USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial records of Pennsylvania, Vol. VI > Part 25
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flourishing the Governor may be pleased to represent us, complain justly for want of a due Medium to carry on our Trade. But as this Enquiry is not immediately before us we shall at present leave it and proceed to inform the Governor yet farther that his Compu- tation of our Annual Income is also too high, for as our Excise communibis Annis yields about Three Thousand Pounds (out of which Five Hundred Pounds is Yearly applied toward for the Sink- ing the Sum of Five Thousand Pounds heretofore granted to the King's Use), the Interest payable into the Loan Office is much about the same Sum, And his Error in the last Article we presume might arise upon a Supposal that our whole Principal Sum of Eighty Thousand Pounds was always yielding an Interest; but this has ever. been found impracticable, as considerable Sums must be continually changing Hands by Virtue of our re-emmitting Acts. Besides which, the Province has out of that Principal Sum lent considerable parts of it without yielding any Interest at all, and particularly a Debt from the City of Philadelphia still due upon the first and Second Thirty Thousand Pounds Acts long since expired ; And untill that is in our Hands it would be unjust to compute an Interest arriving from it, or upbraid us with it as Money which ought to have been in our Hands by Law, whilst some may think we have no Power to sue for it by the Laws in Being.
" The Governor is pleased to say, 'that he cannot consent to pass our Bill for granting twenty Thousand Pounds for the King's Use, it being a direct Breach of a Royal Instruction intended to enforce an Act of Parliament of the Sixth of Queen Anne, which we know has been shamefully slighted and disregarded in this and the neigh -. bouring Provinces." The neighbouring Provinces must answer for themselves; but so far as regards this Colony we find by the Votes of the House that whilst Colonel Thomas had the Act before him for emitting and re-emitting Eighty Thousand Pounds, this very Act of the Sixth of Queen Anne was considered, debated and so fully ex- plained, that altho' Exchange was then higher than at this time, he who (was undoubtedly under the same Oaths and Bonds to observe the Acts of Trade with our present Governor) after mature Deliberation gave his Assent to that Act on the 19th of May, 1739, which after having been recommended by the Merchants in England trading to this Province as 'an Act not only reasonable but likewise necessary for carrying on the Commerce of this Country,' the King was pleased to confirm it in full Council on the Twelfth Day of May following. What then the Governor does or can Mean by saying we know that this Province has shamefully slighted a Royal In- struction intended to enforce an Act of the Sixth of Queen Anne is what we are entirely at a Loss to imagine; neither can we con- ceive any good Reason why our Governor should chuse to call our Bill for granting Twenty Thousand Pounds for the King's Use a Bill for striking Forty Thousand Pounds, without any further Ex- planation, tho' that Bill had been repeatedly under his Consideration.
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It would be, perhaps, too unkind to Suppose, as the Bill itself and the Contents of it would in all Probability be unknown to our Su- periors further than the Grant to the Crown, he could have the least Intention to misrepresent the Purport of it, and for this Rea- son we leave it entirely to his own Reflection. The Title of that Bill is 'An Act for striking Forty Thousand Pounds in Bills of Credit and for granting Twenty Thousand Pounds thereof to the King's Use, and to provide a Fund for sinking the same, and for applying the Remainder to the Exchange of torn and ragged Bills now current in this Province ;' and the Governor well knows it adds no more to our Paper Currency than the very Twenty Thousand Pounds granted the King, and even that struck for no other Reason than to answer the immediate Call of the Crown and to make the Grant effectual.
" The Governor has been pleased repeatedly to inform us 'that the French have already possessed themselves of great part of this Province, and that we are the very Province invaded.' And yet we find the French Forts and their other Acquisitions on the Ohio are constantly considered and called in Great Britain an Invasion upon His Majesty's Territory of Virginia. And we have now before us a Map which we have good Reason to believe was made from In- telligences and Draughts supplied by the Board of Trade and by our Proprietaries, by which Map it appears that every Fort built by the French either on Buffalo River or on the Ohio are beyond the Western Boundaries of Pennsylvania, and we presume the King may have granted large Tracts of Land to the Eastward of the Fort the French have built at Mohongahela. But whether this Map prove true or otherwise, or whether our Western Boundaries are rightly adjusted by it, cannot immediately concern us till they are undoubtedly ascertained and agreed to; for till then the Earl of Holdernesse, by his Letter of the 28th of August, 1753, to which Sir Thomas Robinson's two Letters expressly refer, has so minutely set down and so carefully guarded the terms upon which each Colony is to act in Regard to the French Encroachments, that we cannot think it would be prudent, or answer any good Purpose, to contra- vene them, whilst the Crowns of Great Britain and France continue in Amity with each other; and especially as our King has now graciously interpos'd and is certainly the most proper judge of the Limits of his own Dominions in America. And therefore we think the Governor and ourselves may safely leave it under that Direction without engaging ourselves in any Dispute which can or may arise concerning the Rights of the Crown or the Property our Proprie- taries may claim in those Lands.
"The intelligence the Governor has lately received and laid before us, upon the Hearsay of one and on the Deposition of another French Deserter, is unexpected and indeed wonderful. It really appears so to us that nigh Six Thousand of the best Troops of
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France should arrive in Six men of War in the River St. Law- rence, and after ascending that River and the Lakes should be now actually at the Lower Fort upon the Ohio; that they should be able to carry with them a sufficient Quantity of Provisions and other Necessaries for so large a Body of Forces, to sustain and accommo- date them through the Winter in that uncultivated Country, and all this without the least account of their Embarkation in Europe, and without the least Intelligence of their Passage or Arrival at the Place of their Destination from any of the other Colonies, or from our own Back Settlements, from whence the Governor has been pleased to lay before us very late Letters and Accounts. It is true these Depositions were made in a very critical Juncture, but they cannot have the same Force as they ought to carry with them had the same Accounts been transmitted to us from Oswego, near which they must necessarily have passed, and from whence we received very minnte Accounts of the passage of the French Forces who first laid the Foundation of their Strength upon the Ohio. Never- theless, as we have no Inclination nor any Interest in discrediting the Reports, or diminishing the Numbers of the French there, which we acknowledge is abundantly too great and has justly alarmed the British Nation, we shall leave the Arrival of these Forces, as well as Quality of them, upon their own Evidence.
"We have now extended our Remarks upon the Governor's Mes- sages to a much greater Length than we could have wished or desired, especially as by those Messages we find he is determined not to give his Assent to our Bill, and yet we entreat his Patience a little longer to remark upon the Royal Instruction to Colonel Thomas in 1740, and that to Sir William Keith in 1723. In respect to this last our late Governor was pleased to inform us ' that he had caused the Minutes of Council and all the Papers in that Office to be very carefully inspected without being able to discover the least Footsteps of that or any other Instruction to the like Purpose,' which appears truly surprizing to us who had Reason to Suppose that Sir William Keith's Message to the Assembly on the Seventh of May, 1724, ought to appear upon the Minutes of Council, in which he says, 'Herewith I send you the Perusal of an original Instruction which I have received from the Crown in Relation to the Passing of private Acts of Assembly in this Province, by which I conceive is meant Acts relating to Pri- vileges or Advantages granted to particular Persons and not to the Publick in general; and I judge it will be proper for you to cause a Copy of it to be entered upon your Journals for your better Informa- tion in Cases of that Nature.' And accordingly it is entered upon our Minutes of that Date. Now, altho' we have Reason to think, from what has been remarked by our former Assemblies, that the Instruction to Colonel Thomas in 1740 has in a great Measure, if not wholly, answered all the Purposes for which it was issued, and because the same House of Commons who had before 'addressed the Crown, tho' requested by the Board of Trade that they would again
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interfere that his Majesty would repeat his Orders to his Governors of Plantations for that Purpose, have never done it that we can learn, and because now through a Succession of two Governors who have since received the Royal Approbation upon their Appointment to the Government of this Province, no other or further Instructions have been given to either of them but the Instruction of 1723, equally unlimited by Time and equally binding on the Commander- in-Chief for the Time being, remains in its full Force without any Act of Parliament or any other Act of Government that we know of either to abate its Operation or to supply the End of it. Never- theless, we are under a necessity of informing the Governor, tho' with great Reluctance, that in the Year 1735 Governor Gordon passed an Act for vesting more effectually certain Lands in George M'Call, in direct Contradiction to that Instruction, without the least mention of a suspending Clause.
" As we have reason to believe the Assembly was then acquainted with that Instruction, and as the Bill particularly related to our Honour- able Proprietaries, our last Assembly, notwithstanding the indiscreet Call upon them, contented themselves, from Motives of Prudence and Moderation, with barely pointing out this Transaction in Hopes our Honourable Proprietaries would see themselves at least equally concerned with the Representatives of the People both in Fact and Right, and thereby might be induced to join cordially with the People of this Province in vindicating our Charter from the Con- tinual Infraction of such Instructions, which if they must operate in the Manner the Governor is pleased to contend for, and our Pro- prietary Instructions must be binding upon us also, the Rights de- rived to us by the Royal Charter is a Name only, whilst the very Essence of it is effectually destroyed; Under the Sanction of which Charter a Sober industrious People without any Charge to the Crown or the Proprietary first settled this Wilderness, and by their Fru- gality and the Equity of their Laws laid the Foundation of a flour- ishing Colony, which already within the ordinary Life of a Man has made considerable Addition to the Dominions of the Crown by an Increase of dutiful and Loyal Subjects, and bears no mean Rank in contributing to the Wealth and Trade of our Mother Country.
" Whether the above Act of granting Five thousand Pounds to the King's Use, or the Act for vesting Lands in George McCall, were ever sent home for the Royal Approbation very little concerns us, as we presume the transmitting our Acts is the immediate Duty of our Proprietaries or their Lieutenants in pursu ince of the Royal Charter, which we look upon as the interior Solemn Royal Instruction for the Rule of their Conduct as well as of our own.
" Upon the Whole, from what we have said we presiune it evidently appears that Proprietary Instructions and Restrictions
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upon their Governors, as they have occasionally been made a part of the Publick Records at different Times, have been judged and resolved by our Governor, Council, and the Representatives of the People :
"1. Inconsistent with the legal Prerogative of the Crown settled by Act of Parliament.
"2. Or a Positive Breach of the Charter of Privileges of the People.
"3. Or absurd in their Conclusions, and, therefore, imprac- ticable.
"4. Or Void in themselves.
"Therefore, Whenever the Governor shall be pleased to lay his Proprietary Instructions before us for our Examination, and if then they should appear to be of the same kind as heretofore, his good Judgment should lead him to conclude that such 'Consider- ations in Life' as our Allegiance to the Crown, or the immediate safety of the Colony, &ca", are sufficient Inducements for him to dis- obey them, notwithstanding any Penal Bonds to the Contrary, we shall chearfully continue to grant such further Sums of Money for the King's Use as the Circumstances of the Country may bear, and in a Manner we judge least burthensome to the Inhabitants of this Province.
"ISAAC NORRIS, Speaker."
At a Council held at Philadelphia, 7th January, 1755.
PRESENT :
The Honourable ROBERT HUNTER MORRIS, Esquire, Lieu- tenant Governor.
John Penn,
Richard Peters, S Esquires.
The Governor having prepared a Reply to the Assembly's long Message of the third Instant, the same was read, approved, and ordered to be transcribed fair to be sent to the House in the After- noon.
A Message was delivered by two Members that the House having finished their Business, and being desirous to have the German Bill passed before they adjourn, request to know his Result upon it. And the Governor thinking that to send the Bill with the Amendments, tho' reasonable, would but further increase the ill Temper of the House, let the Members know that he would send a Message in the Afternoon on the Subject of that Bill; and imme- diately his Honour prepared a short Message, which was read and ordered to be sent to the House :
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" Gentlemen-
" Having considered your very long Message of the third Instant, I think it necessary to make some observations upon it, and tho' the very great Obscurity, unnecessary Repetitions, and unmeaning Paragraphs in that Performance, may confuse and divert some Peo- ple here from the true Points in difference between us, yet I am under no Apprehension but his Majesty and his Ministers will see your Conduct and mine in a true Light.
"You certainly do not understand or do misrepresent my last Message, or you could never accuse me of making a Promise that I would lay before you the Proprietary Instructions, 'so far as they regarded the Bill for granting Twenty Thousand Pounds to the King's use,' when I never so much as told you that I had any such, or charge me with representing your Application for those Instruc- tions 'as having a Tendency to alienate the Affections of the People from his Majesty's Person and Government,' neither the one or the other having any Foundation, there being nothing in my Messages that by the most strained Construction can support what you have said. I thought the Expressions you had taken the Liberty to use with respect to the Royal Instructions relating to Paper Money might have a Tendency to alienate the Affections of the People, tho' never so well disposed, as I very well know how fond they are of that Currency, and how much averse to any Restraints upon that Head. And had I not good Reason to think so when that Instruc- tion has been represented as destructive of the Liberties of the Peo- ple, and in the Message now under my Consideration is called an Infraction of the Royal Charter? When his Majesty the Father and Protector of his People is represented in this Light to the Inhabi- tants of a Province so remote from his Royal Person, must it not have a Tendency to lessen their Affection, And is not that dangerous at all Times, but more especially so at this Juncture, when his Majesty expects the Assistance of all his Subjects for their own Defence and Security ? It is plain from what you have said relating to that Instruction that you think yourselves exempt from the Force of the Royal Instruction, particularly those relating to Paper Money. What can induce you to think that the Words of the Royal Charter may be construed in Favour of such Exemption I will not take upon me to say, but sure I am that the Crown of England can by no Means divest itself of a Jurisdiction over its Subjects, especially in Matters relating to the Standard and Cur- rency of Money, concerning which it has very large and peculiar Prerogatives, no Part of which are granted by the Royal Charter. You will, therefore, consider how just your Claims of Independency upon this Head are, and how prudent it will be in you to insist upon then.
" You are pleased to be very angry with your Proprietaries for no
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other Reason that I can find but their having given me Instructions, and without knowing what those Instructions are you represent them as destructive of the Liberties and Privileges granted by Charter to the People of this Province. Such a Treatment of that Honourable Family from whom the Inhabitants of this Pro- vince have derived so many Advantages, and who are promo- ting its Interest upon every Occasion, is not only ungrateful but unjust.
" The Proprietaries are too nearly interested in the Prosperity of this Country to do any Thing to its Prejudice ; and I should have imagined that the People could not now stand in need of any Proofs of the Proprietary Affection, or suspect them of having any De- signs to invade their just Rights or Privileges which I am confident, to use your own Words, 'they detest and Abhor.'
"Your Resolves relating to the Proprietary Instructions, which you still say are the principal if not the sole Obstructions to the passing the Bill you sent me, are in my Opinion very extraordinary, as I had told you I could not pass that Bill because it was contrary to the King's Instruction; this Treatment from one Branch of a Legislature to another may be quite consistent with the Privileges you claim for any Thing I Know, but I must take the Liberty to say they are not consistent with Decency, Prudence, nor the Pub- lic Good ; and however you may disbelieve me in other Things I beg you will think me sincere when I tell you that I am determined not to lay the Proprietary Instructions before you at this Time far- ther than I have already done, notwithstanding any Thing you have said to induce me to it, being sensible that they are no way neces- sary, and that you are in a very improper Temper for the Consider- ation of them, as you have without knowing what they are declared them destructive of your Liberties.
" The Proprietary Instructions, as I told you before, are calcu- lated to promote the Happiness and Prosperity of this Province, and have nothing in them inconsistent either with the Prerogatives of the Crown or the Liberty of the People; and if those Instruc- tions had not been given me I should, nevertheless, have thought it my Duty to have refused my Assent to the Bill you sent me for emitting Paper Money.
" There are Parts of that Bill that I had very material Objec- tions to, but I wav'd them on Account of the pressing necessity of the Times, not doubting but you would have offered such a one as I could have passed consistent with the King's Instructions, as I then imagined you really intended to grant Supplies for the Safety and Defence of the Province, and thought we should agree upon the Terms of raising money for that purpose; but your Behaviour since that time has convinced me, and I am perswaded will convince
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my Superiors, that you never had any Intentions of putting this Province into a Posture of Defence, or of acting vigorously against the French upon your Borders.
" As you take upon you to insinuate that I am restrain'd by Proprietary Instructions from passing Bills for the Defence of the Country, I think it necessary expressly to deny that I am so re- strain'd, and to tell you that I am ready to pass a Law for putting this Province into a Posture of Defence by establishing a Militia and making the necessary Provisions; and that I will consent to a . Law for emitting any Sum in Paper Money that the present Emer- gency may require, provided Funds are established for sinking the same in Five Years.
"I said ' the Act of the Sixth of Queen Anne for ascertaining the Rates of foreign Coins in America was shamefully slighted and disregarded in this Province,' and I say so still, notwithstanding any Thing you have urg'd in your Message to the Contrary. It is known to you and every One, that Spanish Peices of Eight do now and for a Number of Years have passed and been current at Seven Shillings and Six pence, when that Act requires that they should pass for Six Shillings only, and that other Coins are Current nearly in the same Proportion, from whence it appears that tho' you call your Paper Bills Money according to Queen Anne's Proclamation, it is really not so, but twenty-five $ Cent worse; and as this is directly contrary to the Express Words and true Intent and Mean- ing of that Act, I was right in saying 'that the Act itself and the Royal Instruction to enforce it had been shamefully slighted and disregarded,' as neither the one or the other have had the proper Obedience paid to them within this Province.
" I took my Calculation of the Revenue and of the Money you have in Hand from your own printed Minutes; and I have now re-examined the Accounts and find that you have a Revenue of Seven Thousand Three Hundred and Eighty-one Pounds arising from the Interest of the Paper Money and the Excise, clear of the Five Hundred Pounds a Year, towards sinking Five Thousand Pounds, formerly given to the King's Use; And that the Sums due, and which by the Laws in Being should have been in Hand on the 15th of September last, amount to at least Fourteen Thousand Pounds. I have ordered the Calculation from which I have taken those Sums to be laid before you, that if I am wrong You may point out wherein I am so. I did not mean to upbraid You on Account of the Sum of Three Hundred and Forty-Three Pounds Ten Shillings due from the City of Philadelphia, the Interest whereof, was it to be paid, would only amount to Seventeen Pounds Three Shillings and Six Pence, which I find to be the only Sum lent out that does not bear an Interest, and is in itself so trifling that I am surprized to find it mentioned in such a manner.
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. "Upon the whole, Gentlemen, I shall have no Reason to fear the Censure of his Majasty or a British Parliament, or be ashamed of the Part I have acted, when the Proceedings of this Session come under their Consideration, since by them it will appear that I have from Time to Time represented to You the Danger to which this Country stands exposed, the Progress the French have made, the Encrease of their Numbers, and every thing else that might induce You to act with Vigour; that I have laid his Majesty's Commands before You, and repeatedly called upon You to grant the Supplies expected from us by the Crown, and to put the Province into a Posture of defence, and to avoid every thing that might admit of Dispute.
" And from your several Messages it will fully appear that instead of doing what the Safety of your Country and his Majesty's Ser- vice 'required, you have industriously engaged in a Contest about the Force of a Royal Instruction relating to Paper Money, have en- tered into unseasonable Resolutions with Regard to Proprietary In- structions without knowing what they are, and because I do not communicate to you what You have 'no Right to demand You are pleased to make that an Excuse for not putting this Province into a Posture of Defence, and choose to leave this rich and plentiful Country, situated in the center of his Majesty's Dominions, naked and open to the attacks of the French without a Militia or any one Thing necessary for its Security. It will also appear that at this critical Juncture, when it is the duty of every Man to exert himself to the utmost of his Abilities, You proposed only Twenty Thousand Pounds this Currency, which is not Two Pence in the Pound upon the just and real Value of Estates in this Province, and this you call a generous Sum though you must be sensible it is very insuffi- cient to answer the present Exigency, and even this you refuse to give upon any Terms but such as are directly contrary to a Royal Instruction which You know is binding upon me, though there are many other ways of raising Money not liable to that Objection, and though I offered to consent to a Law for emitting any Sum in Paper Money the present Emergency might require, provided Funds were established for sinking the same in Five Years.
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