USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial records of Pennsylvania, Vol. VII > Part 43
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"Seventh. The act for granting Sixty Thousand Pounds, pro- vides that the Money shall be disposed of by the Provincial Com- missioners, with the approbation of the Governor; yet the Com- missioners alone have a power to draw Orders on the Trustees, without prescribing any Means whereby it may appear that the Governor's Consent has been had and obtained, either by his coun- tersigning such orders or otherwise.
" Eighth. The Bill, in many other Parts of it, is contrary to the Instructions given me by the Proprietaries; as you may perceive on
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comparing them together. These Instructions, I have repeatedly told you, I cannot dispense with; I must, therefore, exhort you not to spend any more time in framing such Bills, as you must be sensible I cannot give my assent to; but to proceed, and consider of such other Ways and Means to supply the publick Necessities, as may be free from those and the other Objections I have so often mentioned to You.
"WILLIAM DENNY.
" February 11, 1757.".
The Bill for continuing the Legacy Act was again read. The Governor acquainted the Board that he had looked over his Instruc- tions from the Proprietaries, and found one which restricted him from passing the Bill. Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Peters told the Council that, when the first Legacy Act was sent home, Mr. Penn had, in his Letters, mentioned an Objection to it as interfering with what was the Rights of a Court of Chancery; but the Members thought that, as there was no direct Instruction against it, the Gov- ernor need not open any fresh Matter of Disputes with the Assem- bly, otherwise a just Objection lay to the Bill. It was sent down with a Message that the Governor would pass it when engrossed and presented to him by the House for that Purpose.
The Bill entituled " An Act to prevent the Exportation of Pro- visions, naval or warlike Stores, to the French," &ca, was again read, amended, and returned to the House.
The Assembly's Answer to the Governor's Message, giving the Reasons of his adhering to his Amendment to the Bill for rendering the Quartering of Soldiers more equal on the Publick Houses of this Province, was again read and considered. It was unanimously judged the Reasons of the Assembly were insufficient, and that the Governor's Amendment should be adhered to. The House agreed to all the other Amendments.
At a Council held at the Governor's, Tuesday the 22d February, 1757.
PRESENT :
The Honourable WILLIAM DENNY, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor.
Robert Strettle, Joseph Turner,
Richard Peters, Benjamin Chew, Esquires.
John Mifflin, Thomas Cadwalader,
The Minutes of the preceding Council were read and approved.
The Council resumed the Consideration of a new Commission of the Peace for the County of Chester, and the following Persons being
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unanimously recommended, their Names were inserted in the Com- mission, which passed the Seals, and was sent down to Chester, this being the first day of the Court, vizt .: all the Members of Council, William Moore, John Mather, Samuel Flower, Thomas Worth, Aaron Ashbridge, John Miller, Isaac Davis, John Scott, Samuel Lightfoot, Edward Brinton, Mordecai Moor, the Chief Burgess of Chester, Alexander Johnson, John Morton, John Culbertson, Wil- liam Clinghan, John Paschall, William Parker, and Timothy Kirk.
On Friday, P. M., the Bill for granting One Hundred Thousand Pounds to the King's Use was tendered to the Governor by two Members of the House, namely, Daniel Roberdeau and Thomas Yorke. On the Governor's asking if it was the same Bill, and being told that it was exactly the same Bill with the one sent before, he declined receiving it for some Time, and asked Mr. Peters if it was usual to have a Bill returned that had been rejected, Mr. Peters said the Bill was returned to the House with a Message, and Mr. Roberdeau having a Paper in his Hand, he supposed that to be the Assembly's Answer, in which case it was usual to receive back the Bill and Message. Mr. Roberdeau then said he was ordered by the House to read the Message, which he did, and the Governor observ- ing an Expression as if he had rather made Excuses than assigned Reasons for not passing the Bill, took Notice of the Incivility of the Expression, and said it was not the first Instance of such Usage in the House, and those sent by the House. He further took Notice, that a Report of a Committee of Assembly was referred to and men- tioned in the Message, and demanded a Copy of it. Mr. Roberdeau said the House had instructed him to let the Governor know he might have a Copy of it; but Mr. Yorke said there would be some Difficulty in it, as the Clerk had resigned, and tho' another Clerk was chosen, he was not qualified ; Mr. Roberdeau thought this would give no Difficulty, and he would apply to the Speaker for a Copy, and send it to the Governor, who said he would consider the Message after he should receive the Copy of the Report.
Then Mr. Roberdeau delivered the Bill to prevent the Exporta- tion of Provisions, &ca., with a written Message and Paper in An- swer to the Governor's Amendments.
The Message delivered with the Supply Bill follows in these Words :
" That upon receiving his Honour's Message, of the Twelfth In- stant, sent down with our last Supply Bill, the Committee to whom that Message was referred have reported fully upon all the Objec- tions against that Bill, which, after mature Deliberation, the House have approved, and find those Objections are rather Excuses for not passing the Bill than Reasons against it; That the Bill itself is only a Supplement to an Act which, after a full Hearing before the Lords of Trade, has very lately received the Royal Assent, and we confin'd ourselves to that Act, with as few Alterations as FOL. VII .- 27.
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possible, apprehending the Bill would be free from all Objections, under the Royal Sanction so lately obtained ; That by the Estimate the Governor laid before us this Session he computes the Sum of One Hundred and Twenty-Seven Thousand Pounds as necessary to be raised for the Defence of the Province in the ensuing Year, and yet, upon the most exact Computation we have been able to make, no more than Thirty Thousand Pounds could be raised upon the Province in one Year by his restricted Powers, and not One-Third of his proposed Estimate, by the Addition of all the other Measures he has proposed, if the House were so insensible of the Duty they owe their Constituents as to take their Money Laws from him only; That, therefore, we desire to know his final Result upon this Bill, which we once more send up for his Concurrence; and if he should, notwithstanding, continue to refuse his Assent to it as it now stands, we must refer it to his Honour to pay the Forces by him raised, or to disband them, as he shall judge he can best answer for his Conduct to his Majesty, whose Colony we apprehend to be in imminent Danger, and for the Defence whereof we have in vain endeavoured to make the necessary Provision, as far as lay in our Power."
The Message delivered with the Bill for prohibiting the Exporta- tion of Provisions, naval or warlike Stores, to the French, &ca., follows in these Words :
" May it Please your Honour :
" We have considered your proposed Amendments to the Bill intituled ' An Act to prevent the Exportation of Provisions, naval or warlike Stores, from this Province to any of the Dominions of the French King, or to any Part or Place in America not in the Possession of His Britannick Majesty,' all of which we have agreed to, save those which restrain the Merchants of this Province from trading to the neutral Ports or Places not in the Possession of His Majesty's Enemies in Europe. This we were induced to do, not from a Conviction that they were necessary or founded on the for- mer Usage in our Laws, but from an Inclination to convince your Honour we sincerely desire the Passage of a Bill so necessary, under our present Circumstances, for our own Preservation, and to distress His Majesty's Enemies ; But as the Amendments proposed by your Honour for laying an Embargo generally on Provisions intended to be exported to any of the neutral Ports in Europe as well as America, if acceded to, will effectually prevent the Commerce carried on with several neutral Ports in Europe, without which our Trade must be in a Manner destroyed, we cannot admit of them in the Bill.
"The Inconveniency such Amendments would introduce, we conclude, must appear to your Honour on further Consideration. They will effectually disable the Merchant from purchasing or im- porting Wines from the Madeiras and Western Islands. This, if no other Disadvantage should attend it, will in a great Measure
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destroy a Fund, upon which a considerable Supply already granted to His Majesty by the Excise' Act is founded, and by that Means prevent the Sinking of the Paper Bills of Credit, which have been struck for that Purpose, and are now current. No Provisions can be exported from hence to Lisbon or Cadiz, without which we cannot procure the Salt that is absolutely necessary for the Use of His Majesty's Troops, and His other Subjects in this Colony. The Inconveniency that must necessarily arise from the want of this Commodity in the hot Season of the Year is more easy to conceive than express; And without Salt it will be impossible for the Mer- chants here to supply His Majesty's West India Colonies with Beef and Pork, upon which they in a great Measure depend for Subsist- ance. We, therefore, hope the Governor will not insist on Amend- ments which must be attended with such Disadvantages to our Trade, and Mischief to the Community in general, as there is no Probability of its proving detrimental to His Majesty's Service, or injurious to the Publick Welfare.
"We conceive these Amendments were made by your Honour, in Pursuance of the Instruction from the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, lately laid before the House, and in Part re- cited in the Message that accompanied it. We duly weighed the Intent of that Instruction at the Time of framing the Bill, which we thought, and still think, was calculated in the fullest Manner, to remedy the Mischief complained of; and that was, as appears by the Preamble of the instruction : "The Colonies of the French in America having in Times of War been frequently supplied with Provisions of various Kinds, by Means of the Trade carried on from His Majesty's Islands and Colonies to the Colonies and Set- tlements belonging to the Dutch and other Neutral Powers." Hence it appears that the Design of the Instruction was to prevent a Trade to these Settlements of the Dutch and other Neutral Pow- ers, from whence His Majesty's Enemies in America were supplied. And it is well known, that those Enemies liave never been supplied with Provisions raised in the British Colonies, from any other Neu- tral Ports, but those in America. No other Inconveniency is complained of, or was ever experienced, and therefore, needed not to be redressed. For this, an inadequate Remedy is provided by the Bill, which prohibits, under severe Penalties, the Exportation of Provisions from this Province to any Port or Place in America, not in the Possession of His Britannic Majesty. We conceive any Thing more than a Remedy for the Evil complained of, ought not to be expected from us .; and to prevent our Merchants from trading to Places in Europe, from whence it is not reasonable to expect the French Colonies or Settlements will be supplied, is embarrassing our Trade, and injuring our Commerce, without the least Advantage accruing from it, either to his Majesty's Service, or the Good of the Province.
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" We cannot omit observing the Difference between the Instruc- tion your Honour was pleased to lay before us, in the early Part of this Session, given and signed by our most gracious Sovereign, and the one now under our Consideration. The former appears from all its Parts, to have come from a gracious and good King, a Father of his People, and bespeaks a Consciousness of the Impossibility there is of forming a true Judgement of the particular Situation and Necessities of His Colonies, at so great a Distance from them ; To whom, after pointing out the Mischiefs, He has left the Care of redressing them in the Manner most effectual and suitable to the several Circumstances of His Subjects, by Laws to be framed by the Legislature on the Spot, who he rationally concludes are the best Judges thereof. But how different is the latter! It not only points out the Evil, but the Mode of redressing it in all its Particu- lars, and enjoins an immediate and explicit Obedience to it. So that however impracticable the Remedy, however inconvenient to His Majesty's Service, or inconsistent with the Trade, Com- merce and publick Utility of the Province, one would conclude it must be complied with. But should your Honour separately, or jointly with us, adhere to it literally, what might be the unhappy Consequences when your Honour is required thereby to lay an Em- bargo 'on all Vessels clearing out with Provisions, except those which shall be employed in carrying Provisions to any other of His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations ?' The Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland cannot, with Propriety, be comprized under the Denomination of Colonies or Plantations; and consequently the Effects of the Embargo would extend to them. And therefore, not- withstanding their last Harvest has failed, and there is at present a Prospect of great Scarcity of Provisions in those Places, yet it would not be in the Power of the People of this His Majesty's Colony to relieve or succour its Mother Country, let her Necessities and Distress be ever so great. But, indeed, there cannot be a more pregnant Instance of the Absurdity of giving particular Instructions relative to the making of Laws to Legislatures which are so dis- tant as we are from our Mother Country. And this will ever be the Case where either Misinformation, or Want of Information, must render such particular Instructions improper to be observed, unsuit- able to the real Circumstances of the Colony, and often, as in the present Case, not only inconsistent with the Trade and Commerce of the Province, but repugnant to the general Advantage and Utility of the Nation.
" We have endeavoured to form the Bill in such Manner as will effectually prevent the Supplying His Majesty's Enemies with Pro- visions or Warlike Stores from this Province, which was the sole Intent of the Instruction; and therefore we hope your Honour, upon further Reflection, will withdraw the Amendments which would extend the Effects of the Embargo to the Neutral Ports in Europe, as they can only tend to destroy the Trade of this Port,
t
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and distress His Majesty's Subjects without contributing any Thing to His Majesty's Service.
" Signed by order of the House.
"ISAAC NORRIS, Speaker. " February 18, 1757."
MEMORANDUM.
On Wednesday the Twenty-Third Instant, Two Members of As- sembly waited on the Governor and delivered the following Re- port ; and requested his Honour would be pleased to furnish the House with a Copy of the Reasons he proposed to send Home, in Support of his refusing his Assent to the Hundred Thousand Pound Bill presented to his Honour by the Assembly ; to which the Governor was pleased to say that he had made a Minute con- cerning it on a Piece of Paper, but on looking for that Paper he could not find it; however, the Purport of it was, that if the House would furnish him with a Copy of the Representation they intended to send Home against his not giving his Assent to that Bill, he would also give them a full Copy of his Reasons for re- fusing to pass it ; that he would act candidly, and above Board ; that he had not yet sent those Reasons Home, nor would he do it till he had laid them before the Assembly, provided the Assembly furnished him with a Copy of their Representation.
" Report of the Committee of Assembly on the Governor's Message refusing his Assent to the £100,000 Bill.
" In Obedience to the Order of the House, we have considered his Honour's Message of yesterday, refusing the Bill for granting One Hundred Thousand Pounds to His Majesty's Service ; and as it appears to us that Reasoning with the Governor can be of no possible Use, since, though the House should convince his Judge- ment, they cannot change his Instructions, and by those he is deter- mined invariably to adhere, we have chosen to throw our Remarks into the Form of a Report to the House, rather than that of a Mes- sage to his Honour ; not that we have any thing to offer which the House is not already fully apprized of, but since the Message is probably intended to be read where the Motives on which the House have acted may not so well be known, it seems convenient they should at least be found on our Minutes, that all may judge of them who are in any way concerned in the Consequences.
"We would therefore observe in general, that the Governor having before refused two Bills, one for granting Sixty Thousand Pounds, the other for granting One Hundred Thousand Pounds to the King's Use, for various Reasons unsatisfactory to the Assem- bly, the House, sincerely desirous to make an effectual Grant,
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chose to form the Bill in Question on the Plan of the Sixty Thou- sand Pound Act, passed by the late Governor; which, after a solemn Hearing before the Board of Trade in February last, had received the Royal Assent. By this Means they hoped to avoid all Objections and Difficulties, especially as the Proprietaries were not by the Bill to be taxed. The Bill is a Supplement to the last men- tioned Sixty Thousand Pound Act, and in raising and disposing of the Hundred Thousand Pounds granted, the same Modes are to be pursued as by that Act are directed. But unfortunately the Gov- vernor, we find, is dissatisfied with that Act also, and most of his Objections are levelled against it.
" As to the Governor's first Reason, viz., The Danger of depre- ciating our Currency, if Forty. Five Thousand Pounds should be struck in Addition to it to be sunk in Four Years, we may observe that the Governor is allowed by the Twelfth Article of his Instruc- tions to re-emit the Eighty Thousand Pounds now current among us, with the Addition of Forty Thousand Pounds more, for Sixteen Years, without any Provision against the Injuries the Estates of the Widows and Orplians might sustain thereby, or any great Sollicitude for the rise of Exchange upon Bills, provided the Proprietaries' Quit- Rents are secured by being made payable according to the Exchange between the Cities of Philadelphia and London, and that they have the Disposal of the Interest Money, as directed by this and the eleventh Instruction, which must be strictly complied with; on these Terms, then, it seems there is no Danger of depreciating the Money by an Addition of Forty Thousand Pounds, though no Part of that Sum, or the Eighty Thousand Pounds, were to be sunk in many Years to come. We would further observe that in the Times men- tioned by the Governor, when we had but Eighty Thousand Pounds Current in Bills of Credit, there was current in the Province at least Four Hundred Thousand Pounds of Gold and Silver, most of which, with what has been yearly imported, is since drawn out of the Province for Payment of the Army at New York and Halifax, and for Payment of our Debts to the Merchants in England, so that a Piece of Gold is now rarely received in Payment. In the mean Time the Produce of the Province and its People, since that Eighty Thousand Pounds was first made current are very greatly encreased, and consequently the Demand for a Medium of Exchange encreased. The late Emissions have not in the least depreciated our Money, for Bills were sometimes higher when we had only Eighty Thousand Pounds Current than they have been at any Time since the new Emissions ; And if those Emissions have, as the Governor supposes, prevented the Fall of Exchange, they have so far been of Advantage to His Majesty's Service, as the Government Bills have thereby fetched a better Price. In the last War we remember the Crown lost vast Sums by the Fall of. Exchange in America, occasioned by a Scarcity of Money, joined with a Plenty of Bills, and some who bought them up when they had fallen from £165 to £125 Currency
1
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for One Hundred Pounds Sterling, may likewise remember that they thereby made proportionable Profits. They may possibly de- sire now to have a like Opportunity.
"The Money pretended to be given to the Province, but unjustly withheld, is perhaps designed, with the late collected Quit Rents, to purchase Bills when they shall be sold at the expected low rate a Scarcity of Money may reduce them to; but we think His Ma- jesty's Service is to be preferred to the private advantage of the Proprietary, and a few of his Friends that trade in Exchanges. The House, however, would as carefully as possible guard against any Depreciation of the Currency. They therefore proposed to strike only Forty-Five Thousand Pounds, of the Hundred Thousand Pounds granted, and that to be sunk in Four Years, one-Fourth Part in each Year. Nor would they have chosen to strike any Bills at all, if Taxes of any kind could possibly produce money soon enough to answer the present Emergencies of Government. If a Depreciation should happen, they are sensible they must suffer with others, and some of them more than many others; But when they considered, that within the present year the following Sums are to be sunk and destroyed, viz :
"Of the £80,000, one-Sixth Part, or - ££13,333 6 8
"Of the £55,000, one-Fourth Part, or - - -
13,750 0 0
"Of the £30,000, one-Tenth Part, or -
- -
3,000 0 0
" And if this Bill for 45,000 had passed, one-Fourth Part of that likewise . . 11,250 0 0
"In all, £41,333 6 8
"They could not conceive there was the least Danger of a De- preciation, especially as more soldiers were daily raising and arriving, and Ten new Regiments are expected from England, which must necessarily occasion a still greater Plenty of Bills of Exchange, to be sold on behalf of the Government. If the war should continue, they judged, therefore, that the Exchange could not rise ; and though Peace should be suddenly restored, yet the necessary Sink- ing of all our Eighty Thousand Pounds Loan Money, all the Fifty- Five Thousand Pounds, great part of the Thirty Thousand Pounds, and all the proposed Forty-Five Thousand Pounds, in the Terms of Four, and at farthest Six Years, would certainly prevent a Depreciation ; therefore, in either Case, the adding Forty-Five Thousand Pounds only to our present Currency, could not injure the Estates of Widows, Orphans, or others. We are indeed sur- prized to find it so much as suggested, that striking a sum for the Defence of the Province, and His Majesty's Service, to be sunk 'in Four Years, may subject us to the Displeasure of Parliament, when it is so well known, that the act of Parliament, made expressly to restrain the four New England Colonies, in the affair of Paper Money, allows even those Colonies to strike any Sum they may find
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necessary for that purpose, if they provide funds to sink it in Five Years ; and the Lords of Trade gave it as one reason for allowing our late Act to strike Fifty-Five Thousand Pounds, 'that we had provided to sink it in so short a Term as Four Years.' This pro- posed stricter Restraint, in a time of such imminent Danger, appears to us, therefore, not only to be unreasonable in itself, but to be founded on no Law, Opinion, or Instruction, whatever, from our Mother Country.
" On the Governor's Second Reason, to wit, the Uncertainty of the Act to which this Bill is a Supplement, in the Mode directed for laying the Tax, and its Defect in not obliging People to give an Account of their Estates upon Oath, &c., we shall only remark, that the Mode directed by that Act is the same that has ever been used in this Province, and is what the Commissioners and Assessors are accustomed to, and well understand. The Injustice supposed has not taken Place in the Execution of it; no one has complained of, or so much as apprehends Injustice. The As- sessors are upon Oath to tax all equally and justly, which they could not do if they laid, as the Governor supposes they may, the Six Pence Per Pound on the Capital Value of some Estates, and on the annual Income, only, of others. Defects there may possi- bly be in this Bill, and even to us there appears a very consider- able one, to wit, that the Proprietary Estate is not taxed; but this we cannot Amend if we would; others, when found, a Subsequent Act may remedy. A perfectly equal Tax never yet was, nor per- haps ever will be laid in any Country by any Law. But in no Country, that we know of, are People put to their Oaths to makc them confess and declare the full and true Value of their Estates. It is inconsistent with the Laws of the English Constitution, might be ruinous to some who at present live in good Credit, impracticable to others who do not keep clear Accounts, and inconvenient to all. The Officers are, therefore, to make the best returns that they can by Enquiry, or otherwise, obtain, and the Assessors the best Judgement they can on those Returns. By this Bill the People may possibly be taxed unequally with regard to their Estates; but by the Excise Act they must certainly be so; yet to the Excise Act the Governor has given his Assent, without the least Objection on Account of such inequality, and even recommends further Excises in the Message under Consideration.
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