Colonial records of Pennsylvania, Vol. VII, Part 44

Author:
Publication date: 1838
Publisher: [Harrisburg] : By the State
Number of Pages: 814

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" The Governor's Third Objection is, that a Tax for four Years on Lands or personal Estates 'is contrary to the Proprietary In- structions,' which says that he shall not give his Assent to any Act laying such a Tax for more than one Year. It is true the In- structions say that, and more; they say the Governor shall not pass any Act to tax the Proprietary Quit Rents, nor their located unimproved Lands, nor the Fines or Purchase Moneys they have at Interest, which together make the Bulk of their Estate; nor

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shall he pass any Act to tax the located unimproved Lands of any other Person ; nor to tax the Value of any other Estate, but the Rent or Interest of the Value only, and that at the low Rate of Three Per Centum Per Annum ; nor on that Interest of Three Per Cent. more than Four Shillings in the Pound. So that, whatever the Necessities and Distress of the Province may be to raise Money for its Defence, his vast Estates in Quit Rents, Money at Interest, and located unimproved Lands, are to be exempted, and shall not pay a Penny; and not only so, but the People themselves shall be hampered with new Restraints, and forbid to grant His Majesty what they find the present State of His Service and the imminent Danger to the Colony absolutely calls for. If we may not lay a Tax for more than one Year, we can grant no more than one Year's Tax will produce. If this be indeed the Practice, Wisdom, and Policy of our Mother Country, whence arose its Debt of Eighty Millions ? A Debt greater than all their Taxes can pay in many Years, tho' being rich, while we are poor and just beginning to live, they have much more to tax than we have. Four Shillings in the Pound on Three Per Cent. will produce only the Hundred and Sixty-Sixth Penny of the full Value of any Estate. Suppose Four Shillings in the Pound on Five Per Cent., which is the Hundredth Penny, should be found absolutely necessary to secure the Province from His Majesty's Enemies; or suppose even the Fiftieth Penny Necessary, must the Country be destroyed and the whole be lost rather than these Instructions be departed from"? So it seems. For ' the Governor's Honour and Interest may suffer if he breaks them.' Thus, by the Proprietaries shackling their Governor with Instructions and Penal Bonds, and not allowing him to use his own Judgement, or the Advice of his Assembly, on the most important Occasions, the People may be deprived of one of the most valuable Ends of Government, Protection, and the King's Province exposed to Destruction.

" The Governor, by his Estimate laid before the House, required One Hundred and Twenty-Seven Thousand Pounds as necessary for the Service of the current Year. Let us endeavour to compute, by the best Lights we have, how much of this a Tax laid conformable to the Proprietary Instructions can possibly produce. All their Estate, except a Trifle, and all located unimproved Lands, to whom- soever belonging, are to be exempted. There remains then to be taxed, only the improved Lands, Houses, and personal Estates of the People. Now it is well known from the Tax Books, that there are not in the Province more than 20,000 Houses, including those of the Towns with those on Plantations. If these, with the improved Land annexed to them, and the personal Estate of those that inhabit them, are worth, one with another, Two Hundred and Fifty Pounds each, it may, we think, be reckoned their full Value ; then multiply 20,000, the Number of Houses, by £250, the Value of each Estate, and the Produce is £5,000,000, for the full Value

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of all our Estates, real and personal, the unimproved Land excepted. Now Three Per Cent. on Five Millions is but One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds, and Four Shillings in the Pound on One Hundred and Fifty thousand Pounds, being but a Fifth Part, is no more than Thirty Thousand Pounds; So that we ought to have near Seventeen Millions to produce, by such a Tax One Hun- dred Thousand Pounds. If it be asked how then we proposed to raise One Hundred Thousand Pounds in One Year by the Bill the Governor lately refused, it may be answered, That the Proprie- tary Estate was by that Bill to be taxed ; and all located unim- proved Lands were to be taxed; Polls were to be taxed; and the Produce of all Offices, Trades and Employments, were to be taxed according to the usual Method of assessing them under the County Rate and Levy Act; and yet, with all these Helps, we were sure the Country must have been greatly distressed by that Tax, and that it would hardly have been possible to raise it within the Year. How then shall we make up the Deficiency, when the Tax we are allowed to lay can produce no more than Thirty Thousand Pounds ? The Governor is pleased to say, 'by following the Example of our Neighbours in taxing Luxury, and laying Duties on such Things as may do the least Injury to Trade.' Some of our Neighbours have indeed tried this Method, and what does it produce ? The whole Produce of the Tax on the Luxuries of New York, including the Duties on Wine, Rum, Brandy, and other distilled Liquors, Negroes, Cocoa, and Dry Goods, from September 1, 1755, to September 1, 1756, amount to no more, as appears by their Votes now before us, than Three Thousand Two Hundred and Four Pounds Nineteen Shillings and Two Pence; though that is an older Colony, and in- habited by People generally richer than ours, and almost all the Gold and Silver of the neighbouring Colonies has within that Term centered there to support the Troops. Our chief Luxury, if it may be called a Luxury, is Rum, and that with Wine, &c., is already taxed, and the Tax mortgaged for Ten Years to come. This Colony is more remarkable for Industry and Frugality than for Luxury, and 'tis doubted whether, if all our Luxuries were abolished, and the full Price of them paid to the Treasury, it would produce any considerable Sum, much less must be produced by any Excise or Tax on them that they can bear; We may, indeed, create some new Ofices and Officers, and embarrass Trade, or drive it from our Ports, but little Advantage can we expect to arise from such Taxes to the Publick.

"On the Governor's Fourth Reason, we shall only remark that unimproved Lands near the Frontiers may indeed be diminished in Value, yet those within the settlements must rise as the Inhabitants retire inward from the Enemy. The High Price those Lands are and have been kept at, has forced out of our Country ten Times more of our People than have been driven away by the Enemy, and

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thereby greatly weakened the Colony. The Monopolizing Lands, therefore, to lie uncultivated for a Market, is a publick Injury ; and besides that such Lands can well afford it, they ought to be well taxed to oblige the Owners to sell out for the Publick Utility. But the Tax laid on them by the Bill is vastly too low, the Valuation being confined between Five and Fifteen Pounds per Hundred Acres, when some of those Lands being the first and choicest Pick- ings of every Purchase, will actually now sell for near Three Hun- dred Pounds per Hundred, the War notwithstanding. And though those near the Frontier may be diminished in value, they are, how- ever, still of considerable Value, and whatever that is they should be taxed for it. The Assessors will duly consider such Diminution . of Value wherever they find it, and all other Land of the same Kind that holds its Price, should certainly not be exempted for the diminished Value of a Part only. 'Tis kind, however, in the Pro- prietaries to favour their Wholesale Chapmen and encourage the Trade, by endeavouring to screen with their own the Purchases of their Favourites.

" The Governor's fifth Reason against passing the Bill is, that the Act to which it is a Supplement, refers to the Act for raising County Rates and Levies, and he conceives it unparliamentary for one Act to refer to another, but all the necessary Powers and Duties should be contained in the Body of the Act, independent of any other. Were it unparliamentary, as the Governor says, yet the Act he object to has received the Royal Determination, and is executed without the Inconvenience supposed, having been long in Use, and well understood by the Officers. It is but a few Weeks since the Governor himself was pleased to pass an Act for extending hither great Part of an Act of Parliament, by referring to the Clauses only, without requiring them to be inserted in the Bill; And we conceive it far from being unparliamentary, as there are many In- stances of one Act of Parliament referring to another. But there being no Instruction in that Case, the Governor had then no Occa- sion for the Use of this Objection.

" On the sixth Reason we must observe, that to make it appear something stronger, it is said the whole Sum of One Hundred Thousand Pounds is to be paid into the Hands of the Trustees ; whereas the Bill directs only Forty-Five Thousand Pounds of it to come into their Hands, and that either before it is properly Money, being but printed Paper unsigned, or when it ceases to be Money, and is only to be burnt and destroyed. And as it would probably be drawn out of their Hands almost as fast as it could be signed, no farther Security than they are under for the Eighty Thousand Pounds, by the Eighty Thousand Pound Act was thought neces- sary. Fifty-Five Thousand Pounds of the One Hundred Thousand Pounds never goes into the Trustees Hands at all, but is to be paid to the Treasurer as it arises from the Taxes, and by him issued in

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Discharge of the Commissioners Orders for the King's Service. The Treasurer, therefore, is to give an additional Security by the Bill. When the Forty-Five Thousand Pounds comes to be sunk, the Trustees can never have much of it in their Hands at a Time, as a fourth Part of it is to be yearly sunk and destroyed. And the Securities they are already under were deemed fully sufficient, espe- cially as great Part of the Money now under their Direction will be sunk before that comes to their Hands.

" The Governor's seventh Objection is likewise against the Act that has been confirmed at Home; we shall, therefore, only mention what we are informed was the Practice on that Act. The former Governor did at first countersign some Orders, But found the Prac- tice too troublesome to be continued. The Mode has since been for the Governor and Commissioners to agree on the Service for which Money is necessary, then the most considerable Contracts are laid before him for his Approbation, and those agreements and Approba- tions are entered on the Minutes. The Commissioners afterwards only settle Accounts, which is troublesome enough, and give Orders for the Payment, in Pursuance of such Previous Agreements and Contracts. They would be glad if the Governor could be present at every Meeting of the Board, and Assist in transacting the Busi- ness; but it would take up too much of his Time, and is therefore impracticable. And it would be useless to give him the Trouble of signing Orders, if he cannot spare Time to examine the Accounts on which the Orders are. founded; especially as two of his Council have always been two of the Commissioners, and no Governor has complained that they have drawn Orders for improper Services.

"What are the many other Parts of the Bill which are contrary to the Instructions his Honour has not been pleased to specify, nor is it material, since if every one of those Instructions is not observed the Bill cannot be passed. In fine, as this necessary Bill is exactly conformable to the Act so lately allowed by the Crown, and which is now in Practice without the Inconveniencies objected, tlie Want of Compliance with those Proprietary Instructions appears to your Com- mittee the true and sole Reason of its not passing. The other Rea- sons, as we conceive, are only introduced to save That the Shame of standing alone, and on Examination appear to be not so much Reasons as Excuses. And we cannot but regret the Situation of a Governor who finds himself under the Necessity of making them, and pity the Counsellors who must approve of them. But much more are we, the unhappy People of Pennsylvania, to be pitied, who must perish by the Hand of the Enemy or comply with Instructions or rather Laws made for us by ill-informed Proprietaries at a Thou- sand Leagues Distance ; Laws unsuitable to our Circumstances, im- practicable in their Nature, or, if practicable, ineffectual."

The Commanding Officer at Fort Allen having wrote the follow-

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ing Letter to Major Parsons, who laid the same before the Governor, it was ordered to be entered :

" FORT ALLEN, February, 18th, 1757.

" Honour'd Sir :

" This Morning, arrived an Indian here from Diahogo, and Seven Women and Three Children, are to come in to-morrow, next Day ; his Name is Zaccheus ; he informs me that King Teedyuscung hath sent him with the following Orders, that the same might be shewn to his Honour the Governor. King Teedyuscung intends to come in with a great Number of Indians the next Month to Easton, to hold a Treaty there, and desires that the Governor may be ready at that Time, to meet him at Easton. The Indian informs me, that the Three Messengers, Joseph Peppy, Lewis Montour, and Na- thaniel, arrived well at Diahogo, and went from thence to the Mo- hock's Country with several others; and as soon as they shall come back to Diahogo, King Teedyuscung will be ready to march from thence to come down.

" Honour'd Sir, I am your very humble Servant,

"JACOB ORNDT. " Major PARSONS."

At a Council held at Philadelphia, Saturday the 5th March, 1757.

PRESENT :

The Honourable WILLIAM DENNY, Esquire, Lieutenant Goy- ernor.

Robert Strettell,

Benjamin Shoemaker, )

William Logan,

Richard Peters,

Benjamin Chew, John Mifflin,

Esquires. Thomas Cadwalader,

The Minutes of the preceding Council were read and approved.

A Letter of the Second Instant, received last Night by Express from Lord Loudoun, was read in these words :

"NEW YORK, March 2d, 1757.

"Sir :

" As I have received his Majesty's Orders to make Preparations for vigorous and offensive Operations in the ensuing critical and important Campaign, This obliges me to recommend it to you, to lay an Embargo on the Port or Ports of your Government, least I should not be able to carry that Plan to the Extent that the Impor- tance of it requires.

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" As you must be sensible of the Necessity of Secrecy in Opera- tions of this Nature, I cannot doubt, that you will excuse my not laying the Plan before you.

"This Measure I see necessary to recommend to Virginia, and all the Governments Northward of it, that His Majesty's Service may not be disappointed of a Supply of such Ships or Vessels, as may be necessary for carrying this important Service into Execu- tion, so essential to the well being of His Majesty's Colonies.

" From the present Situation of Affairs and the advanced Season, there has not been Time to concert this Measure with the different Governments; but I have the Satisfaction to acquaint you that in Consequence of this Recommendation an Embargo has this Day taken Place in the Port and Ports of this Province, and I can have no Doubt from your Zeal that in Support of the Common Cause your Province will follow so good an Example.

"I must, therefore, desire you will send me by the Return of the Express an Account of the Ships and Vessels in your Ports, and their Tonnage, fit for transporting Troops, that I may give you the earliest notice of what part of them will be necessary to take into His Majesty's Service.

" And I must further desire that this may not be made publick till the Embargo is actually laid on. I am, with great regard,

"Sir, your most obedient humble Servant,

" The Honble. WILLIAM DENNY, Esq." 4 "LOUDOUN.

The Governor informed the Council that on Receipt of this Let- ter he sent for the Collector and detained him till he issued an Order under the Great Seal or him and the Collectors of Newcastle and Lewes not to suffer any Ships or Vessels to be cleared out of their Offices to any Port whatever; and now proposed it to the Council to communicate the said Letter to the Assembly, and to send a Message to them to prepare such a Bill for a general Em- bargo, as might enable his Lordship to carry into Execution the important Measures he has in view for His Majesty's Service and the Defence of his American Colonies. The Council thinking this necessary the Letter together with a Message was sent to the As- sembly, and the House was desired to return the Letter to the Gov- ernor early in the afternoon.

The Message from the Assembly of the 18th February together with the Report of the Committee of Assembly delivered to the Governor in Answer to his of the 11th of February were read. It was the unanimous Opinion of the Council that this Supplemental Bill for granting to His Majesty the additional Sum of One Hun- dred Thousand Pounds should be detained till Lord Loudoun's arri- val, as something might be expected to be said by him on the

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Subject which might extricate the Governor and Assembly out of the Difficulties attending the passing Such a Bill.

The Bill, Entituled " An Act to render the Quartering Soldiers more equal on the Publick Houses in this Province," was again considered with the Assembly's last Message thereupon ; and the Council being divided in their Opinion, whether the principal Amendment made to the Bill by the Governor should be adhered to or given up, it was postponed to a further Time.

The Bill to prevent the Exportation of Provisions, naval or war- like Stores, to the French, &ca., with the Assembly's Reasons for confining the Embargo to America, was considered and referred to a further Time ; and recommended to the Governor to confer with Lord Loudoun thereupon.

A Letter from Mr. Weiser, of the 10th February, was read, communicating a Conversation which he had with Tittamy and Pumpshire on what was said at the last Treaty by Teedyuscung, on the Causes of the present Indian War, which was likewise read and Ordered to be entered.

" Memorandum taken at Fort Allen, November the 20th, 1756.

" As I came along this morning from Nicholas Oblinger's, Jo- seph Tittamy kept me company for the most Part, and sometimes John Pumpshire. We began to discourse about this present In- dian War. I asked them several Questions, and so did they me. Among other Things, I told them that, for my Part, I did not un- derstand Deedjoskon clearly in his Speech about the Cause of the War; now and then he blamed the English in general ; then the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, and then the Indians for being too credulous and foolish to believe the French. Sometimes said the French's Success, Wealth and Power prevailed upon you all, and so on.

" Joseph Tittamy told me that every thing was agreed upon in the Indian Counsel what should have been said; that their King Deedjoskon had every Thing in his Heart what to say before he came to Easton, and there his Memory was refreshed ; but being too often overcome with strong Liquor, he spoke confused, tho' nothing that was wrong or false in itself, only not in such Order as he ought to have done ; and one Passage he never mentioned at all, which drawed the Delaware Indians' Heart from the English and their Indian Allics.

" Query, 'What is that ?' Answer, 'Deedjoskon should have given an account of the Differences that have arose some time ago between the Delaware Minissing Indians and the Mingos, and should have told the Governor of Pennsylvania how the latter have cheated the former out of a Great deal of Land on the River Delaware, and Sold it to the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania. That the Mingos had abused the Delawares, some year's before,

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greatly in Philadelphia, as if the Delaware and Minisink Indian's were their Dogs; and that Canasatego, then Speaker among thie Mingos, ordered them away from their own Land, and said he would give them Lands on Sasquehannah River, and instantly ordered them to Settle there, which the Delaware and Some of the Minisink In- dians did, in order to prevent Mischief. That then Canasatego sold that Land to the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania. They, the Dela- ware and Minisink Indians, made no Reply against it, thinking themselves safe enough on Sasquehannah; but about three years ago, a Company of New England Men came down Sasquehannah and took openly Draughts of all the good Spots of Land, and per- haps of all. When the Indians asked Why they did so? They boldly answered that so many hundred Families from New Eng- land would come and Settle there. 'This is our Land' says the In- dians Settled on it. 'No,' answers the Others, 'the Land is none of yours, it belongs to the Mingos, you are only their Tenants, Slaves, Dogs,' (as it sounds in an Indian Ear). That thereupon the Dela- wares sent a large Body of their People, as their Deputation to the Mohawk's country, to protest against the New England People, or any other white, to settle there, and to complain of the Mohawks' Proceeding, and to tell them plain, if they, the Mohawks, would not prevent the New England People from Settling on Sasquehannah, they, the Delawares, would go over to Ohio to the French, in hopes to receive better usage from them. That the Mohawks then denied everything, and Said the New England People Stole there, and had no Leave of them for any Lands on Sasquehannah, and never would sell them any; and that neither the New England People nor any white should ever settle there. That the Deputation went home again, and they, the Delaware and Minisink Indians, being so far Satisfied, but that they Soon were informed by some of the Mingos themselves, that that Land had actually been sold to the New Eng- land People, and that the Mohawks liad received large Considera- tions for them, and that the Mohawks had deceived the Deputies of the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania who were about buying it, and the Mingos all had promised the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania that they should have the Preference, if ever it should be sold.' Query, ' What did your People Say then ?' Answer, 'they were terrible angry, and Suspected that they would be cut off ; and by that alarm, arisen perhaps by ill designing People, our Indians gathered at Dia- hogo, to see what would be the Consequence ; either they would join the French, or maintain their Lands ; but that a great many went over to the French from Time to Time, and came back with Messages till the War broke out.'

" I said I wished that this Story had been told at the Treaty. Answer, 'Deedjoskon was afraid of the Mingo Indians that were there, least they might misrepresent the Story when they came home. The Mingo Indians (said Tittamy again) have from the Be- ginning cheated our Nation and got our Forefathers to call them

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Uncles by Deceit and art, and at last said they conquered our Fore- fathers.' Query, 'Why, is it not so!' Answer, 'no; the Mingos stood in need of our Forefathers' Assistance, and got some of their cunning Men to come down to our Forefathers with the news that a certain nation from the West was preparing to come and cut our Forefathers off, and some others came of the same sort as Deputies, with Howling and Lamentation Songs over our Death (who were to be killed), and so our Forefathers entered into a League with them, and rather fought their Battles than the Mohawks should have fought ours.'

" Both these Indians were desirous, or rather insisted upon, that I should use my Endeavours with the Governor and People of Penn- sylvania, to lay out a large Tract of Land on Sasquehannah, and se- cure it so to their Posterity that none of them could sell and nobody buy it; That the Delawares would, for the most part, if not all, come and live on it, and be reconciled to the People and Govern- ment of Pennsylvania for ever. I promised to do it : Deedjoskon told me much the same Story as before mentioned before we parted, with very little Difference, and desired the same of me, as to obtain- ing Lands for them."

The Council called for the List of the present Justices of the County of Philadelphia, which was read, and sundry Persons men- tioned as proper to be added to the present Justices; but the Time not permitting them to consider this Matter fully, it was agreed that the new Commission should not issue till after the Court, which sits next week.

It was agreed to take into Consideration at the next Council, pro- per Persons to be added to the present Commission for the County of Bucks.

· Instructions were given to Mr. Chew to draw up a Reply to the Assembly's Answer to the Governor's Message, refusing his Assent to the Bill for granting One Hundred Thousand Pounds to His Majesty's Use, and particularly to the Report of the Committee of the Assembly referred therein.

MEMORANDUM.

On Tuesday, the 8th Instant, Two Members of Assembly waited on the Governor with a Bill, entituled " An Act for regulating the Hire of Carriages to be employed in His Majesty's Service within the inhabited Parts of this Province," for his Assent; his Honour said he would take the same into immediate Consideration.

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Colonial records of Pennsylvania, Vol. VII, Part 44

Author: Publication date: 1838 Publisher: [Harrisburg] : By the State Number of Pages: 814

Author:
Publication date: 1838
Publisher: [Harrisburg] : By the State
Number of Pages: 814