USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial records of Pennsylvania, Vol. IV > Part 58
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" After you have charged me with taking what I have no right to,
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you cannot justly be offended if I ask, What right have you to take your Wages out of the Publick Money in direct Opposition to a known Law of the Province, ordering the payment of them in another Manner. This, perhaps, does not appear to some to be a matter of much Consequence, but if well considered is of the most dangerous ; ffor if you have power to dispense with one Law by a resolve or Order of your House, you have power to dispense with all Laws. If you can alter the Mode of payment by Vote, you may encrease the Sum, and instead of six Shillings a Day you may take six Pounds, or what you please ; And if you can by Vote re- vive the Act for the payment of Assembly Men's Wages out of the Interest Money arising from the Loan Office, which was but Tem- porary and has been long since expired, you may impose what you please as Laws upon your fellow-Subjects ; and by thus Assuming to your Selves the whole Legislative Power, their Lives, Liberties, and Properties will be dependent upon your Sovereign Will and Pleasure.
" Thus much I have thought proper to say in Answer to your last Message. To follow you thro' all your Doublings would be a work of great Labour, and does not appear to me any ways necessary for the Publick service. I proceed, therefore, to recommend to you a dispassionate review of the proceedings of Assembly for more than two Years past, and then I shall be glad to know what mighty ad- vantages have been gained for the People you represent. Has the publick Money been saved by refusing to grant three or at most four thousand Pounds to encourage freemen to Enlist in the King's Service and to transport the Troops raised for the Expedition, and instead of this expending near Eight thousand Pounds in paying for Servants (which a small Bounty would have prevented) in long Sittings, and in numerous Committees for drawing petitions, repre- sentations, & Messages, in the Salaries and Expences of an Agent, an Agent Assistant, and in ffees to Lawyers, and lastly, in a Grant made out of Time unprecedented and thought by many to be illegal ? Has the Honour of the Province been advanced, or the favour of the Crown or our Mother Country been engaged against an approaching time of need by the distinguishing Behaviour of the Assembly here from all others in America ? Have the odious insinuations & bitter invectives thrown out against me been of Use to convince the World of your meekness & moderation, or have they been for the reputation of the religious Society of which you call your selves Members ? Perhaps you will say it is enough to have opposed a designing, arbitrary Governor, but this will be only calling Names without any proof of my being such a Person. If I know any think of my self, I am as much a ffriend to Liberty as the most Zealous Assertor of it in the place, tho' I differ from some in think- ing that the best way to preserve it is to use it with discretion & reverence to the Crown, and not to break down the Boundaries be- tween the Rights of the Government and the Rights of the People.
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A people may grow wanton with Liberty, and History furnishes us with Instances of some that have lost it by an abuse of it. I sin-' cerely wish this may never be your Case.
"I pretend not to infallibility, but if I have committed ffaults in the Administration of the Public Affairs, they have been the faults of my Judgment and not of my Will. My Adversaries, however, after all their Pains had not been so lucky as to hit upon one. That I have Enemies is no Proof of my Demerit, for the best Princes aud the best Governors in all Ages and in all Countries have had their Revilers, and it will be so until all Men shall be brought to think and Act upon the same Principles. I have not the vanity to rank my self amongst the best Governors, because to render a Man such requires greater Talents than I possess. But it will not be Vanity in me to say that I have clean Hands & an Honest Heart : from hence I can with Confidence Ask, Have I invaded any man's Property ? Have I illegally deprived any Man of his Liberty ? Have I refused Mercy where Mercy could be shewn without pre- judice to the Society, or have I withheld the Sword where the Pub- lick Safety required it should be used for the Punishment of Evil Doers ? My Crimes, my only Crimes, are that I have refused to put on the Leading Strings which some Men were vain enough to have prepared for me, and that I have removed those from Places whose Behaviour had rendred them unworthy of the Trust com- mitted to them.
" GEO. THOMAS.
" May 18th, 1742."
The Provincial Treasurer's Account of Expences on Indian Af- fairs of last Year being laid before the Board, The same is referred to Thomas Laurence & Robert Strettel, Esqrs , to Examine & Report thereupon.
At a Council held at Philadelphia, May 27th, 1742.
PRESENT :
The Honble GEORGE THOMAS, Esq., Lieutenant Governor. Samuel Preston, Clement Plumsted, 7
Thomas Laurence, Samuel Hasell,
Ralph Assheton, Abraham Taylor, Esqrs. Robert Strettell,
The Minutes of the preceeding Council were Read,
And two Bills from the Assembly entituled, Viz. :
" AN ACT for the more Easy and Speedy recovery of small Debts;" and
"AN ACT for continuing & amending the Act of Assembly en- to
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tituled A Supplement to the Act for Electing Members of Assembly, &t.," were read the first Time.
The Gentlemen to whom the Provincial Treasurer's Account of Expences on Indian Affairs for last Year was Referr'd, Reported that they had Examined the said Account and found the same to be Right, amounting in the whole to £54 0s. 10zd.
A Message from the Assembly to the Governor.
" May it please the Governor :
"Did Controversy, which unhappily subsists between the Gov- ernor and us, appear to us in that Light in which he is pleased to say it does to him, 'A matter purely Personal' and 'the Publick Interest' unconcerned, we should have chosen Silence rather than an Answer to his last Message; But whilst we conceive there is a manifest Design against the Liberties of the Freemen of this Pro- vince, and every occasion taken to misrepresent our Conduct, to facilitate the obtaining of this End our vindication, as it is just becomes indispensibly necessary, and must apologize for this further Address.
" Sitting upon our own adjournments is a Privilege granted us by Charter from our late worthy Proprietor, & afterwards confirmed by an Act of Assembly. But we know of no Reason given the Governor to complain of our last adjournment, since on our com- municating to him our Intention of so doing he was pleased to let us Know ' That he had no objection to the time proposed.' And if we have exercised the same Power 'when a Matter recommended by His Majesty himself was under Consideration,' it was when we were of Opinion it might be done without Injury and consistently with that Duty & Loyalty every good Subject owes to his Prince. Permit us, therefore, to remark, that we look upon this as an Arti- fice to Interest 'His Hajesty,' who in our humble opinion was altogether unconcerned in the Adjournment. The Irony on the Civilities of our former Message, and the Doubts formed of the 'Sincerity of our Professions for restoring the Peace of the Province,' are equally kind; And we admit it was prudently judged 'not to encrease the Public Expence' after having occasioned so much of that kind before.
" The Governor is pleased to inform us That 'a Committee of the Council appointed to consider the Report of a Committee of our House on the proceedings of the late and present Assembly, re- lating to unhealthy Vessels, have fully anwsered all that has been objected in that Report.' To which we answer, whenever the Gov. shall be pleased to make their Acts his own, and communicate them as such to us, the Respect due to his Station will entitle them to be considered ; without this, as the Council are by our Constitution no part of the Legislature, they have, as Councellers, no more Right to intermeddle with the proceedings of Assembly than any other
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like number of the Freemen whom we represent. They are, 'tis true, a Council of State, and as such are bound faithfully to advise the Governor when he condescends to ask them. If they perform this they discharge their Duty, and whenever they assume a greater Power they exceed the Bounds of their appointment; And if the Governor takes the Liberty of Acting with or against their advice, as he thinks proper, we know of no Obligations we are under of having a greater Regard to them. To 'referr us, therefore, to the Clerk of the Council for a Copy of that Report' might have been spared as a thing of no use.
"The Resolves of the Assembly are not Laws, nor have been contended for as such by us, And yet when they are well founded will have proper Weight. If any number of Men within the Province, against the Tenor of such Resolves, shall exceed their Duty and subject themselves to the Penalties inflicted by the Laws, it will aggravate the Offence, and the Punishment ought to be pro- portioned to it.
" The Governor is further pleased to say, ' We must excuse him if he insists upon secing a Law which empowers an Assembly to supersede the Governor's appointment (that is of a Doctor to visit unhealthy Vessels) or to transfer a Power vested by Law in the Governor and Council to any other Magestrates.' And we hope the Governor will excuse us when we say, that he takes a fact for granted in which we are not agreed, & which it is incumbent on him to make good, viz", that the Assembly did supersede, or con- tended they had Right to supersede the Governor's appointment, until when the consequences deduced on the supposition it was done must fall to the Ground. And whenever he shall be pleased to un- dertake that Task he will oblige us if he will also shew any Right he or the Council have by Law to make such an Appointment ex- clusive of the Assembly, to be paid for by the Province. And if they had a Right to such Nomination, it could give them no Power to arraign & censure the Conduct of the Assembly at any time, much less after an Adjournment, the Design and consequences of which were justly censured by the Assembly. Hence, it is evident where ' Usurpation' is justly chargeable, from the Danger of ' issu- ing Edicts,' ' of seizing all the Powers of Government,' is to be apprehended, & whose 'Extravagant Productions' they are, that ought to be ' nipt in the Bud.'
" In the Speech made by the Governor to the Assembly in 1728 (of which Assembly now two only are Members of this House) he was pleased to acquaint them 'that he had positive Orders from Britain to provide by a proper Law against the Crowds of For- eigners who are yearly poured in upon us.' The Assembly by a Message desired the Governor to communicate those Orders to them. He answers them, ' the Orders he had received was a private Letter from the Proprietary Family." Upon which the Bill entitled An
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Act for laying a Duty on Foreigners, &c., was brought in and past in the Year 1729. And it appears by the Minutes of that Assem- bly that the'same Person had the principal Conduct of that Act who afterwards prepared the Address to the Proprietors, mention'd in the Governor's Message, and the words ' for guarding against the Dangers which may arise from the great and frequent Importation of Foreigners,' are interlined with his own hand Writing. One of the Gentlemen who had so much Land to dispose of carried up the Address; and how those, who by our Minutes appear to have had the principal Management of the Affair, should be the same Persons that 'opposed that part of the address relating to Foreigners,' and every 'thing that tended to clog the Importation of them,' appears to us as improbable as that the same Persons 'who carried on the Public Affairs with Reputation and were Leaders,' &c., should yet be ' borne down with the Stream.'
" What Merit they may have since obtained in 'supplying the Governor with Money,' we do not know. If the Merit consisted in purchasing the King's Bills at an easy Exchange, once publishing it to the World, we think, might have been sufficient. But where we have reproached the Governor with these Gentlemen's confidence we do not know, nor have we ever envied them the Honour of that Confidence. If their Assistance became necessary, and without which ' His Majesty would have been disappointed of the Assist- ance expected from this Province,' it must have been owing to the Governor's mis conduct in the Encouragement he gave to the In- listing and carrying away so many hundred Servants, which since cost the Province near &2,600. For tho' it is true the Assembly did declare they could not appropriate any Money to the Uses re- quired, yet they had determined to give &4,000 to the King's Use, and prepared a Bill for that purpose, which might have passed had not the Enlisting so many Servants prevented it.
" This put the Assembly on preparing a Petition to be presented to the King in Council, complaining of the abuse, and we think with very great Reason. But that ' our Agent ran about with it to several of the most eminent Council in England,' or that he re- ceived for Answer ' that it could not be expected His Majesty should censure a Governor for a punctual Obedience to his Commands, &ca.,' or that any one of those Council 'refused to be employed,' is what we do not know, nor till by his Message ever heard of. And as he is so frequently deceived in his Intelligence concerning Mat- ters transacted much nearer to him, he must excuse us if we sus- pend our belief until we are better satisfied of the Truth of the Facts. This we have the greater Reason to do since we are credi- bly informed that the Inlisting of Servants has not been thought a ' punctual obedience to His Majestie's Commands,' nor is likely to receive his Royal Approbation. But why, 'the Poor Man we call our Agent ?' He has been Agent for most of the Northern Colo-
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nies, and of some of them many Years, and for aught we ever heard acquitted himself to the Satisfaction of his Employers. Had we made use of these diminutive Epithets, and treated this Gentleman in the manner the Governor is pleased to do, it might have been called, and not unjustly, 'a Departure from Decency.' However, we are sufficiently apprized of the Cause why he shares so deeply in the Governor's Resentments.
"The Governor is pleased further to add, 'If His Majesty, after my Letters relating to the Expedition, and a Copy of the Assem- bly's proceedings had been laid before him, vouchsafed to signify his Approbation of my Conduct on that Occasion, and that this ap- pears by his Grace the Duke of Newcastle's Letter, communicated by me to the Council here, it is as evident that the applause is not of my own bestowing as it is that your Language and Behaviour shows a Contempt of His Majesty's Sentiments as well as a De- parture from the decencies observed by all other publick Bodies to- wards Persons in Authority.'
" Permit us to observe, the whole of this Paragraph is hypo- thetical ; nothing is directly affirmed by it. 'His Majesty' may or may not have signified his Approbation, notwithstanding any thing herein contained. That some Part of the Governor's Conduct may have obtained his Royal Approbation we have no reason to question, but that the Approbation so bestowed was, as this Paragraph seems to make it, the Result of the King's Judgment on Consideration of the Governor's Letters and the Assembly's proceedings, we own we do Doubt; And if their be not stronger evidence of the Truth of it than 'That our Language and Behaviour shows a Contempt of His Majesty's Sentiments,' there is none at all, Nor are we conscious of having ' departed from the Decencies observed by all other publick Bodies towards Persons in Authority.' If the Governor will be pleased to reflect with what manifest Irony and Contempt he has thought fit to treat us, we think it not reasonable he should have expected smooth Language and abject Submission in return. When Controversies happen it is difficult managing them with so much Delicacy as to avoid giving offence. We may have shewn some Zeal, but we hope no where exceeded the Bounds of Decency.
" The Governor is pleased to proceed : 'After you have thus civilly called me an Imposter in bestowing upon myself an Appro- bation which you insinuate the King never gave, you go on to im- peach my Integrity in clandestinely attempting to deprive you of those Religious and civil Liberties which I had solemnly promised to support.'
" That the Governor, by the Trust reposed in him, ought to sup- port Us in our Religious & civil Liberties, and that he hatlı sol- emnly promised so to do, we presume he will not deny. ' And if, notwithstanding these solemn Promises, he hath actually attempted to deprive us of those Liberties, had we not reason ' to impeach his Tntamity ?'
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" Among other Privileges we at present enjoy, the Assembly have the Right to sit on their own adjournments, to dispose of the Publick Money, and the People call'd Quakers have Right, when duly elected, to sit in the Assembly. All these Privileges, it is plain from the Tenour of the Governour's Letter to the Lords for Trade and Plantations, he represented as inconsistent with His Ma- jestie's Service, and left no room to Doubt but that it was thus done to the Intent those Privileges should be taken from us.
"' His Majestie's Commands to give His Ministers a particular Account of all his Transaction upon that occasion ' (which we pre- sume related only to the Soldiers lately raised and sent to the West Indies), can be no Excuse for this extraordinary Conduct, For those Commands might have been fully obeyed by Relating the Transac- tions which happen'd in that Affair only. But the Governor thought fit to go further, and offers his Sentiments against these Privileges, representing them unfit for us to hold, under pretence of their being not for His Majesty's Service. Did ' His Majestie's Commands ' require that the People of this Province should be charged with carrying on Manufactures at very cheap Rates, directly interfering with the Trade of their Mother Country ? If this be what the Governor can glory in, let him glory on ; his Glory will be little Envied, and perhaps as little Honoured.
" Resentment for Injuries done is the next Reason the Governor is pleased to assign for this unnatural Attack upon our Charter and Privileges, and those Injuries are enumerated in the words follow- ing : 'The Assembly laying aside Truth and good manners, first Publickly defamed me in their Messages-they stopt my Salary, they Petition'd the King against me, and they employed Men (some of them without Shame or Honesty) to procure the Depositions of Blacksmiths' Boys and such like Rabble to support it, and then clan- destinely transmitted them to England without ever doing me the Jus- tice due even to a criminal, of seeing or hearing the Charge or Evi- dence.' On so extraordinary an Occasion, the Governor must excuse us if we call upon him to shew Instance of that Assembly's 'laying aside Truth,' or ' Publickly defaming him.' Whenever he shall at- tempt this, he must allow us to think his Evidence will fail, and that he can no more make it appear than he can that the same Assembly did ' employ Men (some of them without common shame or Honesty) to procure Depositions,' when, in Truth, neither that Assembly nor any other Person with their Privity, or by their directions, ever took any Depositions against the Governor; nor did they nor any body for them, send home any such Depositions. May we not then justly ask who it is that hath ' laid aside Truth' in these Instances? That that Assembly did prepare a Petition to be presented to the King against the Governor, complaining of the Encouragement he had given to the enlisting & carrying away Servants from their Masters, is true, and the Governor, if he pleases to recollect, may
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remember that they more than once signified to him their Inten- tions of so doing. And as that Petition was intended to seek Re- dress in this particular only, the Assembly did not think themselves obliged to give the Governor a Copy of it; though if he desired it we presume it would not have been refused him.
" The presenting of Petitions is the Right of every of the King's Subjects when they think themselves aggrieved, and the Comparison of 'a Stab in the dark,' as it is applied to a Petition intended to be presented to the King in Council, we think is neither applicable nor decent. It was intended neither ' to blast the Governor's Char- acter' nor 'to ruin his Fortune' (as he is pleased to say), but to obtain Justice.
" Who they are by whom ' the Seeds of Dissension have been plentifully sown to prejudice the Freemen of this Province against the Governor,' or who 'by the grossest Misrepresentations and Falshoods have nourished them,' the Governor has not thought fit to point out. If any part of the Charge be intended against us, we must take the Liberty to deny it.
" Had the Governor been pleased to say a Representation, instead of Petition, had failed, we should have been of his mind, but that a Petition has failed (if it alludes to the Petition before mentioned), we think it too early to judge. And it is not very easy for Us to Apprehend how a Representation can be said to have 'been pro- jected to amuse' those who never said it.
"Who those Craftsmen are that 'have proclaimed aloud our Privileges are in Danger,' the Governor has not informed us. If any such there be, they are among the number of those who lay claim to the Governor's Favour. And we differ in opinion from them ; For though, we have too much reason to know, divers of our most valuable Privileges are attacked by the Governor and his Friends, yet we have so great an opinion of the Justice of our Cause that we have not thought them in any real Danger from the Attempt. But if any such Danger there be, it must, amongst ' honest Men,' remain no doubt from whose 'Malice & self Interest' it has arisen.
" That the last Assembly have been charged 'with a piece of Art in the Distribution of the Public Money, by the partiality shewn in Paying the Masters of such Servants inlisted, &c., not according to the value but to the Master's Approbation or Disap- probation of that Assembly's proceedings,' is what we heard nothing of until by the Governor's Message. If the mentioning of it in so publick a manner was with an Intent to give us an opportunity of acquitting that Assembly from a Calumny thrown on them without the least Truth to support it, it is a favour we did not expect; though, in our Opinion, it is not a parliamentary Method of Treat- ing an Assembly to gather up Reports & publish them, without the least Evidence to support the Truth of them; And to return the
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Civility, if the Governor shall think it worth his while to peruse such a List as he mentions, we are willing to furnish him with one, from whence he may satisfy his own Judgment as to the Partiality or Impartiality of their proceedings, & publish it too if he pleases. And if he will be pleased at the same time to demonstrate to the Masters of those Servants how he, who formerly so little regarded their Interest as to encourage the Inlisting and carrying away of those Servants, should now be so careful about a just Distribution of the Money amongst them, they may entertain a more favourable opinion of his Conduct than now they do.
" As to the Governor's Support, much is said but a short answer will suffice. When the Governor complained of £1,500 being stopt out of his Support, we thought it necessary to shew, from the best Estimate we could make, how much he did annually receive from the Government towards his Support.
" If the Perquisites of Goverement amount to more than 6 or £700, it is less than we expected, though even this sum would have been judged a handsome Support heretofore. Indeed, if the Governor 'hath spent above ££1,000 more than he hath received from both Governments,' his Expenses have far exceeded our expecta- tions, and we believe most people greatly deceived who thought him a much better economist. That part of the Money received by the Governor to which we conceived he had no Right, was that of Fines, which, by an Act of Assembly of this Province, are made payable to the Provincial Treasurer, and, in our Opinion, the Governor had no more Right to appropriate to his own use, without consent of the Assembly, than any other Money paid there. In making of our Estimate of the Perquisites of Government, we did not include the Lower Counties ; And if the Governor will excuse us in expressing our Sentiments, we believe his mentioning those Counties was a designed Digression in favour of his Administration there. If it were admitted his Government merited Commendation in those Counties, it does not necessarily follow he hath committed no mistakes in this. The Servants inlisted belonging to those Counties were not carried away from their Masters, but if we are rightly informed discharged by his Orders, and about the same time he was pleased to disclaim the Power of doing it here. Therefore no conclusions can justly be drawn from his Administration there to our prejudice. If the names of 'Imposter, Plunderer, Invader of the Liberties of the People' (with a Tail of et cetera's), be, as the Governor says, the Result of personal Prejudice or of a malig- nant Party Spirit,' He may be pleased to remember they are names of his own bestowing not ours; and, therefore, it will not become us to deny that he is the best Judge from what spirit they pro- ceeded.
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