USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial records of Pennsylvania, Vol. VIII > Part 3
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78
A Belt.
The Governor, in way of Conversation, told Teedyuscung that it would be proper for him to make known what he proposed further to do, that he might know what Sums to ask of the Assembly. The King answered that this Belt now given should be sent to Allegheny as the last was. He does not intend to put it into his Pocket, but to send it far and wide, as he did the other ; That he could not now say what Expences the Journey would cost.
The Governor, all being finished, wrote to the Commissioners as follows :
"Gentlemen : Teedyuscung, in coming on this Visit, has incurred Expences for himself and Company, with their Horses, which you will please to defray. The particulars are given to them by Mr. Edmonds, and I think the charge reasonable, You will, besides this, gratify him and his Company to their Satisfaction for their Trouble."
The Letter was given to Teedyuscung and he parted very well pleased.
Mr. Edmonds acquainted the Governor that the Law allowed an Indian but a half gill of Rum in Twelve Hours, except at Treaties ; but when Teedyuscung gets Intelligence to Bethlehem, it is impos- sible to avoid giving him more, and desires to receive orders-on this Head.
At a Council held at Philadelphia, Wednesday the 24th January, 1758.
PRESENT :
The Honourable WILLIAM DENNY, Esquire, Lieutenant Gov- ernor.
William Till,
Joseph Turner,
Lynford Lardner,
Richard Peters, Esquires.
Benjamin Chew,
John Mifflin,
The Assembly having, hitherto, been employed in Examination of Witnesses against Mr. Moore, and Mr. Smith, the Provost, who are charged by them with abetting, promoting, and publishing a Libel against the late and present Assembly, and as they were in great Heats, and very intent on those Prosecutions, it afforded Time enough without Inconvenience to the Publick Business, to draw up a proper Reply to the assembly's long Answer of the
12
MINUTES OF THE
Seventeenth, and the Draught being now ready, it was examined, and after making some Alterations, agreed to as follows, and ordered to be entered :
A Message from the Governor to the Assembly.
" Gentlemen :
" I have taken into Consideration your last Message, not less re- markable for the great Freedom with which you are pleased to treat my character, than the Strangeness of the Doctrines contained in it, and the weak arguments brought to Support them. In my Message of the Thirteenth Instant, I flattered myself I had demonstrated to you and all the World, that your apprehensions of my having a design to establish a new Court of Judicature (in the Steps taken by me on the late Assembly's address to remove William Moore from his Publick Offices) were groundless and unjust, and I solemnly disclaimed any such Intention. But to my great astonish- ment, I find a considerable Part of your Message is taken up with trite Questions and Reasonings, tending to shew that I actually had such a Design ; and you do not scruple to assert, that had not your Sergeant-at-arms, for a very high Misdemeanor, arrested the Person intended to be tried, that attempt had been fully executed. In this you take upon you to Charge me with a direct Falsehood.
"I should be unworthy, indeed, of the Commission. I have the Honour to bear under his Majesty, tamely to suffer such an indig- nity, without thus publickly expressing my Detestation of the Charge, and the just Resentment with which an Honest Heart must necessarily be inspired against the Authours of it. Had any one offered a like affront to you, Gentlemen, we, no doubt, should have heard enough of Breach Privileges; but, for ought I know, you may claim a right of villfying and abusing your Governors, as one among the many boasted Powers and Privileges of the Constitution you have already discovered.
" The last Assembly, in their Address against William Moore, only desired that I would remove him from his Offices, on a suppo- sition, I presume, that he was Guilty of the Crimes laid to his Charge. It is not easy to conceive you could think, Gentlemen, that I would take this Guilt upon hearsay, nor yet upon a number of ex Parte Depositions, taken in the absence of Mr. Moore, who, I know, was not heard in his Defence before the House, nor any of his Witnesses examined on his behalf. It was my Duty to give him and his accusers a full hearing, face to face. I appointed a Day for that purpose, and, from the whole Tenor of my Conduct in that affair, I am persuaded that no impartial Person can be induced to think I had any thing in View but a full Examination of Wit- nesses, to satisfy my own Conscience whether he was a fit Minister of Justice, and Worthy any Longer to enjoy the Commission he bore under this Government; without taking such Steps, I might
18
PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.
have been deemed arbitrary indeed. This is a Method that, since my arrival in this Government, I have taken, where complaints have been made to me against Justices of the Peace, one of whom I have actually removed in consequence of such Enquiry, and it is further supported by the Practice of Preceding Governors, to the great ease and Satisfaction of the People, who have repeatedly expressed their acknowledgements for the Trouble their Governors have taken, and the Justice done the Publick in such Cases. Rest- ing, therefore, under this perswasion, and a Consciousness of the rectitude and Sincerity of my own Intentions, I shall take no further notice of the unprovoked abuse and ill-Treatment of me in the first part of your Long Message.
" It is very disagreeable to me, Gentlemen, that I am Laid under the necessity of saying so much. I can truly declare that I met you in Assembly determined to avoid, if possible, any Differences with you, and, notwithstanding the Ignominy with which you have at- tempted to load me, I still think myself indispensably obliged so far to suppress my just indignation as that it shall have no influence on my Publick Conduct with you, or interfere with what Duty I owe to his Majesty and the Good People he has been pleased to commit to my Charge.
"I have. very closely attended to that part of your Message wherein you endeavour to manifest my Right, under the Charter and Laws of, the Province, to sit as a Court of Judicature on Im- peachments, and am so far from changing my first Opinion that I am still more confirmed in my Judgment that such a Power would be usurped by me, and the Act Arbitrary in the highest degree. You agree with me that in the mother Country the House of Lords, which is the middle State between the King and the Commons, hath the sole inherent Power of trying impeachments, and that the Legis- lature of this Province consists of Two Branches. You then add that the Governor here may be deemed to supply the Place of a House of Lords in an inferior Degree, and contend that tho' the Power of trying Impeachments is not expressly, yet it is implicitely granted to the Governor of this Province, as a Middle state of your Legislature, and Founded in the Nature of your Institution.
" I must confess, Gentlemen, that your method of Reasoning on this Occasion is very Dark and mysterious; a middle state in a Legislature consisting of Two Estates only, or an intermediate Term between two that admit of no Third, is to me incomprehensi- ble. Arguments founded on no better Proofs than what you may deem might be the intent of the Charter; forced constructions and strained implications of Powers meant to be granted will weigh but little with me in a case so important and interesting as this is to the Lives and Rights of his Majesty's Subjects. Nay, if the Pro- prietary Charter was ever so express on this Head, yet it might, perhaps, with great Reason, be questioned whether, under the Royal
14
MINUTES OF THE
Grant, the Proprietary could Subject Englishmen to this Mode of Trial before a single Person acting at once in the several Characters . of a Judge and Jury, so very different from any Known to the British Constitution. At present, however, there is no occasion to go into the Discussion of this Point, as you acknowledge that neither by Charter or Law the Governor has such a Power expressly dele- gated to him.
" But you are pleased to say that you propose to vest your Gov- ernor with the Power of a House of Lords only in an inferior degree. This is a mode of expression as unintelligible to me as some of your former ones. The Power, Gentlemen, necessary to any Judicature, or publick Body as such, is indivisible in its Nature ; it cannot be parcelled out into Parts, or if it could, I can hardly Look upon you as the Despensers of it. If a Governour could once persuade himself that it is necessary for the Safety and Peace of this Province that he should exercise the Power of a House of Lords in one case, he may in another, and if you consent to his exercising one Degree of that Power, he may think himself intitled to claim and exercise the Whole, and by this means may bring all Causes, both Civil and Criminal, before him in the Last instance, as is the case in the House of Lords, which is the Last and highest Court of Judicature in the Kingdom. Power, Gentle- men, once granted, is hardly ever to be regained ; and should I depart so far from my Duty as to accept of the extraordinary Power you now press upon me, or could I think any Governor or single Man would be permitted by the British Legislature to enjoy to both the Powers of the Crown and of the House of Lords in these Colonies, you and your Posterity might perhaps long have reason to repent the Rashness of the Offer. Will it not, Gentle- men, appear very extraordinary in the eyes of all Men, that you, who have been denying your Governors the Constitutional and essential Power of a Voice in the Appropriation of the Publick Money, and the Right of appointing Militia Officers, should now all at once desire to invest me with a Power over the Lives, Liber- ties, and Fortunes of your Constituents, without the Aid of Juries, or the common proceedings of Justice. Such a Power may be safely vested in so numerous and August a Body as the House of Peers, whose independent Stations and high Characters set them far above corruption or party Views ; But in the Hands of a Single Man, Gentlemen, it might prove of ruinous and dreadful conse- quences.
" That your Constitution is defective in many respects, I shall dispute with you ; but undoubtedly this would not be the way to mend it. For my part I have nothing in view but to exercise the little share of Authority it gives me, and to leave its Defects, where it has any, to be amended by the Wisdom of our Superiors.
" The instance you give of a former Assembly's being of Opinion that they had a Right to Impeach, and the Governor to Judge of
15
PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.
such Impeachments, is no better Proof than your own Opinion. It is a Rule that Long Custom and Usage are the best Expositors of every Law, and of the Sense of those who framed it; and in this case, it is very remarkable that you do not offer to produce a Single instance, since the Date of the Present Charter, where a Governor of this Province has dared to exercise the Jurisdiction you offer me, though greatly tending to aggrandize himself.
" On the Contrary, I mentioned to you a former Governor of this Province who had the Virtue to refuse a Like Offer, and for that reason you fall upon his Memory in the bitterest Terms of reproach, declaring him destitute of every Virtue, Moral, Political, or Religious, and alledging in Proof thereof, that he was Charged by the Assembly with a Behaviour offensive to God Almighty ; If the Charges, Gentlemen, which are made by the Assemblys of this Province against their Governors could be admitted as any Proof of their Guilt, it has been our Misfortune that this Province has scarcely had an honest or Good Governor in it. Mr. Evans in all his writings, shews himself to have been a Gentleman of Learning, and we know that he was supported in this Instance by the Advice and Assistance of an Able Council, and a Judge famous for his Integrity and his abilities in the Law. His Messages prove that he had Political Virtues, and Whatever you may be pleased to alledge to the Contrary, the Refusal mentioned above will ever be an Instance of his Moral Virtue. Almost every civilized Nation Suffers their Dead to rest in Peace, And surely, Gentlemen, it may be enough for you that you can use an unbounded Freedom in Calumniating your Living Governors, without raking into the Ashes of those who are no more.
" But you are Pleased to remark further, that a Governor's as- suming a Power to Determine on the Impeachments of the Assem- bly, cannot be attended with the least Insecurity to the Lives and Liberties of the People, but will, on the Contrary, be the best means of bringing to Justice those who oppress the Subject. A Sheriff, say you, may be corrupted, a Jury packed, a Court who hold their Commissions during Pleasure, may be influenced, but it is unnatural to presume that the Representative Body of the Peo- ple should be partial, corrupted, or do Injustice. Is it Possible, Gentlemen, that you who consider yourselves as the Represen- tatives of Freemen and Englishmen can be serious in these Opin- ions; Can you be really desirous to destroy at once the great Bul- wark of English Liberty, and throw an Odium upon Trials by Juries, and the Judgment of our Peers, that inestimable Privilege purchased and preserved by our Fathers at so great a Price, and which neither ought, or can be taken away by implied Construc- tions ? If it be unnatural to presume that the Representative Body of the People, who do not act under the Tie of a Particular Oath, should be partial, corrupted, or do injustice; is it not yet
16
MINUTES OF THE
more unnatural and uncharitable to Suppose that in any Cause de- pending in a Court of Justice, a Sheriff who, as well as yourselves, in this Province is Elected by the People, may be corrupted, a Jury, against whom the indulgent Law gives the Party charged every just cause of Challenge, packed, and a Court influenced ; all of whom, it is further to be observed, discharge their several Duties under a particular and solemn Qualification and Oath. What man would not rather Trust his Cause to a Number of his Neighbours and Equals, Chosen and Sworn for that particular Purpose, than to any standing Body whatsoever, whose Powers may be stretched to any Extent, being Uncontroulable and undefined by any express Law ?
" Upon the whole, Gentlemen, give me Leave to tell you once for all that I neither will consent to take upon me the Powers you offer, nor yet to remove Mr. Moore from his offices, without a full Hear- ing, in order to satisfy my self of the Truth of the Charges against him, agrecable to the Practice of all preceding Governors of this Province on Complaints exhibited against Justices of the Peace. It will, therefore, be in vain for you to spend the publick Time in any further debates or Overtures on this Head. The late Assembly were so far from thinking such an Enquiry unreasonable that, at my Instance, they furnished me with Copies of the Petitions and Evi- dence exhibited in their House against him in his absence ; and it is intirely owing to your Sudden and unexpected Determination of Changing the Late Assembly's Address to remove Mr. Moore into Articles of impeachment, and your Confinement of his Person, that Mr. Moore, if Guilty, is thus Long continued in his Commission. Had you permitted the Enquiry I proposed to go on, it would have been brought to a conclusion before now, the Publick would have been fully satisfyed, and a great deal of Time and expence saved to the Province. What may have been your motives in this Part of your Conduct I will not say ; but must confess they appear to me very extraordinary.
" You are quite mistaken in asserting that a former worthy Gov- ernor of this Province, when he was about to pass a Bill of Disability, required no other Satisfaction of the Guilt of the Person than what he collected from a Conference with a Committee of Assembly. The Council Books, which have been inspected on that Occasion, plainly shew that the Person against whom the Bill was preferred was called before the Governor in Council, the matter fully heard, and the Governor fully Satisfied of the Truth of the Facts set forth in the Bill, previous to his passing it.
" A Governor must be made a very insignificant Person, indeed, if he was Obliged to yield implicit Obedience to the Address of an Assembly, which, as you say, may sometime be founded on rumour only, to remove or continue what Officers they think Proper, with- out satisfying his own Mind as to the Guilt or Innocence of the
17
PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.
Persons. It is remarkable that you have formily put it among the List of your Grievances, that the Judges and Majestrates hold their Offices during the Pleasure of a Governor ; and now you desire that they should hold them during your Pleasure, and be continued or. discarded agreeable to your directions, which must be the case if they are to be removed on your bare remonstrance against them. My motive for refusing the Power of Judging on Impeachments, does not arise as you insinuate, from any desire in me to screen Mr. Moore from Justice ; he is a Gentleman with whom I have not the least Acquaintance, nor is he so much as personally Known to me.
" You conclude, Gentlemen, by calling on me to redress Griev- ances, to relieve your fellow Subjects from Oppression and Slavery, to restore the Constitution, and then you promise that every thing I can reasonably ask will chearfully be granted me. Gentlemen, if your Constituents feel the Weight of any Grievances, I will chearfully Join in doing every Legal Act in my Station to redress them ; but beyond the Limits of my just Power, I never will Ven- ture to go. I have neither Oppressed or enslaved your fellow Sub- jects, or invaded the Constitution ; when I am convinced of the Contrary, I shall think it my Duty, independent of any other con- sideration, to exert myself by all means in my Power, to apply a Remedy adequate to the evil.
" You will suffer me, Gentlemen, to call on you in my Turn, if you are that Loyal and faithful People you profess to be, Solicitous of assisting in the General Defence of America, as well as in that of your own particular Province, to give some Immediate Proof thereof. Proceed to grand the necessary Supplies for the Current Year. Frame and pass effectual and Constitutional Bills to estab- lish a Militia Law, and regulate the Indian Trade. Attend to the Several Weighty Public Matters I have repeatedly recommended to you in my former Messages, and consider how unbecoming it is, to neglect these great Services, and employ yourselves, in new heats and Disputes, at a Time when publick Danger surrounds us on every side, and our vigilant Enemies, who indeed, threaten us with Oppression and Slavery, are every moment preparing to re- new their Cruelties and Barbarities on the Inhabitants of this and the neighbouring Colonies ; and unless measures are speedily taken to defeat their wicked Schemes, may too soon accomplish that Ruin from which nothing but Union and Vigorous Exertion of our Natural Powers can save us.
"WILLIAM DENNY.
" January 24th, 1758."
The Secretary was directed not to deliver the Message to the Assembly till the Tryal of Mr. Smith, the Provost, should be over, as it would be to no Purpose to deliver it sooner.
A Letter from the Secretary of State, by the Harriot Packet, was VOL. VIII .- 2. 1
18
MINUTES OF THE
read, informing the Governor that Monsieur D' Abren, Envoy Extra- ordinary from his Catholick Majesty, had lately delivered divers Complaints of Violence and Depredations committed in America, the same was order'd to be enter'd as follows : .
A Letter from Secretary Pitt to the Governor. " WHITEHALL, 16th September, 1757.
" Sir :
" Mons". D'Abren, Envoy Ext"y. from his Catholick Majesty, having lately delivered divers Complaints of Violence and Depredations, particularly mentioned in the inclosed Paper, committed by his Majesty's Subjects in America against those of Spain, I am to inform you that the King, seeing with the Highest Disapproba- tion the daily Growth of such scandalous Disorders, and having nothing more at Heart than to Stop the Progress of Practices, which, if not repress'd, must involve his Majesty in odious Disputes with all the Neutral Powers of Europe, is Determined to exert the full Authority of the Law in vindication of the Justice of his Crown, and of the Honour of the British Nation, and in this View I am hereby to Signify to you His Majesty's Pleasure that you do enforce with the utmost Vigor the observance of the Add1. Instruc- tions of Octobr. 5th, To all Privateers, and employ uncommon care and Diligence effectually to Prevent, and if Possible to cut up by the Roots all Excesses and enormities, alledged to be committed in Violation of the just Freedom of Navigation of his Catholick Ma- jesty's Subjects ; And whereas, with regard to all Spanish Vessels bound to a Port of Spain in America, the Case of Contraband can- not exhibit, it being self-Evident that no effects whatever carried by a Nation to its own Ports can in any case fall under that Descrip- tion, it is his Majesty's Pleasure that you do give the strictest Orders that no Spanish Ship, under those Circumstances, be dis- turbed or Molested in their Navigation, and that in case of Outrages or Depredations committed on the Same, You do your utmost to discover all such Violaters of Justice & Disturbers of the Harmony subsisting between the Two Nations, and to bring the Same to con- dign and Exemplary Punishment.
"I am, Sir, Your Most Obedient humble Servant,
"W. PITT.
"P. S .- Your Letter of April 9th, and one since without date have been received."
Copies of the above Letter were ordered to be made and delivered to the Collectors and Judge of the Admiralty, and a strict Charge given that the Contents be complied with.
The Commission for the County of Lancaster was signed, with a Warrant to affix the Great Seal to it. The names and order of the Justices are as follows :
19
PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.
At a Council held at Philadelphia, Monday the 13th February, 1758.
PRESENT :
The Honourable WILLIAM DENNY, Esquire, Lieutenant Gov- ernor.
Robert Strettell,
Lynford Lardner,
Benjamin Shoemaker,
Richard Peters,
Thomas Cadwalader, Esquires. John Mifflin,
A Bill for regulating the Indian Trade was read, which was pre- sented last night to the Governor by Two Members; Mr. Turner, Mr. Lardner, Mr. Chew, and Mr. Mifflin were appointed a Com- mittee to consider the said Bill, and the several exceptionable Parts, and prepare Amendments to be laid before the next Council.
At a Council held at Philadelphia, Wednesday the 15th February, 1758.
PRESENT :
The Honourable WILLIAM DENNY, Esquire, Lieutenant ยท Governor.
Robert Strettell,
Benjamin Shoemaker,
Benjamin Chew,
John Mifflin, Esquires.
Thomas Cadwalader,
William Peters, Esquire, was appointed Secretary and Clerk of the Council, in the absence of his Brother, who is gone to New York.
The Committee appointed to consider the Bill for preventing Abuses in the Indian Trade, &ca., and make Amendments thereto, acquainted the Governor that they had considered on the Amendments proper to be made to it, which were read and approved, and ordered to be transcribed fair and delivered by the Secretary with the Bill to the House. The Amendments are as follows :
Amendments to the Bill for preventing Abuses in the Indian Trade.
" 1st Amend. In the Title, Dele the Words [restoring and con- firming the Peace, and] and instead thereof insert the Words [se- curing and strengthening the ].
"2d Amend. Dele also in the Title the Word [heretofore].
"3d Amendt-, page 4, lines 13, 14, 15. Dele the Words [Joseph Fox, John Hughes, John Baynton, Joseph Galloway, Isaac Zane, Able James, Samuel Wharton] in whose stead the Governor pro- posed to insert [William Coleman, Evan Morgan, Henry Harrison, Samuel Smith, Thomas Willing, William West, John Wilcox].
20
MINUTES OF THE
"4th amt-, same page, lines 21, 22. Dele the Words [any thing herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding].
" 5th am", Antepenult Line. Dele the Words [Two and an half Centum].
" 6th Amt, Antepenult and penult Lines. Dele the Words [Two and an half + Centum].
" 7th Amt., Same page, last line. Dele the Words [Five # Centum] and instead thereof insert the Words [Two and an half # Centum, and no more ].
"8th Amat., page 4 and 5. Dele from the Words [and], inclu- sive, in the last line of the 4 page, to the Words [Commission], in- clusive, in the 24 line of the 5 page, and instead thereof insert as follows, Viz: [and that during the Continuance of this Act, as often as there shall be occasion, one or more suitable Person or Per- sons shall be recommended by the said Commissioners for Indian Affairs, or of the Majority of them, or of the Survivors of them, to the Governor or Commander-in-Chief of this Province, who, if approved of by him, shall be Commissionated as Agent or Agents to carry on the Trade with the Indians].
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.