USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial records of Pennsylvania, Vol. VII > Part 75
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" To the Honourable WILLIAM DENNY, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Pennsylvania, &c., --
" The Address of the Representatives of the Freemen of the said Province :
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" May it please your Honour:
" We, the Representatives of the Freemen of the Province of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met, have received many com- plaints against William Moore, Esqr-, one of the Justices of the Peace for the County of Chester, chareing him with divers misde- meanours, fraudulent and extortionate Practices in his said publick Office, and having summoned the said William Moore, Esqr-, to be present and make his Defence, and show the falsehood of those Charges, if any proof or evidence of such falsehood he had to pro- duce, which said Summons he neglected to obey ; and having heard the Evidence concerning said Charges and Complaints, and being thereupon fully Satisfied and convinced, the said William Moore, EsqT-, regardless of the impartial and just Discharge of his Duty in the said Office, and wickedly and corruptly through an avaricious Disposition, and designedly to oppress and distress the poor Inhabi- tants of the said County, hath greatly misbehaved himself in his said Office by taking double and Extortionate Fees of many of his Majesty's Poor Liege Subjects in the said County, by taking and extorting Fees where no Process ever issued, or Services were done under colour of his said Office ; by encouraging the bringing a great Number of petty Suits against the poorer sort of People, and by many other Fraudulent, corrupt and wicked Practices, to the great
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scandal of Justice, Derogation of the Laws and Distress of his Majesty's said Subjects; Which said Practices we humbly conceive to be illegal and arbitrary, contrary to the Duty of a Justice of Peace, and excessively oppressive and grievous to his Majesty's faithfull and Liege Subjects; Wherefore we do intreat your Honour to remove the said William Moore from the Offices of Judge of the Court of Common Pleas and Justice of the Peace, and from all other Publick Offices, Posts, and Employments, whatsoever, under his Majesty within this Government.
"Signed by Order of the House.
"ISAAC NORRIS, Speaker.
"September 28, 1757."
Then were read the Assembly's Amendments to the Bill for regulating the Indian Trade, and ordered to be entered as follows :
Amendments to the Bill, entituled an Act for preventing Abuses in the Indian Trade, &ca., admitted by the House.
"Page 10, last Line, after the word [approbation ] add [And be- fore they are commissioned as Ministers, or School Masters by the Governour or Commander-in-Chief of this Province for the Pur- poses aforesaid, they and each of them shall take the Oaths ap- pointed to be taken in and by an Act passed in the first Year of his Late Majesty, King George, entituled 'an Act for the further Se- curity of his Majesty's Person and Government, and the Succession of the Crown in the Heirs of the Late Princess Sophia, being Pro- testants, and for extinguishing the Hopes of the pretended Prince of Wales and his Open and Secret Abettors, or an Affirmation in- stead of the said Oath, and shall also make, repeat and subscribe the Declaration in the said Act mentioned.
" Page 19, Line 3. Agreed to and inserted in the Bill accord- ingly.
"Line penult. Agreed to the Amendment.
" Page 20, Line 3. Agreed to this Amendment.
Which being considered, the Board unanimously agreed to adhere to the former amendments made by the Governor in Council, and the Secretary was ordered to acquaint the House by a Verbal Mes- suage, that his Honour adhered to his amendments.
A Messuage to the Governor from the Assembly.
" May it please your Honour :
" Having, by our Messuage of the Eighteenth of August last, answered that part of your speech relating to the Succour of the City and Province of New York, and complied with everything you
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requested of us on that Occasion, permit us to take under our Con- sideration the remainder of it, and make such Remarks thereon as a regard for the Rights of the People and our bleeding Country obliges us to do.
" There was a time when your Honour was pleased to declare, that the Protection of the Province and the supporting the People in the enjoyment of their Civil and Religious Rights, was what your Duty, as well as Inclination would Lead you to ; but we are sorry to find that Time but of a short Duration. More Pains Seems now to be taken to destroy than to Support our Rights; to persuade the World to believe that we were unwilling to defend the Province, than defend it, or to unite in Measures for that purpose; and that we had set Danger at a Distance, and presumed to treat the Accounts thereof as the Tales of a Day, than to guard against and to protect us from that Danger. 'Tis true, so little care has been taken to gain Intelligence of the Enemy's Motions and Designs, that our accounts thereof are generally so confused no one can depend on them, and but few of them, hitherto, have proved to be true. Whether they were invented or exaggerated through Party Views we cannot determine, or did we ever charge them to be so; the first Hint thereof comes from the Governor, and it is more than proba- ble he may know it to be true. But we cannot help saying, this insinuation so artfully made against us, is without the Least founda- tion, and as unkind as it is unjust; And that had your Honour the same Sense of the Danger you can so well Describe, and the same motives and Inclinations to defend the Province, and protect our Civil and Religious Rights, as we have, they must have prevailed on you to pass one among many of the reasonable and necessary Bills that have been presented to you for those Purposes ; nor would you have had occasion so repeatedly to call on us for the framing of Bills, at a great Expense to the People, which neither your Duty or Inclination, if we may judge from your Actions, could prevail on you to enact into Laws.
"No one unacquainted with the Transactions between us, upon perusal of your speech, would suspect that we had ever offered for your Assent reasonable Bills for the Defence of the Province, or that you were by any means concerned in preventing us from being put into a posture of Defence ourselves, or assist our Neighbours, but that the whole blame was justly imputable to the Assembly. Weak and prejudiced Men may be deceived by specious Insinua- tions, but it shall be remembered that they are not, with the Candid and unprejudiced, Sufficient to invalidate notorious and incontestable Facts. This Assembly have done every thing they, on their Parts, could do, consistent with the Rights and Priviledges of the people. In the early part of our Session we prepared a Bill for granting One Hundred Thousand Pounds to the King's use, which you rejected. Another was immediately offered, which would have met the same
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fate had not a regard for Justice, his Majesty's Interest, and the Welfare of the people, prevailed on a Worthy Nobleman to inter- pose. Great Part of the said Sum is already expended in paying the Troops under your Honour's Command, and yet what Service has been done by those Troops ? What Protection has the Province received from them ? Have they relieved the Frontier Inhabitants from the insupportable Burthens of keeping watch Night and Day at their own Expence ? Or has a single Indian been killed or taken Prisoner by them, tho' our enemies have been continually commit- ting Depredations on the Frontier, and constantly murdering the People ? The Law expressly directs that Eleven Hundred of the Troops should be employ'd in making Incursions into the Enemy's Country, to watch their Motions, gain Intelligence, and communicate their Designs in time to the Inhabitants, that they might be pre- pared against them. But this essential Part of the Law and our Defence has been altogether neglected. These are Facts too flagrant and too fatally felt by our unhappy Frontiers, to require Proof. The Fault must be somewhere ; it cannot be justly charged to us ; we have granted a Sufficient Number of men to protect the Province and supplies to support them, and more than the people are able to bear another Year. This is all we had a Right to do, or could do ; the rest was the Duty of the Governor. From a View of these Facts it will readily appear who it is that neglects the protection of the Province, or has failed on their Parts to Put it into a Posture of Defence.
" Your Honour is pleased again to call on us for an equitable and constitutional Militia Law; this we apprehend we have more than once Complied with. At our first Sessions we prepared a Bill, equi- table in all its Parts, adapted to the Genius of the People, and to preserve the Constitution of the Government. At our next Ad- journment, having taken in many of your Amendments, we sent you up a Second, and since our present Sitting, more of your Amend- ments being agreed to, we presented you with a Third, enabling you not only to defend the Province, but assist our Neighbours in times of Distress and invasion. But all these Bills you were pleased to reject as unequal and unconstitutional. What the Governor means by an equitable and constitutional Militia Law we readily perceive by his amendments ; a Law that will oblige the Inhabitants to take a Test as to their religious and Conscientious Scruples; if this be equitable and constitutional, it is the Equity and Constitution of Portugal or some other Popish Countries where the inquisition is in use, and not of any free Government, where the People enjoy their religious Liberties. That it is not Constitutional in the Opinion of the Crown and a British Parliament, is evident, they having made a Law exempting the Moravians, or congregations of the Unitas Fra- trum in America, from Military Duties without such Test, nor is there an instance thereof in any of the Militia Bills that have been framed or enacted by our Mother Constitution. But we are Sorry
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to find the Example of our Gracious Sovereign and his Parliaments is no Rule to the Governor, nor does he seem to think the People of this Province entitled to the Rights of Englishmen and Free- men.
" Another thing which, in your Opinion, would tend to make the Bill Constitutional is, to give the Governor the absolute Nomina- tion of all the Military Officers without being recommended by the People ; to Oblige the whole Freemen of the Community to enlist under them, and so Subject them to all the penalties of a Court Martial which your Honour would appoint. Whence it is that the Governor receives his Ideas of our Constitution, we are at a Loss to determine, but fear it is from those who are either ignorant of its Laws, or Wicked enough to be an enemy to it. It is the distin- guishing Priviledge of Englishmen, that they cannot be Condemned in their Persons or Properties but by a jury of their Country. To Subject the people to the judgement of a Court Martial, and such fines, Penalties, and Corporal or Capital Punishments as shall be thereby inflicted, is directly inconsistent with this Privilege, and what Freemen will never assent to, were the Powers of Government exercised with ever so much Justice and Lenity ; but when all Con- fidence is Lost between the Governor and Governed ; when schemes are persuing, in this Time of extreme Distress, by a few particular Persons to enslave the whole Community ; and when these schemes meet with the Countenance of those whose Duty it is to preserve our Rights, we never can consent to such an Amendment in a general Militia Bill. This would be giving up the Persons and Properties of our Constituents to the absolute Power of a Party, out of which, we have no room to doubt, the Officers will be Chosen, when ever the Governor shall be vested with the sole appointment of them.
" The Charge against us of endeavouring to take the Appoint- ment of the Officers out of the hands of the Government is too general, and seems calculated rather to Serve a Particular Purpose, than to convey a true State of the Matter. That by the Bill a Number of Persons was to be elected to each Office, and recom- mendd. to the Governor by the Voice of the People, out of which he was to choose and Commissionate the Militia Officers is true ; but this is so far from taking the Appointment out of the Hands of the Government, that the Governor would have the Choice of several, and Might Appoint which of them he pleased. This we thought, and still think, reasonable, especially as your Honour is a Stranger among us, and cannot Know who is proper and who not, for those important Places, unless you take your information from a Party who have ever Consulted their Private Views, and the Interest of their Friends, more than the Publick Welfare. These are Motives which the People, collectedly, cannot have, and therefore, we appre- hend, it will more Effectually answer the end of a Militia Law, to
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permit the People to recommend their own Officers, under whom they are Willing to Serve, as it is Natural to Presume, they will fix on Men of Integrity and Publick Spirit, on whose Courage and Resolution they can depend for the Protection of the Country, and the preservation of their civil and Religious Liberties.
"But however reasonable this may be, it does not suit with the avowed Designs of a Party, which they have been weak and wicked enough to Publish to the World in their Brief State. The Plan the Governor recommends to us, is the Plan they wish for. They declare they expect it will alter the face of affairs, by creating a Vast Number of New Relations, Dependencies, and Subordinations in Government. The Militia will Vote for Members of Assem- bly, and being dependant upon their Officers, would Probably be influenced by Them, and the Officers being recommended by the Proprietary Creatures, and Commissioned by their Deputy, would be directed by them, and thus our Proprietaries would be vested with the Appointment of both the Branches of Legislature. Under this extensive Influence, added to that which ever will attend the immense Property of the Proprietaries, can any Liberty that the People are intitled to be Safe? The Freedom of Elections and of Parliament will be Violated and destroy'd, The Ballance of Power between the Governor and People, so wisely Established by the Royal and Proprietary Charters and Laws of the Province, will be totally Subverted, and our Present Constitution transformed into a Government the most despotic and arbitrary; Proprietary Instruc- tions calculated to promote their private Interest and Views, and to Oppress the People, will have the Sanction of Edicts not to be dis- obeyed; Supply Bills will stand in no need of Amendments as they will be framed agreeable to such Instructions ; Our Assemblies will not Presume to tax the Proprietaries' enormous Estate in common with the Rest of his Majesty's Subjects for the defence of their Colony, but they will make all their Laws by direction, and become as Insignificant in the Constitution as the Parliament of France, who have only the Power of assenting and registering their Tyrants' Edicts.
" The Governor is pleased next to recommend to us to make the best improvement of our Alliance entered into with the Indians at the late treaty at Easton, by enabling him to comply with the several requests they made of him at the said Treaty. We concur with you in thinking these things are of Great and immediate Conse- quence to the preservation of our Lives and Properties at this juncture ; And we further Know them to be of the utmost im- portance to the general Safety of the Colonies and his Majesty's Interest; And, therefore, with all Expedition we presented a Bill every way calculated for these Good Ends; But we cannot help saying that the Governor's Words and his Actions do not seem to correspond. The unreasonable Amendments he has sent down to
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the Bill convince us he had no design of passing it, as he could not expect we could be so Insensible of the people's Rights as to agree to them. In that Bill we nominated Commissioners, whose Integ- rity we have experienced, to serve the Country, and gave the Gov- ernor for the time being a Negative on the Disposition of the Sum that was to be put into their Hands to carry on the Indian Trade ; But we find nothing less than the Nomination of the Commissioners and Agents will Satisfy the Governor, or rather those with whom he advises. Should we Consent to those Amendments, the Negative in the Bill would be useless, as there can be no doubt but the Per- sons who could be so Lost to their own Rights as to accept of the Office from the Governor's Nomination would implicitly obey his Directions.
"Our Duty Obliges us to declare and protest against this Amend- ment as an Infringement on the Rights of the House; and that the Nomination of the Commissioners in Bills of this Nature is the settled Right of the House of Commons, whose Powers we have as Englishmen and by our Charters, which we hope the Governor will not, upon further Consideration, attempt to Violate. Nothing is of greater Importance to the Government than the Supporting the just and distinct Rights and Priviledges of the Legislature; and as to our own we assure the Governour we are resolved never to give them up while the People entrust us with them.
"Permit us, therefore, to persuade the Governor to resume the Consideration of this necessary and important Bill ; Reflect on its Importance to the Preservation of this Province, His Majestie's Colonies, and the British Interest in America. It is a Bill, which, if enacted into a Law, and well Executed, will secure to us an effectual Barrier against our Enemies, and secure our fellow Sub- jects from the Barbarous Depredations of the Savages, and relieve them in a great Measure from their Present almost insupportable Burden of Taxes. And a Bill, which, in its necessary Conse- quences, must procure to the English Interest the Friendship and Alliance of the Most distant Indian Nations. And if the Solemn Promises you made the Indians at the Treaties at Lancaster and Easton-the Good of this Particular Province-the Bleeding Cir- cumstances of our Frontiers-the miserable Subjection of our Cap- tivated Inhabitants-have no Weight with your Honour, Let the Good of the Colonies in general, and your Duty to preserve the Interest of the Crown, plead the important cause of this Bill. We intreat you no Longer to Look on yourself as a Passenger, only, in the Province, as you have been pleased, more than once, to ex- press yourself on Matters of a Publick Nature. Consider Your- self as intimatily concerned in the Welfare of the Province, bound in Duty to defend the King's Colony, and Obliged to co operate with us in everything that may tend to protect it, and preserve the people's Liberties. Let not Arbitrary Proprietary Instructions be
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the sole Rule of your Conduct; exercise your own Judgement and Reason in your own Publick acts; pay less regard to the Advice of the Proprietary Council, who have no Powers of Legislation, nor Right to direct or dictate to a Governor in any Matter whatsoever. Let his Majesty's Interest and the Good of his Subjects be the Grand Objects of your Government, and restore Peace, Liberty, and Publick Virtue to the Province; for it is, in a great Measure, in your Power. Do these things, and your Government will be easy and Pleasant, your Life happy, and you will rejoice in the Prayers, Love, and esteem of a free and grateful People.
"Permit us to add, before we conclude, that we can have no Views but the Good of the Province. We cannot consider our- selves as Passengers therein, as too many of our Governors have done. Our Fortunes, Friends, and the nearest and tenderest Con- nections are in it, and inseparable from it; and should the Country be sacrificed to the private Views of Particular Men, who have seized the Time of Distress to invade our Rights, we fall the melan- choly Victims. This Consideration certainly must convince every impartial Man that we can have no Motive but the Good of the People, and the Preservation of our Country; and that its Dis- tress and Present defenceless State has not been occasioned by a Want of the Most earnest Endeavours on our Parts to put it into a Posture of Defence. But, should our Constituents think other- wise, the Day of our anniversary Election is at hand, and we shall soon again mix with the People ; and if our late Conduct has been inconsistant with their Sentiments, they will, no Doubt, Supply our, Places with Such as they conceive will accede to your Honour's Measures, and give up those Rights, which we have thought, and ever shall think, it our indespensible Duty to Support and Main- tain. But, whether you meet us again, or other Persons, in Legis- lation, we sincerely wish Greater Harmony in Sentiment may Sub- sist, and more Good done in the Country than we have been able, during this Session, to Effectuate with all our Endeavours.
" Signed by Order of the House.
" ISAAC NORRIS, Speaker. "September 28, 1757."
And the following Message, in Answer thereto, was Sent to the House by the Secretary :
" Gentlemen :
" If detraction and personal abuse of your Governor, and a bold assertion of Facts without Proofs to Support them, were to Pass for Reason and Argument; it me be acknowleged your Message of Yesterday, contains a full Justification of your Public Conduct, and that I am Justly Chargeable with neglecting to do what was in my Power, to prevent many of the Evils which have befallen this Dis- tressed Province. But I have already during my Short Adminis-
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tration, been so accustom'd to this Kind of Treatment from you, for daring to exercise my own Judgement, and Presuming to differ in Opinion with you, in Matters which highly concern his Majesty's Honour and Interest, and the welfare of the People, that I am the Less Surprized at the Many unjust Reflections cast upon me in your Long Message of Yesterday, presented to me Last Night. In deed, I have the Less Reason to regret such usage, when I consider that Several Worthy Gentlemen, who preceeded me, have not been better treated, which must convince, every unbiassed Judgement, that you are not so much Displeased with the Person Governing, as impatient of being Governed at all.
"Your delaying to answer my Message of the Sixteenth of Au- gust Last, till two Days before the time appointed by the Charter, for a New General Election may perhaps Answer your ends; espe- cially as the Shortness of Time will not admit me by a reply, to take of the Glosses you have on your Proceedings, shew your As- sertions rather than Arguments to be false, and set in a true Light Numbers of Facts you have Grossly Misrepresented. But, Gentle- men, whatever may be your Popular Views here, you cannot flatter yourselves that your arts will blind the Eyes of your Superiors, to whom both You and I are accountable, and before whom these proceedings shall be Laid for their Determination. To them must be Submitted the Sincerity of your Professions, as well as mine, and to which of us the Calamities and Mischiefs that may attend this Province, from the Want of Proper Laws for Establishing a Militia, and for Regulating the Indian Trade, may be Justly Chargeable.
" Your thirst of Power, and Fondness to Monopolise all Offices of Trust and Profit, induced you in the Last mentioned Bill, to Nominate all the Commissioners for Indian Affairs, among your own Members, Five of whom, are also Provincial Commissioners. The Absurdity of impowering the Provincial Commissioners to draw Orders Payable to the Commissioners for Indian Affairs, who are the Same Persons; and the Dangerous Consequenses to the Publick of appointing none but Members of Assembly to hold Offices of Great Trust, for which they are to Account with the very Assembly whereof they are Part, and Several other Weighty reasons induced me to Object to the Commissioners named in the Bill and insert others of Good Fortune, and most unexceptionable Character in their stead, out of the House for your Consideration. Had you really thought the Bill a Matter of that importance you profess, you would instead of Wasteing Time in a Laboured Message, wherein you declare and protest against this amendment, as an in- fringement of the Right of the House, have rejected the Persons recommended to you by me, if you did not approve of them, and inserted others more agreable to you in their Stead. By this Method, if you are not so sanguine and self sufficient, as to conceive that in this
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Populous Province none can be found but among yourselves, fit to hold and enjoy an Office of such great trust and importance, Proper Persons might have been agreed on between us. Though I am not ashamed to own that I have on many Occasions advised with my Council in Matters of Government, and have received Information and As- sistance from them, yet they never assumed a Power in Legislature, or a Right to direct or dictate to me in any manner whatsoever, as you unjustly insinuate. Their Fortunes, Families, and most in- timate Connections lie in this Province, as well as your's. The Freedom of themselves and their Posterity, and their Interest and Happiness are blended with and inseperable from the rest of their Fellow Subjects. They are moreover independent, and devote their Time and 'Trouble to the Publick without, without Fee or reward, while you are amply paid for all the Services you do. Why, then, is it not reasonable to Suppose they act for the Publick Good on Principles of Honour and Virtue ? And why are they on all Occasions treated by you with the Greatest Ingratitude and repre- sented as Enemies to the Community ? Privy Councils are and always have been in use in our Mother Country, in this, and all other civiliz'd Governments ; and therefore your considering the Council here as a Clog on Govern" and Oppressive to the People, is most insidious and unjust.
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