USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial records of Pennsylvania, Vol. VI > Part 24
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" When your Bill for striking Forty Thousand Pounds was before me I found it was contrary to the Royal Instruction directed to the Lieutenant Governor of this Province for the time being, and in the opinion of Sir Dudley Ryder in Force and binding upon me; and without any further Examination I sent it back to you with that opinion, and by a Message informed you that I could by no Means agree to it as it was contrary to that Instruction, notwithstanding which you are pleased to tell me That you are of Opinion the Pro- prietary Instructions are the principal if not the sole Obstruction to the passing that Bill. If this be really your Opinion, Gentlemen, I should be glad to know upon what Information you found it, and how you came so intimately acquainted with my private Sentiments as to know when I said one thing I meant another.
" I was and am very desirous that you should apply to the Crown to determine the Force of the Royal Instructions relating to Paper Money, as His Majesty may certainly withdraw the same whenever he pleases. But as I do not know or believe that the Civil or Reli- gious Liberties of the People of this Province are at all invaded by that Instruction, I could have no Intention to consent to an Appli- cation in Support of them. Any Application, therefore, of that Sort, Gentlemen, must be your own, in which I have not nor do I desire to have any the least Concern.
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" An Invasion of the Civil and Religious Liberty of a People, which are in their Nature sacred, and ought to be so estcemed by all Governments, is amongst the worst of Crimes, and is greatly aggravated when done by One who is bound by Duty and Oath to preserve those Blessings and to protect the People in the Enjoyment of them. His Sacred Majesty, who through the Course of a long and happy Reign has studied to preserve the Rights and Liberties of all His Subjects, and has always made the Laws and Constitution of His Kingdoms the Rule and Measure of His Government, I am sure disdains a Thought of doing or approving any Thing that may be injurious to them ; and I am satisfied a British Parliament will never esteem a Royal Instruction, issued at their own Request and intended to enforce a .good and wholesome Law, in the least destruc. tive of the Civil or Religious Liberties of any Part of His Majesty's Subjects, whatever you the Representatives of Pennsylvania may do. And it gives me particular Concern that you should purposely enter into a Dispute about that Instruction and choose to express and publish such Sentiments of His Majesty's Government at a Time like this, when a French Army are fortifying, themselves in your Country ; and I earnestly recommend it to you to consider whether such Expressions may not have a Tendency to alienate the Affec- tions of the People of this Province from His Majesty's Person and Government, and thereby greatly obstruct the Measures he is taking at a vast Expence for the Preservation and Protection of His Sub- jects upon this Continent.
" I have lately received Intelligence that a Body of nigh Six Thousand of the best Troops of France, selected and sent over upon this particular Service, are arrived at the Lower Fort upon the Ohio, and are employed in fortifying that Country. This must convince . us that the Court of France has formed some grand Designs with regard to this Continent, and as they have made their first Attack upon this Province, without Doubt on Account of its being the most plentiful and only defenceless part of His Majesty's Dominions, it behoves us in a particular Manner to exert ourselves upon the present Occasion. I must, therefore, Gentlemen, once more intreat you to lay aside every thing that may admit of Dispute between us till a more favourable Season, and enter seriously into the Consideration of the Danger to which your Country is exposed, and not only grant the Supplies recommended by the Crown but enable me to raise a considerable Body of Men, to be employed in Conjunction with the Troops His Majesty has destined for this Service, and by establish- ing a regular Militia and providing the necessary Stores of War, leave us no longer for want of Discipline an easy Prey to a much weaker Body of Men than are now encamped within a few days' March of this City.
"ROBERT HUNTER MORRIS."
·
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Here follow the Examinations on which the Governor founded his Intelligence :
" The Examination of Charles Courtenay, a Deserter from the French Camp on the Ohio, taken before William Allen, Esquire, Chief Justice of the Province of Pennsylvania, on Saturday the Twenty-Eight Day of December, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty-Four.
"This Examinant says that he was born at Lisle in Flanders, and was taken Prisoner by the French at Bergen op Zoom and carried to Rochel, and there put on Board a Vessel going to Quebec, where he arrived Four Years ago and served in the Garrison; That at the End of the Summer about three months ago. Six Men of War ar- rived from Old France at Quebec, each having had in her a Thou- sand Soldiers, but that many of them died in their Passage; That the Six Thousand Men were all Grenadiers, picked as the ablest men out of the best Regiments of France, and all taller than he; That this Examinant embarked along with these Soldiers in Six Hundred Battoes, and that they all arrived (except some who were Sick, perhaps two hundred, and were left at their upper Forts) at the French. Fort commanded by Monsieur' Contrecœur, on the Ohio; That about Eight Weeks ago he deserted from that Fort, and be- lieves two hundred had deserted before him ; That the Soldiers after their arrival were employed in digging mines in order to blow up the English on their Approaches to attack them, And that they talked of making mines all about the Fort to a great Distance ; That the French had heard the English were making great Pre- parations against them, and that thirty or forty Vessels were arrived with Forces from England; That there are numbers of French Indians in the Camp with the French who speak French, and are extremely attached to them ; That the French say they will by Force compel the English Indians to join with them; That they offer the Lands about the Fort to the Canadians and Soldiers, and give Seed for their Encouragement to settle there, and that there are about Forty Families who have accepted the Terms and are settling the Lands.
his " CHARLES M COURTENAY. Mark.
" Sworn before me, " WILLIAM ALLEN."
" The Examination of Francis Charles Bouviere, a French Deserter from the French Fort at Niagara, taken before William Allen, Esquire, Chief Justice of the Province of Pennsylvania, on Saturday the Twenty - Eight Day of December, in the Ycar One Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty-Four.
"This Examinant says that he was born at Paris, lived there, and was there pressed into the French Army and sent to Bordeaux
4
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about four Years ago, and there put on Board (with one hundred and fifty other Soldiers) a Vessel bound to Quebec, where they ar- rived ; That he served in the Garrison there till the Beginning of last Winter, when he embarked along with Six Hundred Men, Canadians and Soldiers, on an Expedition against the English at Ohio; That they staid at Fort Niagara five or six Months and then early in the Spring they marched by Land to the Ohio, and de- scended down that River to a Place where the English had begun a Fort which they attacked and took, and then their Commander, Monsieur Contrecœur, ordered four hundred men, of which he was one, to return to Niagara, detaining two hundred men with him in the Fort; That they arrived at Niagara, and he staid there about two Months and then deserted along with three other Soldiers, and in the Woods met with Three Indians of the Iroquois, who would have forced them to return to the Fort, and attempted to tye them, on which they shot two Indians and let the other go on his saying he would do them no harm; That they travelled fifteen Days in the Woods, and then came to the English Camp on Wills' Creek ; That some little Time before he deserted he heard the Corporals and Sergeants say three hundred Soldiers were encamped in their Neigh- bourhood, who were an advanced Part of Six Thousand Soldiers arrived from Old France in Six Men of War, all Grenadiers and chosen Men, picked out of the best. Regiments in France ; That the names of three of the Men of War were Le Caten, Le Joseph, and Le Leopard, The rest he does not remember ; That the men were stowed so thick in the Vessels as occasioned a Sickness amongst them, of which numbers dyed; That he heard among the Soldiers in the Fort at Niagara the English would not deliver up Monsieur La Force, and that the King of France had sent these Forces to recover him as he was a very valiant Soldier; That they talked of destroying Three Nations of Indians, one of which was the Shawo- nese, and the other he thinks were the Miamis, for having annoyed the French and their Indians.
his "FRANCIS CHARLES -- BOUVIERE. Mark.
" Sworn before me at Philadelphia, "WILL. ALLEN."
A Bill entituled " An Act for preventing the Importation of Germans or other Passengers or Servants in too great Numbers in any Ship or Vessel, and for preventing the spreading of Contagious Distempers within the Province," having been delivered to the Gov- ernor by two Members with a Message that he would be pleased to concurr with the House in enacting it into a Law, The same was read.
The Governor observed that several parts of the Bill militated against the Principles of Humanity; that in some Instances more VOL. VI .- 15.
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Power were given to Magistrates than was consistent with Justice or Prudence, and in others they were excluded from exercising Rights inherent in them by virtue of their Commissions; and in general that the Bill amounted to an absolute prohibition of Im- portation of Germans, which he thought might not look well at home nor be for the Interest of the Province; but he was a friend to the other parts of the Bill, and desir'd it might be well considered in these Respects, and made agreeable to the Liberty of the Subject and to the Calls of Hospitality and Humanity, and that proper Powers and no others might be given to the Magistrates and the Officers concerned in the Execution of the Act.
It was referr'd to Mr. Strettell, Mr. Shoemaker, and Mr. Turner, to make the proper Amendments. Mr. Shoemaker desired to be excused as he was concerned in these Importations, and Mr. Peters was appointed in his Stead.
A Letter from George Croghan to the Secretary of the 5th De- cember, and another to the Governor of the 23d, and one from John Harris of the 30th, containing Application for Necessarys for the Indians, and Information that some of them were gone with John Harris to the Camp at Wills' Creek, were read and sent to the House.
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At a Council held at Philadelphia, Friday the third January, 1755.
PRESENT :
The Honourable ROBERT HUNTER MORRIS, Esqr., Lieu- tenant Governor.
John Penn, Benjamin Shoemaker, Richard Peters.
Esquires.
The Committee to whom the German Bill was referred made a Report of the Amendments which they had thought proper to make to it, which were read, and likewise the Bill itself, and many of them were approved, but in as much as the Difference in Sentiment from the House was very great, and on Points which the Assembly were extremely fond of, it was thought best to keep the Bill for some time least the Amendments might add to the Heat, already too great, in the Assembly on other matters, and while this was under Consideration a Message was delivered from the House desiring to know when they might expect to know the Governor's Result upon that Bill, and the Governor told them that he had referred it to a Committee of the Council and would acquaint the House with his Result as soon as conveniently he could.
The two Members then presented a Message, consisting of Forty sides of Folio Paper, which was read, and many Observations were
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made by the Members of Council as well respecting the matters of Fact as the Reasons mentioned therein, and it was much lamented that at a time when Agreement was so absolutely necessary fresh Matter and fresh Calumny should so unreasonably, so unjustly, and so passionately be insisted upon by the House. " May it please the Governor :
" When we view the Conduct of our Predecessors in the same important Stations we have now the Honour to bear, and their repeated Struggles for continuing to us the valuable Blessings we enjoy under our Charters, when we consider their constant Acknow- ledgements of the Royal Clemency and Goodness in granting them to us, their Gratitude to our worthy Founder and Proprietary for confirming those Priveleges, and the success which has attended their honest Endeavours, it animates us, under our most gracious King, of whose paternal Regard and Tenderness over us we have now the most engaging Instances, to pursue faithfully the Path they have trod before us, in which we hope and have no Reason to doubt the issue of so just a Cause whenever it shall come before His Ma- jesty or be made the Subject of a Parliamentary Enquiry. And the Governor surely will likewise consider how he may stand acquitted under such Enquiries when the Reason of his present Conduct shall be examined into before such impartial Judges.
" Upon considering the Governor's Promise that he would lay before us his Proprietary Instructions, so far as they regarded our Bill for granting Twenty Thousand Pounds for the King's Use, 'whenever the Publick Service should require it,' and yet on our Address, which we apprehend we have an undoubted Right to, that he would now lay them before us, 'as a Time when the Publick Service requires it in a particular Manner,' his absolute Refusal of granting this our reasonable Request, and likewise upon re-consider- ing the Representation of the Assembly to our Proprietaries in 1751 and their Answer, together with the other Minutes and Papers relating thereto, as well as the several Arguments of the last Assembly with our late Governor when a Bill of the same Tenor of our present Bill lay before him, we have come to the following unanimous Resolutions, Viz“ :
"'That it is the Opinion of this House that the late Governor, who was we presume as much bound by the Additional Instruction to Colonel Thomas in 1740 as our present Governor is or can be, has clearly admitted in his Reasonings with our last Assembly, ' that it was an Absurdity too Glaring to suppose that any Govern- ment would voluntarily tie up the Hands of its Subjects from serv- ing it by such Means as they are able in Cases of great Emergency ;' and that Colonel Thomas in passing the Act for granting Five Thousand Pounds to the King's Use, in the Year 1746, by extend- ing the Excise Act for ten years, was so far from acting contrary to the Instruction he had received from the Lords Justices in 1740,
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that 'the very contrary was evident, and that the said Instruction was not binding upon him from passing a Bill in Cases of great Emergency of the same Tenor with our Bill for granting Twenty Thousand Pounds for the King's Use, which our Governor has now been pleased to refuse his Assent to.
"'That it is the Opinion of this House that the Governor is un- doubtedly bound by Proprietary Instructions ; and that they may be and we believe they really are, or some of them are such as independant of the Royal Instruction, limit or restrain him from passing Acts, which by the Royal and Provincial Charters we have an undoubted Right to offer, and by which he has or ought to have full Powers to give his Assent to as Governor of this Province.
"' That it is the Opinion of this House that these Proprietary Instructions, or some one or more of them, is or are the principal if not the sole Obstruction to the passing our Bill for granting Twenty Thousand Pounds for the King's Use in this time of imminent Danger to the British Interest in North-America.'
" May it please the Governor :
" These Resolutions, which are forced from us, we have entered into with the utmost Reluctancy, and in Support of them, or any other Part of our Present Conduct, we conceive it our indispensable Duty to conduct ourselves precisely within the Bounds of Sincerity and sober Reason, and to avoid every Thing that is not in our Opinion necessary to our own just Vindication.
" As to. the Substance of these Resolves has already been laid before the Governor, it has been in his Power to exonerate those Proprietary Instructions from any Misapprehension of ours, and it is in his Power still to do it by laying them before us as our former Governors have done in like Cases ; and whenever he shall be pleased to do so it will give us great Pleasure to retract the whole or any Part of those Resolves. But till then we presume the Governor must allow we have good Reason to say that we are under a Necessity of making our humble Application to the Crown in Sup- port of our Civil and Religious Liberties. For if such Proprietary Instructions had not interfered it was most natural and would have been most agreable to us, and accordingly, if the Case could admit it, we should have requested the Governor's Assistance and Concur- rence in an Address to our Proprietaries in Support of our Charter, as it regarded the Royal Instructions only. But under our present Circumstances we apprehend these Proprietary Instructions are the principal if not the sole Reason that hinders the passing our Bill, by which we were in hopes of demonstrating our Readiness and Chear- fulness in answering all the reasonable Expectations of the Crown from' his most loving and loyal Subjects of this Province. And, therefore, it is with extreme Concern we find our Governor, who is or ought to be set over us for our Protection, endeavouring to repre-
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sent us in his Message of the 30th of December last in a Light we detest and abhor.
" The Governor is but in the Beginning of his Administration, and if, when he receives the Proprietaries' Commission, he was 'in a great Measure a Stranger to our Constitution,' we apprehend he still continues a Stranger not only to our Constitution but to the Inhabitants if he does not certainly know that the King has not a more loyal People among all his Subjects than the Inhabitants are and have ever been since the first Settlement of this Province ;. nevertheless they are convinced they ought not to be governed by Proprietary Instructions in Opposition to their Charter, which is,. in our Opinion, the Foundation and Sanction of our Civil and Religious Liberties ; and especially if these Instructions must be secreted from them, and by that Means the whole Country left without any known Rule of their Conduct. And it surprizes us extremely that a Request of this House respectfully addressed to the Governor that he would be pleased to lay before us those In -- structions, or such part of them as might relate to the immediate Service of the Crown, and to the Preservation of this His Majesty's. Colony in order that we might examine how far they interfered with that Allegiance the Proprietaries themselves and all of us owe to the Crown, or with the Privileges granted by our Charters, should be represented by our Governor as an Act that 'might have a Ten- dency to alienate the Affections of the People of this Province from his Majesty's Person and Government, and thereby greatly obstruct the Measures he is taking at a vast Expence for the preservation and protection of his Subjects upon this Continent.' That thus contending for the Rights granted us by the Royal Charter, which is the known Rule of our Conduct, should have a Tendency of that Kind under a King who has been graciously pleased to declare ' That nothing in this World can give him so much Pleasure as to see his Subjects a flourishing and happy People,' is so foreign from our Thoughts, and we trust will be so foreign to every impartial Con- struction, that we may safely leave it without any further Remarks of our own. But if it should have a Tendency to alienate the Affections of the People from being bound by private Proprietary Instructions the Blame is not with us, who have never been consulted upon them ;. and if we had been consulted should have thought ourselves obliged to declare that we have a great Dislike to Proprietary Instructions, and that so far as they are against the Prerogatives of the Crown. or an Infringement of our Charter they are illegal, and 'void in. themselves.'
"That 'all Governors have constantly had Proprietary Instruc- tions from the first Settlement of this Province' we neither know nor do we think it much concerns us, provided they relate to the- Proprietary Property alone. But this we do know, that occasionally" as they have interfer'd with the passing of Acts they have been re --
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peatedly and unanimously resolved by the Council and Represen- tatives of this Province 'void in themselves,' and 'an Infringement upon the Privileges granted by Charter to the People of this Pro- vince.' And our former Governor has declared upon the Journals of our House, and in a Letter to the Proprietary Family themselves,
"1. That some of the Instructions given to him conclude ab- surdly, and therefore are impracticable.
"2. That they are a positive Breach of the Charter of Privileges to the People. And
"3. That they are inconsistent with the legal Prerogative of the Crown settled by Act of Parliament.
" And yet if such Instructions as these must be binding in so high a Degree as they appear to have been upon Colonel Thomas, when in support of his eight Instruction laid before the Assembly in 1738, he declar'd 'That his Hands were tied up by that Instruc- tion, and no Consideration in Life should induce him to break it ;' what must become of the Royal Prerogative or the Rights of the People ?
"The Governor is pleased to say, 'It is certainly true that he has Proprietary Instructions as he is informed all Governors from the first Settlement of the Province have constantly had.' Yet as Sir William Keith informs us ' that he was obliged, in the Penalty of One Thousand Pounds Sterling, for Reasons best known to those who took such Precautions as were never used before,' we may pre- sume, whatever Instructions had been given to former Governors- he was the First who entered into penal Bonds for the true Per- formance of them. Here we think we may safely leave the Con- sideration of Proprietary Instructions for the present, and we hope what we have said on this Head will answer all the Objections arising from the Royal Instruction to Colonel Thomas, until the the Governor may be pleased to convince us that the Proprietary Instructions are not the principal or sole Obstruction to the pass- ing of our Bill.
"In Answer to that part of the Proprietary Instructions the Governor has so chearfully laid before us, which we acknowledge to be an Act of Justice for which we return him our Thanks, we beg Leave to say that as it requires Money to be levied upon the People for providing Arms and Stores of War, and building Maga- zines, we are of Opinion it may be time enough to deliberate upon it when we are informed how far he is at Liberty by his Instruc- tions to pass our Bills; and whether himself or the Representatives of the People are the proper Judges of the Manner of raising such Monies. And when these our Civil and Religious Rights are se- cured we cannot doubt all will rise up as one Man in Behalf of our King, our Country, and our Charters, according to our several Stations and Abilities.
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" We are really at a loss what to think of the Governor's Compu- tation either of our annual Revenues or the Money due to the Pro- vince, which he is pleased to say is between Fourteen and Fifteen Thousand Pounds, besides an Income of Seven Thousand Pounds pr. Annum. This appears so extremely inaccurate that we cannot imagine how that Computation should arise, for on a bare Inspection of our last Year's Accounts there remained then outstanding on all the Mortgages no more than Eight Thousand four hundred Sixty Pounds twelve Shillings and three Pence, and a Ballance in the Trustees Hands of one Thousand two hundred fifty-five Pounds three Shillings and five Pence, and in the Hands of the Province Treasurer four hundred Sixty-two Pounds ten Shillings and ten Pence three Farthings, in the whole Ten Thousand one Hundred Seventy-eight Pounds Six Shillings and Six Pence three Farthings, out of which Sum one Year's Interest ought to be deducted by the legal Allowance, which reduces the whole to about Seven Thousand Pounds at that Settlement, Since which it cannot be unknown to the Governor what very large Sums we have paid for the Support of Governinent and for Indian and other Expences, by which Means our Treasury and Loan Office are almost quite exhausted. But ad- mitting the Governor's Computation in all its Extent, if Twenty Thousand Pounds, as he is pleased to inform us, will go but a very little Way to raise and maintain such Troops as he may think neces- sary, and without which we had better in his Opinion do nothing at all, how can this inconsiderable Sum we have any Power over an- swer his Demands, tho' we should ruin the Persons now outstanding in our Loan Office by the immediate Sale of their Lands ? We are unwilling to make any further Remarks on this Head, which has we find been heretofore insisted upon by our late Governor, but carries with it as we conceive such Appearances of Severity without an- swering any good Purpose that we think it our indispensible Duty to oppose it as far as in Justice we may, and now more especially when we have offered a Bill which would raise a generous Sum of Money immediately for the use of the Crown in a Manner that would be most easy and most agreable to us all. Whilst we are upon this Article, as the Governor must be in great Measure a Stranger to our Accounts, we take the Liberty to remark that the Proprietary Patents make, as we are informed by the Trustees, near one-half of the Mortgages now outstanding. These, after paying for the Lands out of the Money borrowed from the Province, are to improve them with the remainder if any, and as they must have Shelter for themselves at least, however mean, and some Land cleared for their Subsistance, it necessarily puts them in Arrears let them be ever so honest and industrious, whilst the Purchases of such their Lands are constantly complyed with on granting the Patents, the Bulk of which we presume may have been remitted to Great Britain, and makes a very sensible Diminution of the Silver and Gold current among us, So that all Ranks of People, however
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