USA > Pennsylvania > Chronicles of Pennsylvania from the English revolution to the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1688-1748, Vol. II > Part 4
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mally approving, as he could not help doing, of Lloyd's reelection to the Speakership, suggested the considera- tion by the Assembly of the charges made by Logan, as, if well founded, making Lloyd unfit for the position. This suggestion, after the confirmation of Lloyd, and before the Assembly had seen the charges, was declared by that body ill timed and an indignity, its address to the Lieutenant-Governor expressing a willingness to contribute to his expenses in coming over, and speaking of Logan's persistence in trying "to sour the temper and good disposition" of the Lieutenant-Governor to- wards the representatives of the People. In this ad- dress, the House struck the key-note of Parliamentary government by begging "leave to observe that the duty incumbent upon us to contribute to this general support of the Lieutenancy is grounded upon a condition pre- cedent, so that the People, according to the fundamental rules of English government, are not obliged to con- tribute to the support of that administration which af- fords them no redress when their rights are violated, their liberties infringed, and their representative body affronted and abused : hence it is that that branch of the legislative authority seldom move to give supplies 'till their grievances are redressed, and reparation made for the indignities they meet with from the other branch of the same authority."
The Lieutenant-Governor, being called to New Castle, to meet the Assembly of the Lower Counties, asked the Assembly of the Upper Counties to adjourn until October 31, which that body did. On Oct. 31, owing to the inclemency of the weather, a quorum did not appear, and the Lieutenant Governor himself did not come to town. Those attending adjourned for a few days, and subsequently, hearing that he was unlikely soon to be back, adjourned until November 14, at which date busi- ness was resumed, although Gookin was again absent, but in due course conferences with a committee of the
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Council on the bill relating to fees were held. Logan, having written offering to substantiate with proofs his narrative of Lloyd's behavior, afterwards petitioned for a speedy prosecution of the impeachment against himself. The Assembly took the old stand as to trial of impeachments, resolving unanimously, on Nov. 16, that he should lay before it a particular answer to every charge, and that upon his failure so to do within six days, the House would take the matter as confessed; but if he brought in an answer as aforesaid, the House would prosecute as soon as the Governor should be pleased to proceed judicially upon the impeachments. Lloyd laid before a committee of the Assembly on Nov. 22 a Vindication, printed also in Vol. II of Penn and Logan Correspondence. On the 23rd, the Assembly resolved to arrest Logan for his reflections upon it. He had been for months arranging to embark during that Autumn for England, and such arrest, unless fol- lowed by his quick submission or apology, would have prevented : but the Council told Gookin that the Assem- bly could arrest no one except possibly one of its members; so when, on the 25th, the Speaker issued a warrant to the Sheriff for the arrest, that officer de- clined to execute it. Gookin did not rely upon merely the legal incapacity of the House to order an arrest, but declared that the members passing the resolution were not a legal Assembly, owing to the failure to meet on October 31, and could not be such until called to- gether by him. This position caused the Assembly to remonstrate, and to adjourn from time to time, and to be laughed at; and, as the Lieutenant-Governor did not solve the question by calling a special session, the whole year was lost.
On November 28, there being a fear that some of the members would take Logan by force, the Lieutenant- Governor commanded the Sheriff to oppose any at- tempt to do so, and Logan in a few days sailed on a
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vessel bound for Lisbon. There, he took passage for Falmouth, but was taken into France, reaching London, however, about the end of March, 1710.
Evans left the colony about the middle of February, 1709-10, and lived a good many years, being styled on Sep. 9, 1731, as of Pentre Mawr, Co. Denbigh, esquire, and on July 19, 1743, the date of his will, as of Whis- tones, Co. Worcester. By deeds of Sep. 19 and 20, 1715, he bought what remained of William Penn Jr.'s manor of Steyning, but shortly afterwards reconveyed all but 2000 acres. The deed reconveying having been lost, Evans confirmed it by a deed of June 24, 1736, to Wil- liam Penn, 3d, grandson of the Founder.
In 1710, the Tuscaroras sent several chiefs to make an armistice with the Christians and Indians of Penn's dominions until the next year, when the kings would come to make peace. On June 10, Col. John French and Henry Worley, on behalf of the Governor, met the chiefs at Conestoga with Civility, the war captain, and other "Seneques" (really Seneca-Susquehannocks), in presence of Opessa, the Shawnee king. French and Worley encouraged the Tuscaroras to remove to Penn- sylvania, but said that a certificate of good behavior must be brought from the authorities of the province which they were leaving, and that peace must extend to all the subjects of the Crown. The "Seneques" agreed to send to the Five Nations the belts brought by the Tuscaroras.
In July, 1710, Gookin went to Conestoga, to meet the chiefs of the "Seneques" and "the chiefs of the Indians of most part of the Continent, and also some gentlemen of Maryland." The full proceedings of the meeting are not set forth in the minutes of the Gov- ernor's Council, but there is a memorandum among the Historical Society's MSS. About seventy Indians were present, including four kings of the Five Nations, and Ojunqua (Andaggy-Junkquagh), Opessa, Owahala, and
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Peter, the last named being called Canawense (Conoy or Ganawese) King. Connessoa, the Onondaga King, made a long speech, wherein determination was ex- pressed to protect and maintain the Ganawese in their settlement above the Falls of the Susquehanna, a fit place for the meeting of the chiefs of the people of these parts; a general peace was to be settled; the Nanticokes were to be ready to give the assistance freely offered against Canada ; hostilities were to cease against the Tuscaroras, a peace with whom was in nego- tiation; the Indians were not to kill the creatures be- longing to the Christians; the Pennsylvania Indians were to go to the Governor of New York, if he asked their assistance, otherwise to stay at home. Connessoa having also said that the land belonged to the Five Nations, and therefore the Indians might settle wher- ever corn could be raised, Col. John French, who was prepared for this, pointed out that William Penn owned the land by virtue of a deed from Dongan, who had purchased it from the Five Nations, and also by virtue of an agreement with the Susquehanna Indians, the present possessors. Connessoa appeared satisfied. He also expressed a willingness to have matters accommo- dated with Maryland, explaining, that, as no one from that government had come to Albany, the place for con- ference, some of the Five Nations, going to war, had entered Maryland, where the inhabitants had under- taken to seize the arms of the warriors, and to kill them; but the warriors, being more nimble, had prevented the inhabitants, and killed two of them.
On July 31, 1710, Penn presented a new petition to the Queen expressing his willingness to surrender the powers of government, if he could receive a reasonable consideration, as might appear to be due for his merits in settling the colony, being such a sum as should re- imburse a reasonable part of his expenses; and asking that the people who, for conscience sake, could not
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comply with certain things, be indulged, and, as he ex- pected his posterity to fix their abode in the Province, that a particular mark of respect be granted to dis- tinguish them, as, for instance, the Proprietary for the time being always to have the first place in the Council. This petition was referred to the Lords for Trade for examination, and to report what would be a reasonable consideration for the surrender. Penn wrote, Dec. 7, that he expected £20,000, but would allow seven years for payment. The Lords did not adopt this valuation, but, in reporting the matter on Feb. 13, left the con- sideration for the Queen to determine.
A long letter, dated 4mo. 29, 1710, from him to the People of Pennsylvania, vindicating his course, show- ing that the "oppressions" were not very oppres- sive, arguing for the desirableness of having the ju- diciary appointed by him, denying the right of the Assembly to meet at all times in the year without the Governor's consent, and speaking well of Logan, is printed in Proud's History, and spoken of therein as an address to the Assembly. The letter did not arrive until after the election of that year: but the Proprie- tary's friends carried the election by good majorities, turning out all the Assemblymen chosen in 1709. Richard Hill was made Speaker. A number of laws were enacted, one being for the establishment of courts, under which law judicial proceedings were carried on for three years. Another act, which, moreover, was longer in force, required every person, before receiving a license from the Lieutenant-Governor to keep a pub- lic house, to be recommended by the Justices in the court for that county, or by the court of record of the City, if the public house were to be in the City. The act fixed the fees of the Governor and secretary, and provided for suppression and fines. A tax of 2d. per l. on estates and 8s. on any freeman not worth 50l., or man servant receiving wages, was imposed by another
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act. The 300l. first collected were to be paid to Gookin "towards his charge in supporting the administration of this government;" the next money, for the officers of that particular Assembly, and for the debts for Indian treaties and presents; the next 200l. to Gookin, towards his expense in coming to Pennsylvania; and the balance, for such former debts as that Assembly directed. An act, which, by its discriminations, seemed designed for other purposes than raising a revenue, laid an impost for three years on every negro imported for sale, and on certain liquors, and on the tonnage of vessels not built or owned in Pennsylvania or the Lower Counties or West Jersey, the proceeds to go to payment of public debts, as should be directed by the Assembly. Just before the three years expired, this act was disallowed by the Crown, after the Solicitor-Gen- eral had raised the question how far it was proper for Pennsylvania to lay a duty on such importations, and how far it might affect the interest of the inhabitants of Great Britain.
The Province having been two years without any law authorizing affirmations instead of oaths, the Quakers, in control of both Assembly and Council, had a law passed on Feb. 28, 1710-11, which did not reestablish the form in the disallowed act of Jany. 12, 1705-6, re- ferring to "Almighty God the witness of the truth," but prescribed, as substantially in the old local law, that a person called to testify who could not conscien- tiously take an oath, should answer "yea" or "yes" to: "Dost thou protest solemnly and declare that the evidence thou shalt give be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?" A similar affirmation also should, with the declaration and profession in the Act of Parliament of 1 W. & M., qualify for holding any office. When, after this was enacted, the Lieutenant- Governor had appointed Justices for Philadelphia County, and had included among them seven Church-
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men, five of the seven were unwilling to serve, but one at least changed his mind. The Vestry of Christ Church raised money by subscription for fighting in England against confirmation of the law: while, with the approval of the Quarterly Meeting, money was raised among the Friends for fighting for confirmation. The Minister and Vestry of St. Mary's, Burlington, New Jersey, called the attention of the Queen to the law, petitioning against allowing in an adjoining prov- ince such a departure from the affirmation allowed to Quakers in England. There was an order by the Queen in Council on Dec. 19, 1711, declaring the law void; but it had not been previously presented by Penn under the Charter, and was included in the laws presented by him on July 22, 1713; so it was formally disallowed, among others, on Feb. 20, 1713-14.
In June, 1711, Gookin went with several Councillors to Conestoga, and there met Senecas, and Opessa, and other Shawnees, and spoke of Penn's intention to send settlers to the branches of the Potomac, and said that Penn exacted friendship for the Palatines settled near Pequea. The Indians declared the Palatines safe, but disclaimed any responsibility for damage that might ensue to settlers on the branches of the Potomac, as that region lay between the Shawnees and the Tusca- roras, with whom they were still at war. In response to an earnest desire that the death of Letore be ad- justed, Gookin said that he would forbear further in- quiry, but if any such thing happened again, he would know how to do justice as well as he was showing mercy. Opessa, who was then present, soon afterwards went away from the settlement, because, it is said, he felt mortified and humiliated at his failure to restrain the young men of his tribe from the murder.
The expedition projected by Vetch for attacking the French possessions failed to start in 1709, the English government finding other uses for its naval force, and
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so not sending the war vessels promised. In the next year, Port Royal (now Annapolis, Nova Scotia) was captured by forces of which Vetch was Adjutant-Gen- eral, but the Quaker colony seems not to have been asked to participate. On Feb. 10, 1710-11, the Queen, endorsing an expedition against Canada, issued an order to Gookin to meet Col. Francis Nicholson and the Governor of New York for instructions as to a new scheme of invasion, of which Nicholson was to have command, and Vetch to be Adjutant-General. Gookin, returning from such a meeting, summoned the Assem- bly, and, after a successful fight to have the appropria- tion paid to him, secured in August a grant of 2000l. for "the Queen's use." It may strike the reader as amusing that the way the Quaker freemen helped the Queen was first to pay themselves for their servants running away to New Jersey, and enlisting, and not re- turning uninjured before December following. This, however, was just; for the employer, besides paying a tax on property, was giving up gratis the service of these apprentices and bought laborers from their en- listment (between July 1 and Oct. 20) until December 1st. After the employers should be paid for further loss as aforesaid, the balance of the 2000l. was to be paid to the Lieutenant-Governor for the time being, and by him paid to the persons empowered by the Queen to receive the same, or to receive the money in her offices of receipt in any of the northern plantations. The amount was to be raised by a tax of 5}d. per l. on estates and 20s. a head on every male servant re- ceiving wages and every freeman not worth 50l. Any surplus over the 2000l. could be disposed of by this Assembly by warrant of the Speaker on the Treasurer, and whatever should not be so disposed of, was to be appropriated by the Governor and Assembly for the time being until exhausted.
Among the inhabitants of Penn's dominion who
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joined in the expedition were twenty-six Indians, who, under treaty to support the Five Nations in war when needed, responded to a call to do so from Governor Hunter of New York, but, in hopes of being accom- panied by Col. John French, came to Philadelphia, and, without French, went thence by way of Burlington, where troops were in rendezvous. The campaign, how- ever, was unsuccessful.
Peace was made, probably in the Summer of 1711, between the Shawnees and the Tuscaroras. The latter, annoyed by the settlements made by the Swiss in North Carolina, massacred a great number of them, and per- haps of others, in different parts of that province simultaneously in September, 1711. The people of both Carolinas having determined to punish the Tusca- roras, the latter asked aid from the Five Nations, who admitted them to their confederacy, and sent a large war party. A force, mostly of South Carolinians under John Barnwell, utterly defeated the Tuscaroras in January, 1711-12, and a large majority of the tribe, under escort of the war party, sought safety in Penn- sylvania.
The voting of 2000l. for the expedition against Can- ada caused much difference of opinion among the Quakers, and the pamphlet war which was started on other issues in 1710, between David Lloyd and the Councillors, was renewed over this. The Councillors, in fear of an imperilling of Penn's interests at Court, had promoted the gift, such as were Quakers saying that they were bound to give the Queen money, and it was not their business what she did with it. The oppo- sition party regained some seats in the ensuing elec- tion. The Proprietary's friends thoroughly controlled Chester County, but had little effect upon Bucks. Their ticket was so much scratched in Philadelphia County that Lloyd, Willcox, and John Roberts, malster, became members of the delegation, the others being Edward
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Farmer, Benjamin Duffield, Isaac Norris, Owen Roberts, and Robert Owen of Gwynedd. Hill and Preston were chosen from the City. Hill again became Speaker. On June 7, 1712, a number of laws were passed. One, which was allowed by the Queen, author- ized the Mayor, Recorder, and Aldermen of Philadel- phia, with any four of the six assessors (six being chosen annually by the qualified voters), to fix annually the sum necessary for the debts and charges of the City, and for building, repairing, &ct. a workhouse, wharves, &ct., apparently including streets. The assessors were to levy, to a certain limit, taxes on persons and estates.
A new law was made for the appointment of a Reg- ister-General for the probate of wills, who was to ap- point a deputy for each county except Philadelphia; and, under this law, offices were soon afterwards opened in all the counties.
One act of this Assembly may be thought to mark some advance of ethical ideas, but was more a precau- tion for safety, in view of the negro insurrections in other colonies, particularly that in New York not long before, and in view of suspicion and dissatisfaction aroused in the neighbouring Indians by seeing any Indians held in bondage. Upon a petition to the As- sembly for the discouragement of the importation of negroes, a prohibitory duty of 20l. was imposed upon every negro or Indian imported by land or water except negroes brought before Aug. 1, 1712, directly from the West Indies. This was repealed by the Queen in Coun- cil in less than two years, on recommendation of the Commissioners for Trade, the Solicitor-General having left to them the question of a colony's interference with British interests as to trading in negroes, but having called attention to the power given by the act to officers to break open houses on suspicion of negroes being concealed; a power rarely allowed by English law in connection with minor offences. An act of May
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28, 1715, was passed with a similar object, but for less stringent measures ; a duty of 5l. was imposed on every negro imported between June 1, 1715, and June 1, 1718, unless he were a sailor remaining in the service of the vessel, or he were brought or sent on the immediate business of his owner, and not for sale. The power was given to the collector to enter any vessel or any house on suspicion of a negro being concealed. This act was repealed by the Crown on June 21, 1719, the Com- missioners for Trade expressing objection to such power. These acts and those that supplied them had considerable effect upon the history of the United States, for they certainly kept down the number of slaves immediately north of Delaware and Maryland, and prevented the growth of an interest opposed to abolition.
The regulation of trade with the diminution of the number of traders, and the absorption by the English of the products of hunting from Hudson's Bay to the Carolinas, limited the opportunities of the Indians for making bargains. Chiefs at Conestoga in July, 1712, complained not only of injury from traders' hogs and horses eating the corn, but that since the only traders were those licensed, fewer or less useful articles were obtained in exchange for what the Indians gave. James Logan, while promising reparation for injuries, tried to explain to these "untutored" about demand and sup- ply, telling them that in England the price of skins and furs was low, and, by reason of the war, the price of English goods was high, and that the traders must therefore give but a small quantity, to make a living out of the business. In the Fall, on returning from carrying tribute to the Five Nations, and also belts and presents to them from the Provincial government, the delegation of the Delawares brought back skins with a message that each of those nations desired to trade with Pennsylvania, and hoped for a better price
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for skins and furs than was given at Albany. The Lieutenant-Governor had to explain, that, while he hoped that the New York Indians would trade with Pennsylvania, and would always be treated justly, the prices rose and fell according to the market in Eng- land.
The perils of capital punishment, confiscation, bank- ruptcy, &ct. which Penn had faced repeatedly, and the constant perplexity, and the numerous disappointments which continued to pursue him, were enough to drive him crazy. At sixty-seven years of age, he, to be sure, had long escaped the penalty for political offences, and had, since nearly three years, been freed from the clutches of the Fords, and was rid of the embarrass- ment of having such a Deputy as Evans. Yet the politi- cal importance of Penn and his family was about to be destroyed by his surrender on whatever terms the Queen, more or less advised by her friends and min- isters, would decide; and the object of his life, a Quaker state, was to fail. With the powers to sell land re- served to him for two years in the mortgage, he had not succeeded in materially reducing the debt of £6600, which, with other debts, was drawing interest while he was awaiting sales by the mortgagees, and payment by the royal treasury. There was still a strong anti-Pro- prietary party in the dual colony. He had become accus- tomed to the wounding of his pride by there being such a feeling in those whom he looked upon as his children or wards: but the radical purposes of the party in- volved, while he retained the rank of Governor, the lessening of his prerogatives and opportunities to con- fer offices, and, at all times, the regulation of his deal- ings in land; and the latter purpose would be carried out after he lost the government. It was all the more bitter to Penn that he never saw the other side of a question affecting him: in his mind, he was the victim over and over again of ingratitude. We find, however,
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no complaint by him against the mortgagees, and yet their claim was his great present trouble. He having assigned to them the debts due to him from Pennsyl- vanians and his quit rents, the mortgagees appointed Logan and Norris to collect the same, and, by letter of attorney of Nov. 11, 1711, authorized Shippen, Car- penter, Hill, Norris and Logan, or any three of them, to sell and convey land. A speedy execution of this power would be sacrificing large tracts or the best loca- tions, and would intensify the problem which loomed before this man, who had spent money freely, of endow- ing his children with sufficient estates. The debt might be cleared off, and the land kept for development, by the Crown paying a sum for the rights of government. His heart, however, was not in that solution of his diffi- culties : besides the personal disappointment involved, it would be a betrayal, unless he could insure, as would be difficult, immunities for the Quaker inhabitants. If he could withdraw from the bargain, if his friends residing in Pennsylvania, as he was now suggesting, would take over the mortgage, and so allow the continuance of his government, the political prospects of his family and his colony were not bright. The uncompromising atti- tude of his strict co-religionists, at least those generally in the Assembly, was fast making a Quaker common- wealth an impossibility in the eyes of the world. As to his own influence at Court, there would happen some day-quite near, as it turned out-the death of Queen Anne, which would mean the accession of a dynasty which had no feeling of personal friendship for him. Particularly serious for the carrying on of the gov- ernment would be his own death: his eldest son, the natural successor in the Governorship, and, in fact, the only son who was grown up, had excited the animad- version of the Quakers, had been a source of grief to him, and at this time could be pronounced a failure. More to be thought of than the financial or political
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