USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial records of Pennsylvania, Vol. VI > Part 6
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And then the Draught of a Message proposed by the Governor to the Assembly was considered and approved, and is as follows :
" Gentlemen-
" As You are now met to resume the Consideration of the several Matters repeatedly and earnestly recommended to You in conse- quence of his Majestie's Commands, in addition to what has been already communicated, I now lay before You the melancholy account which I received on Friday last by Express from Col. Washington of the appearance of a French army of upwards of One Thousand Men, with Eighteen Pieces of Artillery, before the Fort building by the Virginians on the Ohio near the Mouth of Mohongialo, and of the Surrender thereof on the Seventeenth of last Month to their superior Force.
"I thought it necessary after your adjournment to send an Ex- press to Governor Dinwiddie in order to be particularly informed whether the Forces raised in His Government were actually marched towards Ohio and in what Number, and what Accounts he had of their Proceedings or of those of the French, what Assistance he could depend on from the other Colonies, and in general whatever should occur to him necessary for my Information with respect to this Affair, and to acquaint me how I might be the most useful to him, and I have the Satisfaction to communicate to You his Answer.
" When You take into Consideration those Parts of My Messages
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which relate to the Treaty at Albany, I must desire You will weigh with the utmost Attention the several Matters recommended by Governor De Lancey in his Letter of the Nineteenth of April, and as they are of great Importance to the Interest of his Majestie's Colonies in general, and of this in particular, I hope they will have their due Weight with you in your Deliberations and advice.
"The Proposals made by the Governors of Boston and New York for an Union of the several Colonies in Indian affairs is so agreeable to my Sentiments that I earnestly recommend it to your Considera- tion, and that you will enable me to instruct the Commissioners from this Province to concur with Those from the other Colonies in case a reasonable Plan shall be offered them for that Purpose. This Method of acting in Concert and by fair and equitable Quotas and Proportions of Expence will in the End be much less chargeable and greatly more beneficial to our real Interest than the Practice now in Use of making frequent and distinct Presents to the Indians, which have been found by Experience to contribute little or nothing to their real Strength or Security, but on the contrary has adminis- tered Occasions of Debaucheries and Contentions among themselves which have produced irreconcilable animosities in Families and obliged them often to seperate from one another to the great Weak- ening of our Indian Interest and Advantage of our powerful and enterprising Rivals.
" Not having of a long Time heard any Thing from the Indians Living on the Waters of the Sasquehannah, I thought it necessary to send Mr. Weiser to them with a respectful Message, conceived in general Terms, and with a View only to be informed in what Light the Hostilities of the French had been represented to them, and whether any and what Measures had been proposed to them in Re- lation thereto.
" Mr. Weiser's Journey answered my Purposes as You will see by his Letters which he dispatched to me by his Son as soon as he returned to his own Home.
"JAMES HAMILTON.
" May 7th, 1754.
-
At a Council held at Philadelphia, Tuesday the Fourteenth of May, 1754.
PRESENT :
The Honourable JAMES HAMILTON, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor.
John Penn,
Robert Strettell, Esquires. Richard Peters, )
The Minutes of the preceding Council were read and approved. A Bill was presented to the Governor by Two Members for his
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Concurrence, Entituled " An Act for striking the Sum of Thirty Thousand Pounds in Bills of Credit, and for granting Ten Thousand Pounds thereof to the King's Use, and to provide a Fund for sink- ing the same and for applying the Remainder to the Exchange of torn and Ragged Bills now current in this Province," and was read twice and some Amendments were proposed to be made to it, the principal of which was that as the Bill extended the Excise for Ten Years, in which Time it would raise the Sum of Thirty-Five Thou- sand Pounds and only proposed to give Ten Thousand Pounds for the King's Use, the Word Ten should be altered to the Word Four, it being thought exceedingly unreasonable to extend the Burthen for so long a Time when more than the Sum proposed to be given might be raised in the Term of Four Years, and accordingly the Bill with this and some other trifling Amendments was returned to the House.
MEMORANDUM.
The same Day the House returned the Bill to the Governor with a Message agreeing to the trifling Amendments, but adhering to the principal one and Extension of the Act for Ten Years, and praying he would be pleased to pass the Bill as it then stood for Ten Years ; To which the Governor on the Day following sent the House the following written Message :
" Gentlemen :
" Considering the Royal Instruction laid before the Assembly the last Year, it must be apparent that I have, meerly from a Desire to oblige You, consented to raise the Money intended for his Ma- jestie's Use in the Manner by You proposed, and have prolonged the Currency of the Bills of Credit to be issued in Vertue of the Bill now under Consideration as far as I can think consistent with my own Safety.
" And as the Fund to be established upon the Foot of my pro- posed Amendment will be more than sufficient to repay the Sum granted by the Bill, I can see no Reason for extending the Act of Excise longer than Four Years beyond the Date of its present Limitation, or for Burthening the People unnecessarily with a Tax that possibly may not be wanted, and therefore find no Cause to re- cede from that Amendment.
" And as for the first, I am of Opinion it is so indispensably necessary that unless some such Provision be made the whole In- tent of the Grant to his Majesty may be defeated. But if, on further Consideration, the Method by me proposed shall not be ap- proved by You, it will be very agreeable to me that Commissioners be named in the Bill to act conjunctly with the Commander-in- Chief for the time being, in disposing of the Money.
"JAMES HAMILTON.
" May 15th, 1754."
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On the same Day the following Message was delivered to the Governor by Two Members, who at the same time acquainted him that this being an inconvenient Season of the Year for the Members to be from their respective Homes, the House desired the Governor would be pleased to let them know his Result on the said Bill as soon as possible :
" May it please the Governor :
" The House are not enclined to enter into any Dispute with the Governer on the Subject of his proposed Amendments to the Money Bill, as the Representatives of the People have an Undoubted Right to judge and determine not only of the Sum to be raised for the Use of the Crown but of the Manner of raising it.
" The Governor in his Message of the Nineteenth of February, was pleased to tell Us 'That if the House should be of Opinion that there will be a Necessity to strike a farther Sum in Bills of Credit to defray the Charges of raising Supplies for his Majestie's Service in this Time of imminent Danger, and would create a proper Fund or Funds for sinking the same in a few Years, He would con- cur with Us in passing a Law for that Purpose, thinking himself sufficiently warranted so to do in Cases of real Emergency.'
"On this Assurance the House have prepared a Bill and pre- sented it to the Governor to strike the Sum of Ten Thousand Pounds, to give the same to the King's Use, and to sink it by an Extension of the Excise Act for a farther Term of Ten Years. The Governor will be pleased to consider that his Predecessor, to whom the mentioned Instruction was given, did afterwards pass an Act of the same Kind extending the Excise Act Ten Years (now near ex- pired) for a Grant of Five Thousand Pounds only, and We never heard that he incurred the Royal Displeasure for so doing. As the Sum We grant is double, We had no Expectation that our pro- posing the same Term would have been deemed extravagant. The Governor thinks Four Years sufficient; but as the Representatives are best acquainted with the circumstances of the People, and must themselves as a Part of the People bear a Share of all Burthens laid upon them, it seems not reasonable to suppose they will lay such Burthens unnecessarily. They now offer Ten Thousand Pounds to the Crown and propose a manner of raising it that they judge most easy and convenient for the People they represent; and if the Governor thinks fit to refuse it meerly from an Opinion that a shorter Term for sinking the Bills would be more easy for the People, We cannot but suppose that since the Messages in which He so warmly recommended this affair to Us, he has on further Advices or better Considerations changed his Sentiments of the Importance of the present Occasion for Supplies, and doth not now think the Danger so imminent or the Emergency so great or so real as he then apprehended it to be.
" We, therefore, beg Leave to acquaint the Governor that if this
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Amendment regarding the Term is insisted on, it is needless to consider the other relating to Commissioners, for the Bill cannot pass this House.
" Sign'd by Order of the House.
"ISAAC NORRIS, Speaker. "In Assembly, 15th May, 1754."
To which the Governor on the Seventeenth returned the follow- ing Answer :
" Gentlemen :
" As I am not less unwilling than Yourselves to enter into Dis- putes of any Kind, I could have been well pleased to have been freed from the Necessity of animadverting upon the Contents of your Message on the Subject of the Bill for granting Money to the King's Use; but as that Message appears to contain a Position derogatory to the Rights of Government, I cannot, consistent with my own Judgment and the Trust reposed in me, suffer it to pass without some observation.
" You are pleased to say that ' the Representatives of the People have an undoubted Right to judge and determine, not only of the Sum to be raised for the Use of the Crown, but of the manner of raising it.' This, Gentlemen, is a Privilege which I neither have or ever shall deny to be inherent in You as an Assembly, while it is only understood to imply that no Money can be levied on the People without your Consent ; But if you would infer from it that I have no Right to exercise my Judgment with respect to Money Bills farther than either to approve or reject them as they are of- fered to me, I must beg Leave to differ from You in my Opinion, both from the Reason of the Thing and the Practice of my Pre- decessors upon several Occasions.
"The Governors of this Province are invested with one Half of the Legislative Powers, and being equally concerned in Duty with the Assembly to consult the Ease, Freedom, and Welfare of the People committed to their Care, must of Course be supposed to have a Right to interfere and rectify any Mistakes they apprehend likely to be committed by the other Branch of the Legislature, as well in Regard to the laying of Taxes as to Matters of any other Kind, unless it can be proved they have renounced their Right thereto by some publick Act, which I do not conceive to have been the Case here ; for to what Purpose is a Governor appointed and invested with a Share in the Legislative Authority if he hath no discretionary Power to object to what he thinks Amiss in the Proceedings of an Assembly, and is only to be made Use of as an Instrument to ratify their Transactions, tho' ever so inconsistent with his own Judgment and the Good of the People ?
" You must be sensible, Gentlemen, that I have neither objected
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to the Sum granted for the Use of the Crown nor to the Manner of raising it as proposed by the Bill under Consideration, tho' I could heartily have wished that the Sum had been larger, and that it had been given more seasonably, as well as that some less exception- able Method had been fallen on for raising it than by compelling me to depart from the Letter of his Majestie's Instruction, which nothing less than my Concern for the King's Service and the Pre- servation of the People under my Government in this Time of im- minent Danger could have induced me to comply with; on which accounts I hope his Majesty, upon a fair and candid Representation of the Case, will most graciously be pleased to pardon me.
" My principal Objection You well know is only against the Ex- tension of the Fund whereby the Money is proposed to be repaid to an unnecessary Length, by which a Tax is to be laid and con- tinued upon the People without the least apparent Necessity. Can You suppose, if there should be any future Occasion, that a Gov- ernor will refuse his assent to a. Bill for levying Money for the general Utility of the Province? Or have You in the present Case at all intimated to me any Services for which it is now wanted ?
" It is true You have been pleased to make a Grant to his Majesty of Ten Thousand Pounds, which as it was the most that could be obtained I am in hopes will be graciously accepted by him as a Mark of your Duty; and in compliance to my Message of the nineteenth of February I have consented to establish a Fund by which the same will be repaid in the easiest Manner at the End of Six Years and leave a Surplus of several Thousand Pounds in your Hands, to be disposed of as You think fit; but I am sorry to find You are not satisfied with this, and that for the Ten Thousand Pounds now granted to his Majestie's Use You are desirous of ob- taining more than three Times that Sum in Return, and urge as a Precedent for my Behaviour what was done by my Predecessor on a like Occasion.
" I have no Desire, Gentlemen, to detract from the Merit of your late Governor, of which I allow him to have had a great deal; he might possibly have Reasons to influence his Conduct, to which I am hitherto a Stranger, yet if one may judge from the Circum- stances of his not having communicated them to those who at that Time had the greatest Share of his Confidence, and of his having never transmitted that Act for the Royal Approbation, I am in- clined to think they were such as he himself was not very well pleased with. For my own Part, as I never made the Actions of another the Rule of my Conduct farther than I thought them founded in Reason, and as at present I see none for altering my Opinion with regard to the proposed Amendment, I shall not recede from it but upon Condition that You enlarge the Sum given for his Majestie's Use, in which case I will agree to extend the Act in such Manner as to sink it in the same Proportions.
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L
" But it is possible, Gentlemen, that more may be concealed under this Sollicitude for a long Extension of the Excise than You have thought proper to reveal, otherwise I cannot account for your de- siring to extend it so much beyond the usual Term, which in this Province never exceeded Five Years till the late Governor thought fit to grant it for Ten, for no good Reason I have ever heard given or believe possible to be given.
"It is well known that by the Laws now in Force the Publick Money is solely in the Disposal of the Assembly, without the Parti- cipation of the Governor ; nevertheless while these Acts by which Money was raised were of short Duration, the Governor had now and then an Opportunity of obliging the Assembly in a very essen- tial Manner by a Renewal of those Acts, and thereby of making himself acceptable to them, but to extend them to such an unrea- sonable Length of Time as You now desire might be to render him in a great Measure unnecessary to them during the Continuance of those Acts, but upon Terms very disagreeable to himself as well as injurious to his Constituents. To this Condition, therefore, I will not be the Means of reducing any Successor of mine, and this Cir- cumstance is of no small additional Weight with me to adhere to my Amendment.
" You will please to observe, Gentlemen, that the Question be- twixt You and me is not which of Us is best acquainted with the Circumstances of the People, but whether it be reasonable to burden them with a Tax for a long Term of Time without any apparent Necessity. If any such had occurred to You I cannot but think You would have made Mention of it in your Message, but as You have not been pleased to point it out to me, I must of course con- clude none such has appeared to You.
"You are exceedingly mistaken, Gentlemen, if You really do suppose me either to have changed my Sentiments with respect to the Importance of the present Occasion for Supplies or that I am less apprehensive of the Dangers to which We are at present ex- posed from the Invasion of a Foreign Power than when by my several Messages I represented them to You and called upon You for such Supplies as might enable me to resist the Invaders and repel Force by Force. On the contrary, I am fully sensible that the Danger is become more imminent from the certain Account I have received of the Hostilities committed by them and of their having made them- selves Masters of a Fortress which was building by Order of the Governor of Virginia on his Majestie's Lands, and of their having driven away the English Garrison. Of this You must likewise be sensible from the accounts I communicated to You, if You do not wilfully oppose the Conviction of your own Senses and shut your Eyes to the great Dangers that threaten the Country of which You are the Representatives, and which by every Tye both human and divine You are bound to cherish and protect, to which Eud I once
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more call upon You pursuant to his Majestie's Orders for such Sup- plies as the present Emergency of Affairs requires.
" Upon the whole, Gentlemen, I have already gone farther in my Condescensions to please You than I am warranted to do by the King's Instruction, unless You will make an addition to the Sum mentioned in the Bill, and have at my own Risque extended the Currency of the Money to be issued on this occasion for a year longer than the utmost Term allowed to the Eastern Governments by the late Act of Parliament. .
" I well know the State of your publick Funds, and that the Loan Office itself were the Money duly collected is able to furnish a much larger Sum than You have thought fit to grant to his Majesty upon this important Occasion, independant of the Interest hereafter to accrue, which, together with the Excise, make up a Revenue of more than Six Thousand Pounds a Year. This Money belongs to the People, and had You thought fit might have been employed for the Service recommended to You without laying any additional Tax upon them before it became necessary. I have, nevertheless, con- sented to gratify You in extending the Excise for such Time as is more than sufficient to repay the Sum granted to his Majesty with- out breaking in upon either of your present Funds or the outstand- ing Interest of the Loan Office, which I cannot estimate together with the broken Interest at less than Twelve Thousand Pounds. If, then, considering the favourable State of your Finances You shall decline to do what his Majesty so justly expects from you, merely on account of my refusing wholly to disregard his Majestie's In- ¿ struction, which would justly subject me to his highest Displeasure, and to join with You in laying a Tax upon the People without its appearing to me to be in the least necessary, I think I may more justly impute to You a wanton Disregard of his Majestie's Com- mands and of the Security and Protection of your Constituents than You can insinuate of me a Lukewarmness with Regard to his Ma- jestie's Service, of which I have the greatest Detestation, and from which I hoped my Conduct thro' this whole affair might have ex- empted me.
"Let me, therefore, Gentlemen, recommend to your serious atten- tion a Review of your Conduct upon the present Occasion, and if You shall find that You have been too precipitate in the Resolution contained in your Message, let me entreat You to rectify it before it be too late, for as I must be obliged soon to lay this whole Trans- action before his Majesty, it would give me the greatest Pleasure that both You and I might receive his gracious Approbation of our Services ; But if contrary to my Hopes You should still persist in refusing to accept of my Amendment, and the Bill should by that Means be lost, I cannot but apprehend some unhappy Consequences to the Province from your extraordinary Behaviour.
" JAMES HAMILTON.
"17th May, 1754."
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The following Message was delivered to the Governor on the eighteenth Day of May by Two Members, who acquainted him " that the House on seeing no Prospect of being farther useful to the Publick in the present. Sitting, and their private Affairs in this busy Season of the Year requiring their Attendance at their respec- tive Honies, were enclined to adjourn to the nineteenth Day of August." To which his Honour said " He had no Objection; but desired that the Gentlemen would acquaint the House that as some Parts of the Minutes of Assembly of this Season might be neces- sary to be mentioned in the Representation the Governor found himself obliged to make to his Majesty, in Answer to his Royal Order relating to the Invasion of his Dominions by the French and their Indian allies, he desired the House would direct a Copy thereof to be delivered to him, or permit a Person to be by him appointed to take the same from their Journal as soon as conveniently might be."
"May it please the Governor :
" We have deliberately considered the Governor's several Mess- ages, together with the Letters He has been pleased to lay before Us, relating to the ensuing Treaty to be held at Albany, in which We thankfully observe the Care He has taken to 'obtain the best Intelligence he was able of what was proposed to be transacted at that Treaty for the general Benefit and Advantage of these Colo- nies, and of every other Thing relating thereto which he conceived necessary for our Information ;' And as he has been pleased to request our Sentiments on the Instructions to be given the Gentlemen Com- missioners on the Part of this Province, 'to which he will pay the greatest Regard,' We can do no less than return him our grateful Acknowledgements for his Condescension and Justice, and would chearfully comply therewith at this Time, but when we consider that no Propositions for an Union of the Colonies in Indian Affairs can effectually answer the good Purposes, or be binding farther than they are confirmed by Laws enacted under the several Governments comprized in that Union, that We know not what Restrictions the Governor may lie under in passing our Acts, and that we have very little Reason to depend upon any Assistance in our Indian Expences where by a former Assembly it has been respectfully addressed for, and where we think in Justice We have a Right to expect it. We are, under these Circumstances, at a Loss to advise him on the im- portant articles he has been pleased to propose to our Consideration ; nevertheless, as we have already declared our Satisfaction in the Gentlemen the Governor has been pleased to name for this Commis- sion, so We confide in their Abilities and Prudence to answer the Ends proposed in the Letter from the Lords of Trade of the Eigh- teenth of September last, by renewing at this Interview the Covenant Chain with the Six Nations, and by frustrating, as far as lies in their Power, any Attempts which have been made to withdraw them from
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the British Interest, and for this Purpose, in Compliance with the said Letter from the Lords of Trade, we have now granted a Present to be made to those Indians on our Behalf, however in- convenient We may judge it to hold our Treaties at Albany on other occasions.
"Sign'd by order of the House. "ISAAC NORRIS, Speaker. "In Assembly, 18th May, 1754."
Mr. Calender arrived in Town from Ohio the same Day, and de- livered to the Secretary a Letter from Mr. Montour, which was sent to the House, and is as follows :
"SHEERMAN'S CREEK, 16th May, 1754.
" Sir :
"I once more take upon me the Liberty of informing You that our Indians at Ohio are expecting every Day the armed Forces of this Province to their Assistance against the French, who by their late Encroachments are like to prevent their planting, and thereby render them incapable of Supporting their Families; and You may depend upon it as a certainty that our Indians will not strike the French unless this Province or New York engage with them, and that by sending some Number of Men to their immediate Assist- ance; the Reasons are plain, to wit, that they don't look upon their late Friendship with Virginia as sufficient to engage them in a War with the French. I therefore think, with Submission, that to pre- serve our Indian Allies this Province ought instantly to send out some Men, either less or more, which I have good Reason to hope would have the desired Effect; otherwise I doubt there will in a little Time be an entire Separation, the Consequences of which You are best able to judge, &c. I am informed by my Brother, who is lately come from the Lakes, that there is at that Place a great Num- ber of French Indians preparing to come down to the Assistance of the French at Ohio. I am likewise informed by a young Indian Man who by my Brother's Directions spent some Days with the French at Mohongialo that they expect a great Number of French down the River very soon. I have delayed my journey to Ohio, and waited with great Impatience for advices from Philadelphia, but have not yet received any; I am now obliged to go to Col. Wash- ington, who has sent for me many Days ago to go with him to meet the Half King Monacatootha and others, that are coming to meet the Virginia Companies, and as they think some from Pennsylvania, and would have been glad to have known the Designs of this Pro- vince in these Matters before I had gone.
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