History of Cumberland and Adams counties, Pennsylvania. Containing history of the counties, their townships, towns, villages, schools, churches, industries, etc.; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; biographies; history of Pennsylvania, statistical and miscellaneous matter, etc., etc, Part 10

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Publisher: W. Taylor
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USA > Pennsylvania > Adams County > History of Cumberland and Adams counties, Pennsylvania. Containing history of the counties, their townships, towns, villages, schools, churches, industries, etc.; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; biographies; history of Pennsylvania, statistical and miscellaneous matter, etc., etc > Part 10
USA > Pennsylvania > Cumberland County > History of Cumberland and Adams counties, Pennsylvania. Containing history of the counties, their townships, towns, villages, schools, churches, industries, etc.; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; biographies; history of Pennsylvania, statistical and miscellaneous matter, etc., etc > Part 10

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Gov. Fletcher met the Assembly again in March, 1694, and during this session, having apparently failed in his previous endeavors to induce the Assem- bly to vote money for the common defense, sent a communication setting forthi the dangers to be apprehended from the French and Indians, and concluding in these words: "That he considered their principles ; that they could not carry arms nor levy money to make war, though for their own defense, yet he hoped that they would not refuse to feed the hungry and clothe the naked; that was to supply the Indian nations with such necessaries as may influence their contin- ued friendship to their provinces." But notwithstanding the adroit sugar- coating of the pill, it was not acceptable and no money was voted. This and a brief session in September closed the Governorship of Pennsylvania by Fletcher. It would appear from a letter written by Penn, after hearing of the neglect of the Legislature to vote money for the purpose indicated, that he took an entirely different view of the subject from that which was antici- pated; for he blamed the colony for refusing to send money to New York for what he calls the common defense.

Through the kind offices of Lords Rochester, Ranelagh, Sidney and Somers, the Duke of Buckingham and Sir John Trenchard, the king was asked to hear the case of William Penn, against whoin no charge was proven, and who. would two years before have gone to his colony had he not supposed that he would have been thought to go in defiance of the government. King William

HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

answered that William Penn was his old acquaintance as well as theirs, that he might follow his business as freely ns ever, and that he had nothing to say to him. Penn was accordingly reinstated in his government by letters patent dated on the 20th of August, 1694, wherenpon he commissioned William Mark ham Lieutenant Governor.

When Markham called the Assembly, he disregarded the provisions of the charter, assuming that the removal of Penn had annulled the grant. The Assembly made no objection to this action, as there were provisions in the old charter that they desired to have changed. Accordingly, when the appropria tion bill was considered, a new constitution was attached to it and passed. This was approved by Markham and became the organic law, the third consti- tution adopted under the charter of King Charles. By the provisions of this instrument, the Council was composed of twelve members, and the Assembly of twenty-four. During the war between France and England, the ocean swarmed with the privateers of the former. When peace was declared, many of these crafts, which had richly profited by privateering, were disposed to con- tinne their irregular practices, which was now piracy. Judging that the peace principles of the Quakers would shield them from forcible seizure, they were accustomed to run into the Delaware for safe harbor. Complaints coming of the depredations of these parties, a proclamation was issued calling ou magistrates and citizens to unite in breaking up practices so damaging to the good name of the colony. It was charged in England that ovil-disposed per. sous in the province were privy to these practices, if not parties to it, and that the failure of the Government to break it up was a proof of its inefficiency. and of a radical defect of the principles on which it was based. Penn was much exercised by these charges, and in his letters to the Lieutenant Governor and to his friends in the Assembly, urged ceaseless vigilance to effect reform.

CHAPTER VIII.

WILLIAM PENN, 1699-1701-ANDREW HAMILTON. 1701-3-EDWARD SHIPPEN 1703-4-JOHN EVANS, 1704-9-CHARLES GOOKIN, 1709-17.

BEING free from harassing persecutions, and in favor at court, Penn de- termined to remove with his family to Pennsylvania, and now with the ex- pectation of living and dying here. Accordingly, in July, 1699, be set sail, and, on account of adverse winds, was three months tossed about upon the ocean. Just before his arrival in his colony, the yellow fever raged there with great virulence, having been brought thither from the West Indies, but had been checked by the biting frosts of autumn, and had now disappeared. An observant traveler, who witnessed the effects of this scourge, writes thus of it in his journal: "Great was the majesty and hand of the Lord. Great was the fear that fell upon all flesh. I saw no lofty nor airy countenance, nor heard any vain jesting to move men to laughter, nor witty repartee to raiso mirth, nor extravagant feasting to excite the lusts and desires of the tlesh above measure; but every face gathered paleness, and many hearts were hum- bled, and countenances fallen and sunk, as such that waited every moment to be summoned to the bar and numbered to the grave."

Great joy was everywhere manifested throughout the province at. the arriv-

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al of the proprietor and his family, fondly believing that he had now come to stay. He met the Assembly soon after landing, but, it being an inclement season, he only detained them long enough to pass two measures aimed against piracy and illicit trade, exaggerated reports of which, having been spread broadcast through the kingdom, had caused him great uneasiness and vexation. At the first monthly meeting of Friends in 1700, he laid before them his concern, which was for the welfare of Indians and Negroes, and steps were taken to instruct them and provide stated meetings for them where they could hear the Word. It is more than probable that he had fears from the first that his enemies in England would interfere in his affairs to such a degree as to re- quire his early return, though he had declared to his friends there that he never expected to meet them again. His greatest solicitude, consequently, was to give a charter to his colony, and also one to his city, the very best that human ingenuity could devise. An experience of now nearly twenty years would be likely to develop the weaknesses and impracticable provisions of the first constitutions, so that a frame now drawn with all the light of the past, and by the aid and suggestion of the men who had been employed in admin- istering it, would be likely to be enduring, and though he might be called bence, or be removed by death, their work would live on from generation to generation and age to age, and exert a benign and preserving influence while the State should exist. 1

In February, 1701, Penn met the most renowned and powerful of the In- dian chieftains, reaching out to the Potomac, the Susquehanna and to the Ononda- goes of the Five Nations, some forty in number, at Philadelphia, where he renewed with them pledges of peace and entered into a formal treaty of active friendship, binding them to disclose any hostile intent, confirm sale of lands, be governed by colonial law, all of which was confirmed on the part of the In- dians "by five parcels of skins;" and on the part of Penn by " several English goods and merchandises."

Several sessions of the Legislature were held in which great harmony pre- vailed, and much attention was giving to revising and recomposing the consti- tution. But in the midst of their labors for the improvement of the organic law, intelligence was brought to Penn that a bill had been introduced in the House of Lords for reducing all the proprietary governments in America to regal ones, under pretence of advancing the prerogative of the crown, and the national advantage. Such of the owners of land in Pennsylvania as hap- pened to be in England, remonstrated against action upon the bill until Penn could return and be heard, and wrote to him urging his immediate coming hither. Though much to his disappointment and sorrow, he determined to go immediately thither. He promptly called a session of the Assembly, and in his message to the two Houses said, "I cannot think of such a voyage without great reluctancy of mind, having promised myself the quietness of a wilderness. For my heart is among you, and no disappointment shall ever be able to alter my love to the country, and resolution to return, and settle my family and posterity in it. * * Think therefore (since all men are mortal),

of some suitable expedient and provision for your safety as well in your privi- leges as property. Review again your laws, propose new ones, and you will find me ready to comply with whatsoever may render us happy, by a nearer union of our interests." The Assembly returned a suitable response, and then proceeded to draw up twenty-one articles. The first related to the appoint- ment of a Lieutenant Governor. Penn proposed that the Assembly should choose one. But this they declined, preferring that he should appoint one. Little trouble was experienced in sottling everything broached, except the

HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

union of the province and lower counties. Penn nsed his best endeavors to reconcile them to the union, but without avail. The new constitution Was ndopted on the 2Sth of October. 1701. The instrument provided for the union, but in a supplementary article, evidently granted with great rolnetanec, it was provided that the province and the territories might be separated at any time within three years. As his last act before leaving, ho presented the city of Philadelphia, now grown to be a considerable place, and always an object of his affectionate regard, with a charter of privileges. As his Deputy, he ap- pointed Andrew Hamilton, one of the proprietors of East New Jersey, and sometime Governor of both East and West Jersey, and for Secretary of the province and Clerk of the Council, he selected James Logan, a man of sin- gular urbanity and strength of mind, and withal a scholar.

Penn set sail for Europe on the Ist of November, 1701. Soon after his arrival, on the ISth of January, 1702, King William died, and Anne of Den- mark succeeded him. Ho now found himself in favor at court, and that he might be convenient to the royal residence, he again took lodgings at Kensing- ton. The bill which had been pending before Parliament, that had given him so much uneasiness, was at the succeeding session dropped entirely, and was never again called up. During his leisure hours, be now busied himself in writing "several useful and excellent treatises on divers subjects."

Gov. Hamilton's administration continued only till December, 1702. when he died. He was earnest in his endeavors to induce the territories to unite with the province, they having as yet not accepted the new charter, alleging that they had three years in which to make their docision, but without success. He also organized a military force, of which George Lowther was commander, for the safety of the colony.

The executive authority now devolved upon the Council, of which Edward Shippen was President. Conflict of authority, and contention over the due in- terpretation of some provisions of the new charter, prevented the accomplish- ment of much, by way of legislation, in the Assembly which convened in 1703; though in this body it was finally determined that the lower counties should thereafter act separately in a legislative capacity. This separation proved final, the two bodies never again meeting in common.

Though the bill to govern the American Colonies by regal authority failed, yet the clamor of those opposed to the proprietary Governors was so strong that an act was finally passed requiring the selection of deputies to have the royal assent. Hence, in choosing a successor to Hamilton, he was obliged to consider the Queen's wishes. John Evans, a man of parts, of Welsh extrac- tion, only twenty-six years old, a member of the Queen's household, and not a Quaker, nor even of exemplary morals, was appointed, who arrived in the col- ony in December. 1703. He was accompanied by William Penn, Jr., who was elected a member of the Council, the number having been increased by author- ity of the Governor, probably with a view to his election.

The first care of Evans was to unite the province and lower counties, though the final separation had been agreed to. He presented the matter so well that the lower counties, from which the difficulty had always come, were willing to return to a firm union. But now the provincial Assembly, having become impatient of the obstacles thrown in the way of legislation by the dele. gates from these counties, was unwilling to receive them. They henceforward remained separate in a legislative capacity, though still a part of Pennsylvania, under the claim of Penn, and ruled by the same Governor, and thus they con- tinned until the 20th of September, 1776, when a constitution was adopted. and they were proclaimed a separato Stato under the name of Delaware.

HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

During two years of the government of Evans, there was ceaseless discord be- tween the Council, headed by the Governor and Secretary Logan on the one side, and the Assembly led by David Lloyd, its Speaker, on the other, and little legislation was effected.

Realizing the defenseless condition of the colony, Evans determined to organize the militia, and accordingly issued his proclamation. "In obedience to her Majesty's royal command, and to the end that the inhabitants of this government may be in a posture of defense and readiness to withstand and repel all acts of hostility, I do hereby strictly command and require all per- sons residing in this government, whose persuasions will, on any account, per- mit them to take up arms in their own defense, that forthwith they do pro- vide themselves with a good firelock and ammunition, in order to enlist them- selves in the militia, which I am now settling in this government." The Gov- ernor evidently issued this proclamation in good faith, and with a pure pur- pose. The French and Indians had assumed a threatening aspect upon the north, and while the other colonies had assisted New York liberally, Pennsylvania had done little or nothing for the common defense. But his call fell stillborn. The " fire-locks" were not brought out, and none enlisted.

Disappointed at this lack of spirit, and embittered by the factious temper of the Assembly, Evans, who seems not to have had faith in the religions prin- ciples of the Quakers, and to have entirely mistook the nature of their Christian zeal, formed a wild scheme to test their steadfastness under the pressure of threatened danger. In conjunction with his gay associates in revel, he agreed to have a false alarm spread of the approach of a hostile force in the river, whereupon he was to raise the alarm in the city. Accordingly, on the day of the fair in Philadelphia, 16th of March, 1706, a messenger came, post haste from New Castle, bringing the startling intelligence that an armed fleet of the enemy was already in the river, and making their way rapidly toward the city. Whereupon Evans acted his part to a nicety. He sent emissaries through the town proclaiming the dread tale, while he mounted his horse, and in an ex- cited manner, and with a drawn sword, rode through the streets, calling upon all good men and true to rush to arms for the defense of their homes, their wives and children, and all they held dear. The ruse was so well played that it had an immense effect. "The suddenness of the surprise," says Proud, " with the noise of precipitation consequent thereon, threw many of the people into very great fright and consternation, insomuch that it is said some threw their plate and most valuable effects down their wells and little houses; that others hid themselves, in the best manner they could, while many retired further up the river, with what they could most readily carry off; so that some of the creeks seemed full of boats and small craft; those of a larger size running as far as Burlington, and some higher up the river; several women are said to have miscarried by the fright and terror into which they were thrown, and much mischief ensued."

The more thoughtful of the people are said to have understood the deceit from the first, and labored to allay the excitement; but the seeming earnestness of the Governor and the zeal of his emissaries so worked upon the more inconsiderate of the population that the consternation and commotion was almost past belief. In an almanac published at Philadelphia for the next year opposite this date was this distich:

" Wise men wonder, good men grieve,

Knaves invent and fools believe."

Though this ruse was played upon all classes alike, yet it was generally believed to have been aimed chiefly at the Quakers, to try the force of their

HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA

principles, and see if they would not rush to arms when danger should really appear. But in this the Governor was disappointed. For it is said that only four out of the entire population of this religious creed showed uny disposition to falsify their faith. It was the day of their weekly meeting, and regardless of the dismay and consternation which were everywhere manifest abont them, they assembled in their accustomed places of worship, and engaged in their devotions as though nothing nnusnal was transpiring without, manifesting such unshaken fuith, us Whittier has exemplified in verso by his Abraham Davenport, on the occasion of the Dark Day:

', Meanwhile in the old State House, dim as ghosts, Sat the law-givers of Connecticut, Trembling beneath their legislative robes,

"It is the Lord's great day! Let us adjourn.' Some said; and then, as with one accord, All eyes were turned on Abraham Davenport. Ile rose, slow, cleaving with his steady voice The intolerable hush. 'This well may be The Day of Judgment which the world awaits;

But be it so or not, I only know My present duty, and my Lord's command To occupy till lle come. So at the post Where He hath set me in Ilis Providence, I choose, for one, to meet llim face to face, No faithless servant frightened from my task, But ready when the Lord of the harvest calls; And therefore, with all reverence, I would say,

Let God do His work, we will see to ours. Bring in the candles.' And they brought them in."

In conjunction with the Legislature of the lower counties, Evans was in- strumental in having a law passed for the imposition of a tax on the tonnage of the river, and the erection of a fort near the town of New Castle for com- pelling obedience. This was in direct violation of the fundamental compact, and vexations to commerce. It was at length forcibly resisted, and its impo- sition abandoned. His administration was anything but efficient or peaceful, a series of contentions, of charges and counter-charges having been kept up between the leaders of the two factions, Lloyd and Logan, which he was pow- erless to properly direct or control. "He was relieved in 1709. Possessed of a good degree of learning and refinement, and accustomed to the gay society of the British metropolis, he found in the grave and serious habits of the Friends a type of life and character which he failed to comprehend, and with which he could, consequently, have little sympathy. How widely he mistook the Quaker character is seen in the result of his wild and hair-brained experi- ment to test their faith. His general tenor of life seems to have been of a piece with this. Watson says: 'The Indians of Connestoga complained of him when there as misbehaving to their women, and that, in 1709, Solomon Cresson, going his rounds at night, entered a tavern to suppress a riotous as- sembly, and found there John Evans, Esq., the Governor, who fell to beat- ing Cresson.'"

The youth and levity of Gov. Evans induced the proprietor to seek for a successor of a more sober and sedate character. He had thought of proposing his son. but finally settled upon Col. Charles Gookin, who was reputed to be a man of wisdom and prudence, though as was afterward learned, to the sorrow of the colony, he was subject to fits of derangement, which toward the close of his term were exhibited in the most extravagant acts. He had scarcely ar- rived in the colony before charges were preferred against the late Governor, and he was asked to institute criminal proceedings, which he declined. This

HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

was the occasion of a renewal of contentions between the Governor and his Council and the Assembly, which continued during the greater part of his ad- ministration. In the midst of them, Logan, who was at the head of the Coun- cil, having demanded a trial of the charges against him, and failed to secure one, sailed for Europe, where he presented the difficulties experienced in ad- ministering the government so strongly, that Penn was seriously inclined to sell his interest in the colony. He had already greatly crippled his estate by expenses he had incurred in making costly presents to the natives, and in set- tling his colony, for which he had received small return. In the year 1707, he had become involved in a suit in chancery with the executors of his former steward, in the course of which he was confined in the Old Baily during this and a part of the following yoar, when he was obliged to mortgage his colony in the sum of £6,600 to relieve himself. Foreseeing the great consequence it would be to the crown to buy the rights of the proprietors of the several English colonies in America before they would grow too powerful, negotia- tions had been entered into early in the reign of William and Mary for their purchase, especially the "fine province of Mr. Penn." Borne down by these troubles, and by debts and litigations at home, Penn seriously entertained the proposition to sell in 1712, and offered it for £20,000. The sum of £12,000 was offered on the part of the crown, which was agreed upon, but before the necessary papers were executed, he was stricken down with apoplexy, by which he was incapacitated for transacting any business, and a stay was put to fur- ther proceedings until the Queen should order an act of Parliament for con- summating the purchase.

It is a mournful spectacle to behold the great mind and the great heart of Penn reduced now in his declining years, by the troubles of government and by debts incurred in the bettering of his colony, to this enfeebled condition. He was at the moment writing to Logan on public affairs, when his hand was suddenly seized by lethargy in the beginning of a sentence, which he never finished. His mind was touched by the disease, which he never recovered, and after lingering for six years, he died on the 30th of May, 1718, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. With great power of intellect, and a religious devotion scarcely matched in all Christendom, he gave himself to the welfare of mankind, by securing civil and religious liberty through the operations of organic law. Though not a lawyer by profession, he drew frames of govern- ment and bodies of laws which have been the admiration of succeeding gener- ations, and are destined to exert a benign influence in all future time, and by his discussions with Lord Baltimore and before the Lords in Council, he showed himself familiar with the abstruse principles of law. Though but a private person and of a despised sect, he was received as the friend and confi- dential advisee of the ruling sovereigns of England, and some of the princi- ples which give luster to British law were engrafted there through the influ- ence of the powerful intellect and benignant heart of Penn. He sought to know no philosophy but that promulgated by Christ and His disciples, and this he had sounded to its depths, and in it were anchored his ideas of public law and private and social living. The untamed savage of the forest bowed in meek and loving simplicity to his mild and resistless sway, and the members of the Society of Friends all over Europe flocked to his City of Brotherly Love. His prayers for the welfare of his people are the beginning and ending of all his public and private correspondence, and who will say that they have not been answered in the blessings which have attended the commonwealth of his founding? And will not the day of its greatness be when the inhabitants throughout all its borders shall return to the peaceful and loving spirit of

HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

Penn? In the midst of a licentious court, and with every prospect of advance- ment in its sunshine and favor, inheriting a great name and an independent patrimony, he turned aside from this brilliant track to make common lot with a poor sect under the ban of Government; endured stripes and imprisonment and loss of property; banished himself to the wilds of the American continent that he might secure to his people those devotions which seemed to them re- quired by their Maker, and has won for himself a name by the simple deeds of love and humble obedience to Christian mandates which shall never perish. Many have won renown by deeds of blood, but fadeless glory has come to William Penn by charity.

CHAPTER IX.

SIR WILLIAM KEITH, 1717-25-PATRICK GORDON, 1726-36-JAMES LOOAN, 1736-38 -GEORGE THOMAS, 1738-47-ANTHONY PALMER, 1747-48-JAMIES HAMILTON, 1748-54.

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Author: Publication date: Publisher: W. Taylor Number of Pages: 1280

Author:
Publication date:
Publisher: W. Taylor
Number of Pages: 1280