USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial records of Pennsylvania, Vol. IV > Part 63
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"You have been pleased to call upon me to shew one Instance of the Assembly's laying aside Truth and Publickly defaming me.
"Numerous Instances of this sort are to be found in the Messages . of that time as well as since; but as they would not have the force of Conviction with you if I were to Cite them, I rather chuse to refer you to some part of. the Proprietor's Answer before quoted. 'We find the Governor was so far from desiring the Inlistment of Servants that he very early took measures to prevent it;' And a little further, 'the Assembly became the occasion of this Grievance, tho' the Governor has been charged with all the Inconveniences that have attended it.'
"The Men without shame or common honesty are known to every fair Trader in Town that has read the List of those that were em- ployed to collect and prepare Evidence to support the Charge against me; wherefore it is quite unnecessary to distinguish them by their names, or to spend time upon the difference between Depositions or Examinations transmitted against me.
"Much is said in support of your Right of Petitioning, which as no one has denied is like buffetting the wind; But when a Pe- tition contains matter of complaint against any particular Person, that Person has a Right to a Copy of it, and the Transmitting it without doing him that Piece of common Justice may be justly compared to an intention To stab in the Dark, for it does not appear probable to me that the Assembly would have favour'd me with a Copy of it if I had desir'd it; That they promised themselves (however mistakenly) some advantages from secreting the particulars of it is plain, from their not publishing it in their Votes, which used to be the Practice in regard to all Public Transactions (and
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which the Public, as well as myself, have a Right to see), before they thought the Secresy of a Romish Conclave more worthy of their Imitation than the Practice of a British House of Commons and of former Assemblies here. It is near two Years since the Petition was transmitted to London, and was not presented when the last Ships came from thence, tho' my Friends had very much desired it, and had often sollicited your worthy Agent to present it; yet I am now told it is too early to judge whether it has failed or not. I can scarce perswade myself that you are serious in what you say, except it be with a Design to amuse such as you had taught to expect mighty matters from it; However, for Curiosity's sake, I shall even now be glad to see a Copy of that Petition, and of the Examinations or Depositions, which soever you please to call them, that were taken & sent to support it; and if you oblige me so far, I promise you that I will make no advantages of them, by a further preparation for my Defence, until I receive his Majestie's Commands so to do. Perhaps you will wittily ask me again, How could the Petition amuse those that never saw it? But however impenetrable you affect to be with Regard to me, your Emissaries are well In- structed by You, for tho' your Address to the Proprs. was called in your Votes, under the disguised Title of a Representation of the state of the Province, and the Matter of it was secreted from me, the People of the Country were made to believe that you had done my Business by it, and that a new Governor was most certainly to come over soon.
" As your Starts from one Point to another are very sudden, and you leave or return to them as you please, I may reasonably expect to be indulged in being a little immethodical too in my Reply ; therefore I shall now go back to what relates to the Council's ob- servations on the Report of a Committee of Your House, the sub- stance of which is, that you are under no obligations to pay any Regard to them, since the Council is no part of the Legislature. This might have been proper enough had the Council thereby as- sumed any part of the Legislative Power; but in the case before us it is, in my opinion, no more to the purpose than if you had told them they were no Part of the Colledge of Physicians, for as they are by Law intrusted with the care of Sickly Vessels coming to this Port, they certainly have a Right, tho' no part of the Legis- lative Body, to justify their Conduct against the Aspersions thrown on it by a Committee of Assembly, or by any other Persons what- soever. To your own Resolves you are at the same time pleased to pay greater Honour than will be paid to them by any other part of Mankind, for they are so far from carrying any Authority out of your own House, that your Fellow Subjects are not so much as obliged to know them, nor would a Judge, who knows any thing of his Duty, even suffer them to be mention'd in a Court of Judica- ture. The Law is the Rule of every Man's Actions, and as the Re- solves of an Assembly can by no means come properly before a
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Court, for this & many other Reasons they can neither aggravate an Offence against a Law, nor have any thing to do in proportion- ing the Punishment. Any Doctrine contrary to this is the highest Invasion of the Liberties of a British Subject.
" Enough has been said of your Apprehensions from the great and frequent Importation of Foreigners ; and when you produce an Interlineation under the late Speaker's Hand, and the Circumstance of another Gentleman's being one of those that carried up the Ad- dress (who as Members are obliged to obey the Orders of the House), as proofs of their concurring in your apprehensions, it is a sign that you are either hard put to it, or have a very mean Opinion of the Understandings of the People.
" The Sense which the Assembly of the Lower Counties have en- tertained of my Administration (tho' much pains has been taken to carry the War down into that Government against me) is too pub- lickly known to stand in need of your Testimony concerning it; nor will it be easy for you to persuade the World that the same Men , acts upon good & bad principles at the same time. You endeavour to account for the Difference by saying that Servants were ordered to be discharged by me there, when it was denied that I had a Power to do it here. This is so far true that as the Officer there had 15 or 16 Supernumeraries, I prevailed upon him to return the Servants to their Masters, & to retain all the Freemen. But had this Cir- cumstance not been in the Case, it would have shewn that the Com- plying or not Complying with His Majesty's just Expectations was the rule of my Conduct, and not any Interest or Passions of my own. To make an End of the Subject of Inlisting, I am so well satisfyed with the Approbation His Majesty has been pleased to give of my Conduct on that Occasion, and with the Opinions I have had from England of the Legality of the Officers Proceedings (tho' I took the most timely measures to prevent what I thought would be a very great Hardship upon the People), that I cannot entertain the least Opinion of the Credit of that Person who you say has given you a contrary Information. But let me detain you one Moment longer to receive my thanks for the single acknowledgment you have of a long time been pleased to make in my Favour, that there is no reason to question but that some part of my Conduct may have received His Majesty's Approbation. I would by no means be though ungrateful, nor would I willingly be behind hand with you in Acts of Civility, wherefore I heartily wish I could with equal Truth say that any part of the Assembly's Conduct had deserved the like. I will hope, however, that in some future time it may.
" If any Fines, Part of the Ten Pounds a Year, have been re- ceived by me which ought as You say to have been paid to the Pro- vincial Treasurer, descend to particulars, name the Sums, and by whom paid, & if it appears to me or to any impartial Person that I had not a right to receive them, I will repay them into his Hands,
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for I am under no Temptation, either from want of Oeconomy or otherways, to despoil the Publick or any private Persons of their Property. But by the way, it is not every Man that is qualified to judge what is or is not Oeconomy in the Expences of a Governor, and the Man should be a Gentleman who takes upon him to judge of the Oeconomy of a Gentleman. I make no doubt but some wonder how a Governor can spend even £100 a Year, and both think themselves qualified and would be willing to undertake the Charge for that or a less Sum. But whilst you are attacking my Rights, your Right to the manner of Paying yourselves your Wages is not very clear, For if you may pay yourselves out of the Interest Money because you may apply it to what uses you shall think fit, you have a Right, if you think fit, to divide the whole Sum amongst yourselves.
" If you have read much of Parliamentary proceedings, you could not but have known that it is far from being unparliamentary to mention what are the Sentiments of the People upon an Assembly's past Transactions, And as I agree with them that there is good reason to believe there has been a partial Distribution of the Pub- lick Money in paying for Servants, I take you at your word as to the Publication of a List specifying the Servants Names, in what Company they were Inlisted, the Names of their Masters, their Trades, the Dates of their Indentures, the time each Man had to serve, and the particular Sums paid to each Master for them.
" By the fine Things said in your Message of the Persons re- moved by me from Offices, which no one ever heard of before, one would be tempted to suspect, as some of them are Members of your House, that they were the Penmen of their own Praises. I pro- fess myself an utter stranger to any Attempts made to influence them ; tho' could I have descended to the mean Arts of Flattery and Dissimulation, and had I wanted a Tool to get Money for me out of the People, I might perhaps have succeeded as well as a more worthy Governor or another Province did a few Years ago. But despising such Arts, I left them to themselves, & as their Be- haviour render'd them unworthy of the Trust committed to them, I removed them from their places, which as they held during Pleasure, I had a Right to do without being accountable to them or to you, or without incurring from our Superiors your mild Censure of having acted more arbitrarily than the most arbitrary Princes.
"I am persuaded you do not expect a serious Answer to your Charge of a manifest Design against the Liberties of the People. This, however, is the Engine you have work'd with to deceive the People, and you know the advantages of it too well to part with it now. If there were such a Design, it is strange it should be mani- fest to none but to you and your Partizans ; neither the Proprietors nor any others have been so lucky as to find it out. I confess my Design to promote the King's Service and your own safety
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has been manifest enough; And if any Attempts have been made or shall be made against these, I will most readily join with you to defeat them ; Tho' I think it is an unbecoming Distrust of His Majesty's Royal Virtues to suppose it possible for him to give the least Countenance to Enterprizes destructive of your Liberties, whether you or I exert our Power in the Case or not.
" To conclude: I have had the Bills you laid before me at your last Meeting under Consideration ; but the stopping my support for endeavouring to inforce the King's and the Proprietor's Instruc- tions, is so flagrant an Instance of your contempt of them, and so manifest an Invasion of my Right of exercising my judgment in conducting the Publick Affairs, that it will not be to any purpose for me to give my Sentiments on those Bills until you have restored me to that Liberty which, as one part of the Legislative Body, I am entitled to, by making me the usual Allowance for my Trouble & Expence in the Administration of the Government for more than two Years past. When this is done I shall be free, as well to offer my Opinion in general of them, as to propose such particular Amendments as seem to me necessary for promoting the Ease and Happiness of his Majestie's Subjects in this Province ; which no man more sincerely wishes than I do, or would take more Pains to accomplish, tho' I shall always be careful to support the Honour of the Station it has fallen to my Lot to be placed in."
" GEO. THOMAS.
" August 17th, 1742."
At a Council held at Philada., Aug 20th, 1742.
PRESENT :
The Honble GEORGE THOMAS, Esqr., Lieut Governor.
Samuel Hasell, William Till, Robert Strettell,
Abraham Taylor,
Esqrs.
The Gentl. to whom were referred the several Accounts of Ex- pences on the Indians at the late Treaty, Reported that they had Examined the said Accounts and formed one general Account of them, amounting to --; whereof . is as a present, and Expences.
The Governor then laid before the Board a Message he had pre- pared to the Assembly in these words :
" The Governor in Council to the Assembly.
" Gentl. :
" The several Accounts for the Entertainment of the Indians lately here having been committed to the Examination of some of
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the Members of the Council, I have now order'd them to be laid before you.
" Some of the Chiefs & others of the Six Nations, not to exceed fifty in the whole, now invited down by the Proprietor to receive a considerable Quantity of Goods from him in payment for Lands pur- chased of them, but the Wants of these people were so pressing that they very much exceeded that Number, in Hopes of obtaining Relief from Us, their ffriends and allies ; And as they are of great authority, & are held in great Esteem amongst all our neighbouring Indians, they were joined by some of the Shawanese, Delawares, Conestogoes or Conoys, to the number of about two hundred & thirty in all.
"Under this unexpected Circumstance I directed that as many Members of your House as could be met with should be consulted as well concerning their Entertainment as the making them a pre- sent on behalf of the Province at their Departure, which as they readily agreed to, I suppose it will appear to the whole House like- wise to have been for the reputation & Interest of the public, and more especially when it shall be observed from the Treaty held with them that the Proprietor's Business was but a very small part of what was transacted, & that their coming down was not only neces- sary for the present peace of the Province, in Regard to some In- dians who had threatned to maintain by fforce their possession of Lands which had been long ago purchased of them, & since con- veyed by the Proprietors to some of our own Inhabitants, but for its future security likewise in Case of a Rupture with the ffrench, who will leave no methods unessay'd to corrupt their ffidelity and to perswade them to turn their arms against Us."
Which being approved, is ordered to be sent along with the ac- counts.
The Governor then laid before the Board a Letter he had just received from the Governor of Maryland by a Gentleman sent on a Message to the Six Nations of Indians, requesting the Gov- ernor's Advice & Assistance therein. And the Governor inform'd the Board that he had in Compliance with the said Request en- gaged Conrad Weiser to Conduct the said Messenger to the Six Nations, And to serve him as Interpreter on this Occasion.
Philada., Oct"., 4, 1742.
MEMORANDUM.
Returns of the Election of Officers for the Year ensuing, being made to his Honour the Governor, He was this Day pleased to order Commissions to be made out agreeable to the said Returns, as follows, Viz. : To John Hyat, Esqr., as Sheriff, & Henry Pratt, Gent., as Coroner of the City & County of Philadelphia, Joseph Jackson, Esqr., as Sheriff, & John Hart, Gent., as Coroner of Bucks, Benjamin Davis, Esqr., as Sheriff, & Aubrey Bevan, Gent., as Coro-
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ner of Chester, James Galbraith, Esqr., as Sheriff, & James Clark, as Coroner of Lancaster, Samuel Bickley, Esqr., as Sheriff, & Ben- jamin Cook, Gent., as Coroner of Newcastle, Samuel Robisson, Esqr., as Sheriff, & Edmund Badger as Coroner of Kent, & Peter Hall, Esqr., as Sheriff, & Peter Clowes, Gent., as Coroner of Sussex.
A Message from the Assembly to the Governor :
"May it please the Governor-
" Any Expedient for restoring that Harmony which formerly sub- sisted between the several parts of the Legislature within this Province, would be truly agreeable to us : And we wish the Temper and Disposition the Governor was in at the time of his last Message, gave us greater Encouragement to believe any overtures becoming us to make might contribute to so good a purpose : But the warmth and Resentment with which he is pleased to treat us, the Disguise in which our Actions are placed, and above all, his avowed Attempt to deprive us of some of the greatest Privileges we enjoy, and at the same time to doubt whether we expected 'a serious Answer to our charge,' afford us little Reason to hope such Overtures may be attended with Success. Nevertheless, as we have the Interest of our Country much at heart, and as the Bills we lately presented to the Governor are necessary for its welfare, if he shall yet be pleased discharge the Trust reposed in him by giving his Assent to those and such other Bills as may contribute to the like good purposes, we shall so far overlook the Asperity of his last Message, and the repeated indignities thrown upon us, as to make further provision for his Support. This, in our opinion, is the most the Governor has reason to expect from us; for we presume he will not think it just, at a time when he is contending for his own Liberty 'as one part of the Legislative Body,' to deprive us of ours; which must be the consequence of his refusal to take into Consideration the Bills before him, until provision shall first be made for his Sup- port. Other Parts of the Governor's last Message require our Answer, but the Dispatch necessary to be given to the Publick Affairs at this Season of Year, renders it necessary first to offer this to his Consideration.
" Sign'd by Order of the House. " JOHN KINSEY, Speaker. "6th Mon., 20th, 1742."
A Message from the Governor to the Assembly : " Gentlemen-
"No Man more sincerely wishes than I do to see that Harmony restored which subsisted between me and two successive Assemblies after I came to the Government; nor can any Man more abhor the Thoughts of depriving the People of their Liberties, or the Assem- bly of any of it's just Privileges ; but if, notwithstanding, I have
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been frequently charg'd (and the Charge is spitefully repeated even now when Harmony is said to be desired), with Attempts of this sort, and have had such Indignities thrown upon me, as have been unknown to any other Governor or Assembly in the King's Domin- ions, it will not be thought unbecoming me to have shewn some degree of Warmth & Resentment against the Authors of them. When you shall think fit to treat me with the Civility due to my Publick Character, I shall not do so much Violence to my own Disposition as not to shew the same Regard to Yours.
" If you really suppose that I have refused to take the Bills you laid before me into Consideration, you have very much misunder- stood my last Message, for I have had them long under Considera- tion ; and when you shall be pleased to remove all undue influence and restore me to that Right of using my own Judgment, which as one Branch of the Legislative Body I am entitled to, by paying me the accustomed Support for the Time past, which you stop'd for my endeavouring to enforce the King's and the Proprietor's In- structions, I shall have it in my Power to shew by Actions as well as words that I have a very real Regard for the Peace and Hap- piness of the Province.
"If you are equally sincere in your Professions for restoring Peace, you will not refuse to do me the Justice for my Trouble and Expences in the Administration of the Government which you have constantly done yourselves for your own attendance in the As- sembly ; nor will it be difficult for you to find out a way of doing this consistent with the Liberty of both parts of the Legislature.
"GEO. THOMAS.
"24th August, 1742."
A Message from the Assembly to the Governor.
" May it please the Governor-,
" Those who make a Right Use of their ' Understandings' are not to be convinced without Evidence, and must be made sensible of their Mistakes before they can admit the 'reforming their Conduct' necessary. If it be desired of us on other Terms, the Governor was much in the Right to have no 'expectation' of Success, and it would not serve his purpose 'to take the Trouble of answering our Messages' with this View.
" Divide and govern is no new Maxim; and those who perswade the Governor to believe our Conduct is influenced by 'Leaders,' whose Interests depend 'upon Keeping alive a spirit of Faction,' may perhaps promise themselves some advantages in pursuing this Rule. These may find their Attempts in vain. And we desire the Governor to consider our Actions in another Light, such as are the Result of our Judgments, accompanied with as great Unanimity as perhaps ever was known, and with a fixed & unalterable View to
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the Interest of our Country. Yet we know it serves some pur- poses best to name Things by their Contraries : Thus, an honest Zeal may be called 'Faction,' and advocating the cause of Liberty ' Embroiling the Publick Affairs.'
"That 'His Majesty has been graciously pleased, after a Trans- cript of our proceedings had been laid before him, to signify his Ap- probation of the Governor's Conduct' is what in Effect he has often published & now repeats; but until this matter be a little better explained he must excuse us in suspending our Belief. Has 'His Majesty' been informed how many hundred Servants were carried away against their Masters' Consent and to their very great Loss by the Governor's Countenance and Encouragement? Is this a part of his Conduct which hath met with 'his Majesty's Appro- bation?' If it be, we desire the Governor will tell us so in ex- press Words, that we may Know how to govern ourselves for the future, and no longer blame his Behaviour in that Affair. If it be not, why is ' his Majesty's Approbation' so often repeated to give Countenance to Actions to which it hath no relation?
"The ' Discontent in the Minds of the People' for carrying away of their Servants will not, we think, be easily removed ; nor was there any need of 'a Repetition of the Charge to keep it up.' It neither was any part of our View, nor had we any desire to revive that Controversy further than was necessary to a Justification of the Conduct of a late Assembly against a Charge the Governor was pleased to make. But since the Governor has enter'd into a Detail of that Affair, he ought to excuse us in putting him in mind of some part of his Behaviour it may not, perhaps, please him to re- member.
"The Proclamation issued by the Governor, inviting such as were willing to inlist in the King's Service, bore date the 14th of April, 1740. The same Day divers Servants applied themselves to the Governor to be inform'd whether they might Inlist. Tbis the Governor answered in the Affirmative ; and told them if they would go to Cuba they should be released from their Masters, and much more to the like effect. Hereupon great numbers resorted to the Persons the Governor had appointed to have their Names entred ; and their Names when so entred were, by the Governor's express Orders, conceal'd. All this was before any application made by him to the Assembly to give a Bounty ; And if this was not an Encour- agement to the Enlisting and carrying away Servants we know not what is.
" The Governor is pleased to object, that ' to make a legal Inlist- . ment the Person must have received Inlisting Money, must be carried before a Magistrate, the seventh and tenth Articles of War read to him, &c.' But if the Governor will be pleased to look into the Act of Parliament, from whence these ' Essentials to an Inlist- ment,' as he calls them, are borrowed, it will appear that all these,
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except the Receipt of Money, are directed to be done after the In- listment ; and consequently, the Persons by that Act are allowed to be legally Inlisted before, altho' they may not be punishable for Desertion until the directions of the Act be complied with. And if all this & more was requisite to make a legal Inlistment, we con- ceive it is no ways material. The Question between the Governor & Assembly did not turn upon this point; but whether they were not so Inlisted by the Governor's Encouragement as to occasion a Loss to their Masters. On this Occasion he must give us leave to remind him of part of a Message of the late Assembly on the same subject in these words, 'What the Governor understands by the Word [Inlist- ed] we cannot take upon Us to say. The Word imports no more than the entering Men's Names on a list; and that this was done in the case of many Servants is a Truth so well known we persuade ourselves he will not deny. Then the Persons he appointed to take the Names of such who inclined to inlist were either duly author- ized to this End or not. If they were duly authorized, many Ser- vants were Inlisted by the Governor's means before any proposal was made to us for the giving a Bounty, and consequently no fault can be attributed to us. If they were not duly authorized, the In- jury is yet the greater, that by the Governor's Directions those Per- sons shou'd take upon them to enter the Names of Servants, with- out any sufficient Authority to that End, and afterwards to lay claim to them by Pretext of that illegal Act.'
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