holise. Rule and riotons sports, "prizes, etage plays, micks, revela, ball-trap's, oak Feht- ing, with such like,' are treated as breaches of the praco ; penalty toa days in work-house, or fine of twenty shillings. tout mes, etc. fre of five shillings, or five days in the work-huidise, spoken or written sedi. to .: incurred a fine of not less than twenty shillings; bghting 452tage of or towards the mugi-tracy, penalty, not less than twenty sin'ings, five or ten days in the work-house.

" XXXII. slanderers, wandal-mongers, und spreaders of filse newswa to be treated as peace-breakers; persons clamorous, scolding, or Lading with their tongue, when convicted "on full proof," are to get the House of Correction for three days.

"XXXIV. The statute for the encouragement of marriage in as it was quoted above in the laws adopted in England, 'but ' (a> X7 ) 'ne perzon, be it either widower or widow, shall contract marriage, much less marrv. under one year after the deccase of his wife or her husband.'

"XXXVI. " If any person shall fall into decry and poverty, and be unable to maintain themselves and children with their honest eudeaver, or who shall die and leave poor orphans, upon comphunt to the next justice of the peace of the sind county, the saul justice finding the com- platut to be true, shall make provision for them in such way as they shall see convenient till the next county court, and then care shall he taken for their comfortable subsistence.'

"XXXVIL, etc. 'To prevent exartion in public-houses, strong beer and ale of barley-malt shall be sold for not above two pennies per Win- chester quart ; molasses beer one peuny ; a bushel uitat contain eight gallons, Winchester measure, all weights to be avoudnpois of sixteen ounces to the pound ; all ontinaries must be heensed by the Governor, and, to insure reasonable accommodation, travelers nittst not le charged more than sixpence per head for each meal, including meats and sttt ill- beer ; footmen to pay not over two pence per night for beds, horseinen nothing, but the charge for a horse's hay to be sixpence per night.

"XL. 'The days of the week and the months of the year shall be called as in Scripture, and not by heathen names sis are vulgarly used), as the first, second, and third days of the week, and first, second, and third months of the year, etc., beginning with the day called sunday, and the month called March,'

"Sections XLI. to LXIX, and the end of this code are substantially repeated from the code of laws adopted in England, which have already been analyzed on a preceding page. They relate to the adnanistration of justice, the courts, testamentary law, registration, and the purity of elections. Only a few additions and changes have been made, and there simply for the sake of mure perspiemity and clearer interpretation."

After the meeting of the Assembly, Penn set out on December 11th to go to visit Lord Balti- timore, with whom he had an appointment for the 19th. The meeting took place at West River, where Penn was courteously and hospitably enter- tained. Nothing was accomplished, however, in the way of settling the boundary dispute, beyond a general discussion of the subject. Baltimore contended for what his charter gave him ; Penn holding firm upon his purchase, the King's letter, and the phrase of the Calvert charter confining its operations to lands hitherto moecupied, a posi- tion in which Penn and the Virginian Claiborne took common ground. The issue of fart as to whether the Delaware Hundreds were settled or unsettled in 1634, could not be determined then and there, even if the contending partie- should agree to rest their case upon that point, as neither would do. The proprietaries finally parted, agree- ing to meet again in March, and each went home to write out his own views and his own account of

the interview to the Lords of the Committo. Placnations. On his way to Chester, Penn stopy to visit the flourishing settlement of Friends Anne Armudel am! Talbot Counties, Marylit. reaching his destination on the 29th.

The year 16e3 was a very busy one for Willis Penn. A great Dumber of colonists arrived, buil., ing was very actively going on, division .; land wong purchasers was a source of mine, care and perplexity, the lines and bounds an . strce:s of the new city required to be readjuste .. the Council and Assembly had to be newly elect. ; and organized, with much important lezi-lativ. business before them, and there were besides, thu boundary question and interviews with Lord Bal- timore, Indian land treaties with their tedious pri- imivary coneils and pow-wows, and in addition to all this an extensive and exacting correspond ence. Penn, however, was equal to it all, and maintained his health, spirits, and energy remark- ably well. He even found time to make an exten- sive tour through his territories, visited the Indian tribes in friendship with them, curiously studied their manners and customs, and even picked up a smattering of their tongue. Penn was more am nore pleased with his province the more he saw of it. and was elated with the great work he had set in motion, even while he eonhl not conceal from him- self that his new province was going to prove ditfi- cult for him to govern, and that his liberal expen- ditures in behalf of its settlement would eventually plunge him deep in pecuniary embarrassments.

The Governor appointed new sheriff's for the several counties, and ordered them to issue writ- for a new election of members of the Provincial Couneil and General Assembly. The "act of settlement," or frame of government provisionally adopted by the first Legislature in its brief session at Upland, or Chester, had arranged for the elec- tion of a Council of twelve persons from each county, and a General Assembly to consist of not more than two hundred freemen. The people of the counties, however, thought that this would be too heavy a drain upon a scattered and as vet seanty population, especially at times when labor seemed to be of more value than law-making, and accordingly they simply went outside the charter and elected twelve members from each county. three of whom were designated to serve in the Provincial Conneil, the rest to act as members of the General 1 -- embly.

The Legislature met for the first time in Phila- delphia, the Council and Governor coming together on the 10th of March, 1683, the General Assembly two day- later. The members of the Council were: William Markham, Thomas Hohne, Lasse Cach. Christopher Taylor, James Harrison, William Biles, John Simcock, William Clayton, Ralph Withers, William Haige, John Moll, Edmund

DELAWARE UNDER WILLIAM PENN.

Cantwell, Francis Whitwell. John Richardson. John Hilliard. William Clark, Edward southrin, and John Roads. The members of the Assembly, from the three lower counties on the Delaware, were: NewCastle .- John Cann, John Darby, Val- entine Hollingsworth, Gasparus Herman, John Dehraef, James Williams, William Guest. Peter Alriebs, Hendrick Williams. Kent .- John Briggs, Simon Irons, Thomas Ha->kl. John Curtis, Robert Bedwell, William Windsmore. John Brinkloe, Daniel Brown, Benoni Bishop. Susser .- Luke Watson, Alexander Draper. William Fletcher, Henry Bowman, Alexander Moleston, John Hill, Robert Bracy, John Kipshaven, Cornelius Ver- hoof.

were determined this should be done, in spite of Dr. More's suggestion about impeachment. On the 15th, John Richardson was fined for being " dis- ordered in Drink," and reprovedl. The question of giving Governor and Council authority to pre- pare all bills was finally settled affirmatively, but apparently only after considerable debate. On the 16th, Dr. More, of the Society of Free Traders, wrote to ask such an interpretation of the law against fornication as applicable to servants as would be " more consistent w " the Mr. & Mrs. Inter- est." This was the first utterance of a corporation in Pennsylvania, and it was not on the side of hu- manity or morality, but of the " master and mis- tress' interests,"-the society did not care how severely servants were punished for their viees, so that the punishment was not such as to deprivethe corporation of their services.

At the first meeting of the Council in Philadel- phia, March 10, 1683, Penn took the chair and sixteen of the eighteen councilors were present. The sheriff's of the different counties . Edmund Among the earliest bills prepared for submitting to the General 1-sembly were the following: A bill for planting flax and hemp, for building a twenty-four by sixteen feet House of Correction in each county, to hinder the selling of servants into other provinces and to prevent runaways, a bill about passes, about burning woods and marshes, to have cattle marked and ereet bounds, about fenc- Eu. ing, showing that servants and stock gave the set- tlers more concern than anything else. The coun- try was so large and free that it was difficult to .to retain people in any sort of bondage, and, where nineteen-twentieths of the land was uninclosed and SEAL OF PHILADELPHIA IN 1683. free to all sorts of stoek. it was necessary to fence in improved and cultivated tracts to save the erops from destruction. These bills and other matters were given in charge of the various committees into which the Council now began to divide itself. On the 19th the Speaker and a committee of the As- sembly reported the bill of settlement (charter or Constitution), with " divers amendments," which were yielded to by the Governor and Council, and other amendments suggested. The Duke of York's laws and the fees charged in New York and " Dela- ware " were also considered in this connection ; finally, on the 20th, there was a conference between the Governor and the two Houses, " and then the question being asked by the Gov' whether they would have the old charter or a new one, they unani- mou-ly desired there might be a new one, with the amendm" putt into a Law, wh is past." Other bills introduced at this time looked to regulating county courts, protected bills of exchange, post- sions, " sailor's wracks," acts of oblivion, "coulds," -eizure of goods, limits of courts in criminal cases, marriage by magistrates, executors and adminis- trator-, limiting the credit public-houses may give to twenty shillings, protecting landmarks, car- marks, and eatthe-brands. Also bills requiring hogs to be ringed, coroners to be appointed in each Cantwell for New Castle, Peter Baucomb for Kent, and John Vines for Sussex) were called in and made their returns respecting the election. The rules were of the simplest : the Governor ordered those speaking to do so standing. one at a time, and facing the chair, and the men- bers agreed upon a rira roce vote in all ex- eept personal matters. When these arose the vote was to be by ballot. The question of the power of eleetors to change the number of representatives without modifying the charter at onee arose, when Penn answered that they might "amend, alter, or add for the Publick good, and that he was ready to settle such Founda- tions as might be for their happiness and the good of their Posterities, according to ye powers vested in him." Then the Assembly chose a Speaker, and there was an adjournment of Council till the 12th. At the session of Council of that day noth- ing seems to have been done beyond compelling Dr. Nicholas More, president of the Society of Free Traders, to appear and apologize for having abused Governor, Council, and General Assembly " in company in a publick house. . . . as that they have this day broken the charter, and therefore all that you do will come to nothing & that hundreds in England will curse you for what you have done & their children after them, and that you may - hereafter be impeacht for Treason for what you do." Dr. More's apologies were ample, as became such a determined conservative. The next day's session was occupied with improvement of the rules and suggestions as to amending the charter. It was obvious that the freemen of the province county, regulating wages of servants without in-

HISTORY OF DELAWARE.

denture, bail-bonds, and summoning grand juries. There were offered likewise a law of weights, and a bill fixing the punishment for man-laughter, and it was ordered that the seal of Philadelphia County be the anchor, of Backs County a tree and vine, of Chester a plow, of New Castle a castle, of Kont three ears of Indian corn, and of' Sussex a sheaf of wheat. The pay of Councilors was fixed at three shilling-, and Assemblymen two shillings sixpence per diem, the expenses of government to be met by a land- tax. On April 2, 1653, " the Great Charter of this province was this night read, signed, sealed and delivered by ye Goy' to ye inhabitants, and re-

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SEAL OF KENT CO., 1683. SEAL OF SUSSEX CO., 1683.

eeived by ye hands of James Harrison and ye Speaker, who were ordered to return ye old one wth ye hearty thanks of ve whole house, which accord- ingly they did." Then on the 3d. after passing some minor laws, the chief of which was to prohibit the importation of felons, the Assembly adjourned "till sueh time as the Governor and Provincial Council shall have occasion for them."

The new charter, Constitution, bill of settle- ment, or frame of government was modeled upon the plan originally proposed by Penn. It retain- ed in the hands of Governor and Council the authority to originate bills, but in other respects it deviated materially from the conditions of the old charter. The Council was to consist of three, and the General Assembly of six members from each county. The members of Council served one, two, and three years respectively. A provi- sion was introduced looking to increase of repre- sentation in proportion to the growth of popula- tion. The whole legi-lative body was to be called the General Assembly, and all bills becoming acts were to be ealled acts of such Assembly, and the Lower Hou-e was not to adjourn until it had acted upon the business before it. It was, more- over, distinctly implied in the language of the eharter that some of the rights and prerogatives enjoyed by Penn under it were to cease with his life; they were concession- to his character and his labors for the province, and not a final surren- der of freemen's rights. In return Pean con- firmed all in all their liberties, and pledged him- - self to insure to all the inhabitants of the province the quiet possession and peaceable enjoyment of their lands and estates.

The Governor and Conneil were in what lov be called continuous session, since the charter x quired that the Governor or his deputy -huit always preside in the Provincial Council, " ... that he shall at no time therein perforin any ac of State whatsoever that -hall or may relate un the justice, trade. treasury, or safety of the pr vince and territories aforosaid, but by and with. the advice and eon-ent of the Provincial Coune .. thereof." The Assembly, however, did not meet again until October 24th, when, after a two day- session, devoted to business legislation and pro- viding that country produce could be taken in lien of currency, it adjourned. The busines. before the Council during 1683 was mainly of a routine character. The people and officials were too busily vecupied in out-door work -- building. planting, surveying, laying off manors and town- ships and treating with Indians-to have time to spare for records and debates. Nicholas More, of the Society of Free Traders, was made presi- dent of Council.

At the Council held in Philadelphia on the 29th of January, 1683, John Moll represented New Castle County in the Council, Francis Whit- well, Kent, and William Clarke. Sussex. The committee of the Assembly were James Williane. of New Castle County : Benony Bi-hop, Kent ; and Luke Watson, Sussex. The next Assembly met at Lewes on the 2dl of March, but only routine business was transacted. Early in the year 1684 a number of the inhabitants of Kent County refused to pay their taxes to Penn, and expressed disloyal sentiments against his government, which gave him much concern. The leaders of the revolt appear to be John Richard-on, Thomas Heather and Thomas Wilson, who made com- plaint against the government in the General Assembly. Francis Whitwell and John Hilliard, who were members of the Council with John Richardson, were also implicated in the rebellion.

To conciliate the disaffected in the three lower counties of the Delaware, the General Assembly met at New Castle on the 10th of March, 1654, at which William Penn was present. The minutes of this session of the Assembly contain a singular record as illustrative of the character and methods of Penn, and what he meant by creating the office of peacemaker or arbitrator, who might stand be- tween the people and the courts and save them the expenses and heart-burnings of litigation. " An- drew Johnson, Pl. Hance ( Hans) Petersen, Deft. There being a Difference depending between them. the tiov & Councill advised them to shake hands. and to forgive One another; and Ordered that they should Enter in bonds for fifty pounds apiece for their good abearance; wa accordingly they did. It was also Ordered that the Records of Court concerning that Business should be burnt." Thi-

DELAWARE UNDER WILLIAM PENN.

simple, naked record of how the differences the president. Nicholas More, William Welch, between Jan Jansen and Hans Petersen were William Wood, Robert Turner, and John Eckly settled is one of the most impressive examples of practical ethics applied to jurisprudence that was ever known. were made provincial judges for two years ; Mark- ham was secretary of Council, and James Harri- son was steward of the house and manor of Penis- William Penn had been long parted from his family, and his affairs in England were not in a good condition. He had done much for his province, which, at this time, had a population of seven thousand. He now thought it good for him to return for a season to England, especially as there was the place in which he might more safely hope to effect a settlement of the vexations bound- bury. Ile embarked at and sailed from Philadel- phia August 12. 1684, sending from on board the ve-sel ere she sailed a final letter of parting to Lloyd, Claypoole, Simcock, Christopher Taylor, and James Harrison, in which he expresses the deepe-t affection for those faithful friends, and sends them his prayers and blessings. They had many responsibilities upon their shoulders, and he

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FACSIMILE OF WILLIAM PENN'S AUTOGRAPH AND SEAL AND THE AUTOGRAPHS OF ATTESTING WITNESSES TO THE CHARTER OF 1682.

ary disputes with Lord Baltimore, whose agents had invaded the lower countie-, built a fort within five miles of New Castle, and were collecting taxes and rents and dispossessing tenants in that section. Calvert himself had gone to England in March, and Penn wrote to the Duke of York that he meant to follow him as fast as he could. Accord- ingly, he prepared to leave the province, reorgan- izing the church discipline of his co-religionaries. and looking after the fiscal >y-tem of his civil grov- ernment in a practical and able way. The ketch " Endeavor," just arrived from England with let- ters and dispatches, was got ready to carry the Governor back again. He commissioned the Pro- vincial Council to act in his stead while he was away, intrusting the great seal to Thomas Lloyd. 64

hoped they would do their duty. The letter con- cluded with a fervent prayer for Philadelphia, "the virgin settlement of the province, named before thou wert born." Penn arrived in Eng- land on the 3d of October, and did not again see his virgin city and his beloved province until 1699.

The proceedings of Council and Assembly be- tween 1684 and 1699, while they might till soveral pages in a volume of annals, may be summed up in a few paragraphs in a history such as this.' The

1On February 1, 16-5. Peter Alrichs was appointed ranger of New Castle County. On the 13th of March, Is, the freemen of New Castle [w titioned the Assembly to keep a lair th the town twice a veir. On the #Ist of September Into, fair were ordered to be hell on the 3 and 4th of May in New Castir County, aud on 3d and 4th of September in each year.

HISTORY OF DELAWARE.

transactions were, as a rule, not very important, and the major part of the record, outside of the regular routine of appointments, etc., is taken up with the quarrels of public officer, among them- selves and the complaints of the people against Penn and the government generally. A French ship with irregular papers was seized, condemned, and sold by order of Council under the English navigation laws. There must have been a great many vessels on the coast and in the bays at this time which could not give a good necount of them- selves, and complaints of piraey are loud and fre- quent, the colonial governments being sometimes accused of undue leniency in their dealings with the frechooters. Governor I'letcher, of New York, who was also Governor of Pennsylvania during the suspension of Penn's authority in May, 1693, was on friendly terms with Kidd and others, and Nicholls, one of his Conneil, was commonly charged with being agent of the sea-rovers. Governor Markham's alleged son-in-law, James Brown, was denied his seat in the Assembly and put in prison for sailing in a pirate's vessel. The people of Lewes openly dealt with Kidd, exchanging their provisions for his fine goods. Teach, called Black- beard, was often about the Delaware, and it was charged that he and the Governor of North Caro- lina and other officials of that state were altogether too intimate.

Penn's noticeable taet and skill as a peace- maker and composer of personal difficulties were sadly missed after his departure for England. The Assembly and Council got into a serious squabble in consequence of a difference about the prerogatives and dignity of the two bodies. Chief Justice Nicholas More, though an able and prob- ably upright man, was dictatorial and arbitrary, as well as quarrelsome. He was not a Quaker, but he used very plain language sometimes, and was free-spoken. Him the Assembly formally impeached before Council on June 15, 1685, upon the ground of various malpractices and misdemeanors, chietly technical, or growing ont of his blunt manners.

trivial bickerings a great struggle was going . between the representatives of the freemen of . province and the sponsors for Penn's personal terests and his proprietary prerogative. 1 contest lasted long, and Penn's friends in the en without serving his political interests materia contrived to deal hi- personal interests a cruel b! by exciting the people of the province to hos feelings against him, and provoking them to wit. hold rents and purchases, and reduce his incoa. in every possible way. Penn himself wrote ; Lloyd, in 1686, that the ill fame the province h:s gained on account of its biekerings had lost ; fifteen thousand immigrants, who would has. gone thither had its affairs appeared more settled but as it was they went to North Carolina instead.

In February, 1687, Penn took the executive power away from the Council and intrusted it to. a commission of five persons, -Thomas Lloyd. Nicholas More, James Claypoole, Robert Turm r. and John Eekly, any three to have power to aet. He sent over many instructions to his board. among others to compel the Council to their char- ter attendance or dissolve them without further ado and choose others, " for I will no more endur their most slothful and dishonorable attendance." The commissioners were enjoined to keep up the dignity of their station, in Council and out, and not to permit any disorders either in Council or Assembly, and not to allow any parleys or con- ferences between the two Houses, but curiously in-peet the proceedings of both. They were fir- ther in Penn's name to disavow all laws pa-el since his absence, and to call a new Assembly to repass, modify, and alter the laws. When thi- commission was received, in February, 1688, both More and Claypoole were dead. Their place- were supplied by Arthur Cook and John Simeock. and the new elections ordered gave samuel Rich- ardson the appointment of member of Coune !! for three years, while Thomas Hooten, Thomas Fitzwalter, Las-e Cook, James Fox, Griffith Owen. and William Southerby were chosen members of Assembly. The, contests for privilege between Council and A-sembly were at once renewed ; the Assembly swore its members to divulge no pro- ceedings, and practically made its eczsions secret ; the Council asserted its ancient prerogative ; in short, the quarrel was interminable except by what would be practically revolution, for on one side was a written charter and a system of iron- bound laws, on the other the popular determina- tion, growing stronger every day, to secure for the freemen of the province and their representatives a larger share In the major concerns of government and legislation. The commission, in fact, would not work upon trial, and before the year was out Penn sent over a Governor for the province, an

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History of Delaware : 1609-1888, Part 22

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Philadelphia : L. J. Richards Number of Pages: 776

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia : L. J. Richards
Number of Pages: 776