USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial records of Pennsylvania, Vol. IX > Part 18
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PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.
themselves. If the retaining them at Philadelphia should make you apprehend further Insurrections amongst the Inhabitants, I make no doubt that Governor Franklin would Receive them in the Jerseys, & by placing them in the Barracks at Burlington, they would be removed out of the way of the People of Pennsylvania, and proper care be taken of them.
" I have the pleasure to acquaint you that a party of our Friendly Indians, meeting with a body of Delawares, on the main branch of Susquehanna, on their way against some of our Settlements, they surprized the Delawares in their Camp, and made the whole Pri- soners, to the number of Forty-one, After which they bound them, & sent them, under an Escort, towards the Mohock River.
" When your Assembly shall have settled the Supply Bills, I shall be glad to hear from you the first opportunity.
"I am, with great Regard, Sir, " Your most Obedient humble Servant,
" THO. GAGE.
" Hon'ble Lieut. Gov". PENN."
The Governor, thereupon, desiring the Opinion of the Council, they advised him to call a Meeting of the Commissioners to-Mor- row Morning, and after laying before them the Said Letters, ask them (as it appears by that from Gen1 Gage to be his Sentiments, that the Indians should be still kept here under the Protection of this Government), whether they are willing to defray the Expence of their further maintainance, if he should think it necessary to continue them here a longer time, and afterwards, that his Honour would take his Measures accordingly.
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24th April, 1764.
MEMORANDUM.
The Governor was acquainted that the Courts of Quarter Ses- sions and Common Pleas were to be held at Lancaster, the 1st Tues- day in May next; and at Reading, for the County of Berks, on the Tuesday following, and that in the latter there was a necessity of increasing the number of Justices, there being but eight in the whole County, of which only one lived in the Town.of Reading ; His Honour, therefore, this day issued two separate General Com- missions of the Peace under the Great Seal, the one appointing the following Persons Justices of the Peace & of the Common Pleas of and for the County of Lancaster, viz":
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"Emanuel Carpenter,
Calvin Cooper,
"Isaac Saunders,
Adam Reed,
"Edward Shippen,
Tho'. Foster,
" William Jevon,
James Burd,
Esquires.
" James Hamilton,
" William Till,
" Benjamin Shoemaker,
" Lawrence Growden,
" Joseph Turner,
" William Logan,
" Richard Peters,
"Lynford Lardner,
" Benjamin Chew,
, "Thomas Cadwallader, " Richard Penn,
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Esquires, Members of Council."
In the other Commission, the following Persons were appointed Justices of the Peace and of the Common Pleas of and for the County of Berks, vizt. :
The Members of the Governor's Council as before ; &
" Jonas Seely,
Thomas Rutter, 7
" William Maugridge, Jacob Morgan,
" Peter Spyker, James Deimer,
" Jacob Levan,
" James Read,
" George Webb,
Henry Christ,
" Joseph Millard,
At a Council held at Philada. on Friday the 27th April, 1764.
PRESENT :
The Honourable JOHN PENN, Esq" Lieuten" Governor.
William Logan, Thomas Cadwalader, .
Benjamin Chew, Richard Penn,
. Esq".
" Adam Simon Kuhn,
Isaac Richardson,
" Robert Thompson,
John Hay,
" Andrew Work,
Zaccheus Davis,
" Jnº. Allison,
Wm. Hamilton,
John Patton, George Douglass,
Esquires."
The Governor laid before the Board the Records of Conviction of three Persons for Burglary at a Court of Oyer and Terminer, and General Goal Delivery, held at Philadelphia on Tuesday the 10th day of this instant, April, before William Coleman and Alexander Stedman, Esquires, two of the Justices of the Supream Court, which were certified by the Clerk of the said Court, and it appears
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by one of the said Records, that on the twelfth day of this Instant, April, William Frederick Handenreid was tried and convicted of Felony & Burglary, committed in the House of Thomas Clifford in the City of Philadelphia, the 28 day of February last, and had re- ceived Sentence of Death for the same; By another of the said Records it appears that on the thirteenth day of this Instant, April, John Williams, otherwise called John Hines, was tried and convicted of Felony and Burglary, committed in the House of Wil- liam Johnson, in the said City, the 1st July, 1763, and had like- wise received sentence of Death for the same; and by the other of the said Records, it appears that on the 17 day of this Instant, April, John Brinckloe, otherwise called John Benson, was tried and convicted of Felony and Burglary, committed in the House of Lydia McCall, in the said city, on the 10 day of February last, and had also received Sentence of Death for the said Crime.
It being considered that the Inhabitants of the City have been put into great Terror on account of the late Robberies, and the Justices of the Supream Court not having reported any Circum- stances in favour of either of the said Criminals, nor said anything in their behalf, the Governor signed three separate Death Warrants under the Lesser Seal, for their Execution on Saturday the 5 of May next.
At a Council held at Philadelphia, the 9th of May, 1764.
PRESENT :
The Honourable JOHN PENN, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor, &cª.
Richard Peters,
Benjamin Chew,
Lynford Lardner,
Thomas Cadwalader, 5 Esqrs.,
The Examination of Doctor Wm. Frederick Autenreit (or Han- denreid), one of the Three Criminals now under Sentence of Death in the Gaol of Philadelphia, taken the 4th Instant before the Mayor, was read, & being duly considered, the Council were of Opinion that there was some reason to doubt the Truth of several matters it contained, and therefore advised the Governor to issue a Warrant to respit the Execution of Brinckloe for another Week, but that he be carried with the other two, Autenreit and Williams, to the Gallows on Saturday next, and there treated as if all three were to be executed ; and that when the other two are executed, Brinckloe should be taken away from under the Gallows, and carried back to Gaol, to wait the Governor's further Consideration of the matter, particularly Autenreit's, persisting or not in his Acquittal of said Brinckloe, in his Confession or Declaration at the Gallows, be- fore his Execution; And it is so ordered accordingly by the Gov', and that on Delivery of the Warrant. to the Sheriff, for respiting
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the Execution of Brinckloe, he be enjoined Secrecy with respect to the Warrant till the other two are executed.
The Draught of a Charter for incorporating Trustees for New- Castle County, was read and referred to a further Consideration.
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Wednesday, 16th May, 1764, A. M.
Two Members of Assembly waited on the Governor and ac- quainted him that the House had met according to Adjournment, & desired to know if he had any Business to lay before them; to which His Honour made answer, that. whatever matter he had to recommend to them, he should communicate to the House by the Secretary Sometime to-Morrow.
Thursday, 17th May, A. M.
The Governor sent by the Secretary a written Message to the House, which follows in these words, vizt:
A Message from the Governor to the Assembly.
" Gentlemen :
" The Adjournment of your House, immediately on the delivery of your Message of the 24th of March last, deprived me of an op- portunity of answering it till your present Meeting, and as I am not fond of Contention, and was sincerely disposed to cultivate Har- mony and a good Understanding with you, I am verry sorry that the unwarrantable Freedom with which you have treated not only my Character, but those of the Proprietaries themselves, and the unfair state which I apprehend you have made of the late dispute between us respecting the Supply Bill, will not now suffer me to let that Message pass unnoticed.
" As Facts are stubborn things, and truth does not stand in need of any Colouring or Disguise, nothing is more necessary, in order to set the controversy between us in its true light, than to take a short and summary Review of the Transactions which gave rise to it.
"In the Year 1760 an Act of Assembly of this Province, by which Supplies were granted to His late Majesty, was declared by the King, in Council, to be fundamentally wrong and unjust, in six several Articles, and therefore about to be repealed. Upon this Mr. Franklin (now a Member of your House) and Mr. Charles, who were your Agents in England, Solemnly engaged, on the part of the Assembly, that the House should, by a new Bill, amend the said
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Act, and make it conformable to the written Articles in the report of the Lords of the Council, if His Majesty would be graciously pleased to suffer the Act to remain unrepealed.' Confiding in this Engagement, the King suspended the Repeal of the Act, and the Agents signed a Stipulation, entered in the Council Books, of the import above mentioned. Till the present Bill made its Appearance, the Assembly never would agree to comply with the Stipulations of their Agents as to any one of the Articles in the Decree, notwithstanding they were frequently pressed to it by my predecessor. At length you thought proper to make your Bill correspond with four of the said articles, and strenuously in- sisted that you had inserted in it the true Sense and Meaning of the other two also. In this I was so unfortunate (or, as you seem to think, criminal,) as to differ in judgment with you. On consi- dering the two Articles of the decree, the words of which I at first conceived, and yet am of Opinion are so clear and explicit as not possibly to admit of a double Construction, and comparing them with your Bill, I found you had explained away the meaning of them by a Clause directly contrary to the plain import of the terms made use of by the King in Council. As a Colour and pretence for so strange a Conduct, you were happy enough to discover that Laws and Ordinances, though composed by the wisest Men, in Councils and Parliaments, practised in using the greatest clearness and precision, are some times found to contain Obscurities and Un- certainties, and that every thing human is subject to imperfection, and conclude modestly, with making the Application to the contro- verted Articles in the Decree, which, you contend, require Addi- tions and Explanations to be made to them by you to Reconcile them to common Justice & Honesty. Give me leave, here, Gentle- men, to ask you a few Questions. Were not learned Council em- ployed and fully instructed by the Agents aforesaid, on the part of the Assembly, to advocate the Supply Bill of 1759? Were not those Counsil twice fully heard before the Lords of Trade and the King and Councel antecedent to the Decree ? Did not the Agents understand the Force and Meaning of the Strong and expressive words of the second and third Articles, previous to their signing the Stipulation above mentioned ? If they entertained a notion that they were ambiguous, why did they not then object to them when they might have had their doubts removed upon the Spot? As your House is principally composed of the same Members now, as have been the Representatives of the People of this Province for many Years past, why were not the Objections lately made against those parts of the Decree pointed out and urged to Mr. Hamilton, as reasons for not coming into the measure, when he repeatedly sol- licited you to comply with the Stipulations of your Agents ? A Controversy on those points, then, would have been productive of none of the fatal consequences which now threaten us, as other means than those of a Land Tax, were fallen on to raise Supplies,
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and the matter, long before this Time, would have been settled on the other side of the Water. On the Contrary, why have these Ob- jections been treasured up and kept in Reserve till this critical pe- riod, when we daily expect a renewal of the Incursions of the Sav- ages on our Frontiers, and our back Inhabitants must be left desti- tute and defenceless, an easy prey to their Enemies, without Sup- plies are raised for their Protection ?
" As to the Equity and Justice of the decree, I should think I justly subjected myself to the Charge of offering the highest affront to, and flying in the Face of that Supream and august Judicatory who pronounced it, were I to enter into any Arguments with You in support of it. It will not, I presume, be denied, that the King, in Council, has a legal & constitutional power of judging, and finally determining the fate of all Laws passed by the Legislature here. They have exercised that Jurisdiction on a Bill of a similar Nature with that you lately presented to me, and have laid down certain Rules in their Decree, on which others ought to be found for the future. You will excuse me in saying that I cannot, reasonably, or with Decency, suppose that you were either ignorant of the Real merits of the Sub- ject they undertook to judge upon, or that they meant, or intended any thing more or less than they have been pleased, plainly to ex- press in their judgment. While that decree, therefore, remains un- reversed, I am, and shall always think myself indispensably bound, in Duty, not to vary from it, though it should, or should not, im- mediately Relate to the Prerogative only.
" In a former Message I alledged that I knew of no other certain rule of judging of the Intentions of another, than by the plain im- port of the Words made use of to convey them ; But, in your last Message you are pleased to tell me that you beg leave to point out to me another Rule, and you think a better, which is, that where Words are, by construction, capable of two opposite Meanings, the one manifestly unjust and unequal, and the other perfectly consist- ent with Justice and Equity, you conceive it a good Rule to judge that the intention is with the latter; Your manner of Reasoning in this Instance, I confess, appears to me as extraordinary as in most other parts of Your Message. The rule I laid down, is expressly confined to the case where the Words made use of are plain and clear ; and in order to establish a better Rule in its stead, you shift the Question, and state a different Case, where the words are not plain, but ambiguous, and admit of a double Construction.
" To close this disagreeable Subject, Gentlemen, I comfort myself with the Solid Reflection, that in order to forward His Majesty's Service, and to avoid further Debate respecting the meaning of the Decree, and facilitate the passage of a Bill so necessary for the se- curity of the Province, I have made you the only proposal in my ·· Power, consistent with my duty to the Crown, namely, to insert in the Bill the very words of the Second & third Articles of the De- cree, and let the Assessors judge of the Sense of them in the first
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instance, Subject to the controul of the Provincial Commissioners of Appeals, if they do wrong. The Objections you were pleased to make to this were, that the Assessors of the different Counties might differ in their Modes of Taxation, or might be equally divided in their Opinion upon the Construction of the Words of the Decree, and so no Tax be laid at all; or, even if they should act rightly, the Commissioners of Appeals might understand the words in a wrong Sense, and overthrow every right Assessment in the Province. I shall only observe, that in support of your Cause, you are com . pelled to carry your Suppositions a great way, indeed, far beyond the Bounds of Probability or Reason, in a case which appears to me, as I have often said, plain beyond a doubt.
"As to the abuse and Obloquy which you have taken the liberty, with so lavish a hand, to bestow on the Proprietaries in your last Message, and the Censures you have passed on my Conduct (for no other Reason than that I have esteemed it my Duty to yield Obedience to the royal Decree) they are groundless and without any just Foundation ; therefore I shall pass them over with the silent Disregard they deserve. The Rules of good Breeding will always restrain me from retorting on you in the same way ; And a Steady resolution to discharge the Station I have the Honour to fill with fidelity and Justice to the good people of this Province, will, I trust, never suffer any Affronts that may be offered me to influence my Administration, or interfere with the public Welfare.
" I cannot conclude, Gentlemen, without once more recommend- ing it to you to considering, with that Temper and Moderation which is so essentially necessary to publick Councils, in what manner Sup- plies may be best raised, not only to answer the purposes for which they were demanded by General Gage at your last Meeting, but also to keep up a Sufficient Force to guard the Frontiers, and pay the large Arrears already due to the Troops who have been employed on that Service.
"May 17th, 1764."
" JOHN PENN.
Friday, 18 May.
The House sent up to the Governor for his Concurrence, by two Members, the Bill entituled "An Act for granting to his Majesty the sum of Fifty-five Thousand, and for striking the same in Bills of Credit in the manner hereinafter directed, and for proving a Fund for sinking the said Bills of Credit by a Tax on all Estates, real and personal, & Taxables within this Province," which the Gov- ernor finding to be the same Bill to which he had refused his Assent during the last Session of Assembly, ordered the Secretary to return VOL. IX .- 12.
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it immediately, and acquaint the House that, having the same Ob- jections to it as before, he could not agree to pass it.
At a Council held at Philada-, on Thursday, 24th May, 1764. PRESENT :
The Honourable JOHN PENN, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor, &cª.
James Hamilton,
Richard Peters,
Lynford Lardner,
Benjamin Chew, S Esq".
The Governor laid before the Board a Bill which the House of Assembly sent up on Friday last for his Honour's concurrence, en- tituled "an Act for granting to His Majesty the Sum of Fifty-five thousand Pounds, and for striking the Same in Bills of Credit in the manner herein after directed, and for providing a Fund for sink- ing the said Bills of Credit by a Tax on all Estates, Real and per- sonal, and Taxables, within this Province," which being read and considered, it appeared that the Assembly had omitted to comply with the Stipulations of their Agents, by not inserting in the Bill a Clause to amend and alter the Supply Bills of the years 1759 & 1760, so as to make them conformable to the Royal Decree.
A Petition to the Governor from Richard Hockley and Edmund Physick, Esqrs., was also read and is as follows :
" To the Honourable JOHN PENN, Esquire, Lieutenant Gov- ernor of the Province of Pennsylvania, &ca .:
"The Petition of Richard Hockley and Edmund Physick, receiv- ers General of the said Province, Humbly Sheweth :
"That your Petitioners have heard that a Bill for granting to His Majesty the Sum of £55,000 was lately presented, and is now before your Honour for your Concurrence, in which it is required of us to render an account of the Proprietary Estate in the Several Townships and Counties throughout this Province, within the Term of Fifteen days after a certain List mentioned in the said Bill may be brought to us for that purpose.
"Upon which occasion, we beg leave to represent to your Honour our inability to perform this Duty, humbly conceiving the thing required impossible by any means in our power ; this we presume will be manifest, more especially in respect to the Quit Rents, when you consider it Supposes us a knowledge of the particular Bounds of each County and Township within the Province, and of the names of Persons who possess particular Tracts of Land within those
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'Townships ; These matters, it is true, are in general known to us upon the issuing of a Patent, which is entered when granted, with these several Circumstances, in the Patent Book, but in a Short time these Circumstances change. The Patentee sells his Land to other Persons without our knowing anything of the matter. The Town- ships get divided, and that district which was formerly called by one name, has now perhaps got several names; in like manner the Counties have been altered and divided, & new names applied to them. We hope, therefore, that these reasons will convince your Honour of the Impossibility of our forming such an Account as we apprehend may be expected of us by the Bill before you.
"Yet, though we cannot ascertain the particular Sum which should issue for quit Rents out of each Township, we are willing, to the utmost of our power, to prepare an account of the Yearly Quit Rents due to the Proprietaries from the Province, and other parts of their Estate likewise, but hope, in so difficult a work, that sufficient time will be allowed for the purpose, and that neither the Proprietaries nor ourselves may be liable to forfeitures for mistakes on inadvertencies. We, therefore, pray that your Honour will be pleased to represent these Sentiments to the House of Representa- tives, before you assent to the Bill.
"RICHARD HOCKLEY. "EDMUND PHYSICK.
" May 24, 1764."
The Council, thereupon, advised the Governor to return the Bill to the House, with a Message, in writing, setting forth his several Objections thereto.
The Governor having received four petitions from the Inhabitants of Lancaster, York, and Northampton, addressed to the House of Pepresentatives, as well as himself, sent them by the Secretary to the House for their Consideration.
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Friday, the 25th May.
The Governor returned, by the Secretary, the Supply Bill, with the following Message to the House, & a petition from the Re- ceivers General therein Referred to :
A Message from the Governor to the Assembly.
" Gentlemen :
"In the Supply Bill now before me, I expected that you would not only have thought proper to make it conformable to the Royal Decree, in the Rates and Assessments on which the sum given by it to his Majesty's use is at a future day to be
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levied and raised, which is the immediate Objection of the Bill ; but that you would have taken occasion to comply with the Stipu- lations of your Agents by inserting in it a Clause to alter and amend the Supply Bills of the Years 1759, & 1760, in such manner as to make them correspond with the said Decree, But as I observe you have omitted to do this, I now recommend it to you, or if to forward the Supplies you incline to frame a separate Bill to this purpose, I will chearfully concur with you in that mode. To this I hope for a speedy and explicit answer.
" I have herewith ordered to be laid before you a Petition pre- · sented to me Yesterday by the Receivers General, shewing the abso- lute impossibility of their being able to comply with the strict Let- ter of the Bill in returning a List of the Quit Rents Reserved in each County & Township, owing to the Changes and Divisions made in both since the Grants by which such Rents were reserved, at the same time professing their Readiness and desire to disclose and give a just and full account of that Species of Property in Gross, As I am persuaded it is not your intention to subject any one to penal- ties for not doing Acts which are out of their power. I recommend this matter also to your consideration & return you the Bill again, to give you an opportunity of altering it in both of the above par- ticulars.
" May 25th, 1764."
"JOHN PENN.
At a Council held at Philada., on Saturday, 26th May, 1764.
PRESENT :
The Honourable JOHN PENN, Esquire, Lieutenant Gov- ernor, &ca.
James Hamilton,
Richard Peters,
Benjamin Chew,
}'Esq"
The Supply Bill being returned by the Assembly was again taken into Consideration, and the Governor laid before the Board a Message which he received with it yesterday from the House, in the following words, viz *.:
A Message to the Governor from the Assembly.
"May it please your Honour :
" In your verbal Message of the 19th March, and several other Messages, you were pleased to recommend it to the House to make the Supply Bill then returned, conformable to the Decree of His Majesty in Council relative to the Taxation of the Proprietary lo- cated unimproved Lands and Lots, after which you would readily pass it into a Law.
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" This the House have strictly complied with in the present Bill, from an earnest desire that His Majesty's Service should not be longer obstructed, and yet your Honour has, in your Message of this day, been pleased to start two objections, both of them new, notwithstanding the parts of the Bill objected to have been repeat- edly and long before you. And as these objections do not appear to us justly founded, we have returned the Bill, and request your Honour would give your assent without further delay to the same, that the important Service for which the Supplies are intended may not be frustrated from the lateness of the Season.
" Signed by order of the House.
" ISAAC NORRIS, Speaker. "May 25th, 1764."
The said Message being read, it appeared that the House had given no answer to the Governor's Questions in his Message of Yesterday, Respecting their compliance with the Stipulations of their Agents. The Council therefore advised the Governor to re- peat his Questions to the House, and desire a possitive answer to them before he should come to any resolution on the Supply Bill. His Honour accordingly directed the Secretary to carry the follow- ing Message to the House.
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