USA > Pennsylvania > History of proprietary government in Pennsylvania > Part 26
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is frequently solicited to resign * * all without any further care. But his tenderness to those in the place whom he knows to be still true and honest prevails with him to give the people yet an opportunity of showing what they will do." Referring to the probability of strict control if the government should be resumed by the crown, the governor said, in closing, that no privileges could be hoped for or depended on but what were founded on the royal charter to the proprietor, and that those who endeavored to persuade the people other- wise, did vastly more harm than good." The reply of the as- sembly was conciliatory in tone. The cause of this may be found in the fact that, when the contents of the " remonstrance " became generally known, so much dissatisfaction resulted that several of Lloyd's adherents failed of re-election, although he himself managed to secure the speakership. The reply ran as follows : "We are truly sorry that our proprietary and this house should disagree in opinion in the matters of our pro- ceedings in assembly, and his being surprised is no little sur- prise to us, considering that to pursue our own interest, and to answer the trust reposed in us, our part is to maintain a con- stant respect and due regard of the proprietary [in] both honor and advantage, where at the same time we preserve the rights and privileges of the queen's subjects, the freeholders of this province, which we are of opinion ought not to be withstood, and we hope that a right understanding in him and thyself of our true meaning and due respects toward both, and our de- sire of advancing the safety of the people under your govern- ment, will create better opinions of our intentions and actions. We should gladly know what three bills those were of which copies were sent home, and looked [upon] by men of skill as great absurdities, and what the proprietary's objections are unto them. If those three bills be the same we imagine them to be, we are of the mind [that] the interfering of the pro- prietary's commission granted unto thee with the charters
1 Col. Rec., ii, pp. 187-9.
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granted to the freeholders occasioned such clauses as seemed absurdities to men of skill, who might not be well ap- prised of our charter of privileges. * * * As to the represen- tation or letters sent to the proprietary by orders in the name of the former assembly, which he takes, it seems, as an indignity and resents it accordingly, it not having been done by this house, but being the act (or in the name) of the former; as we are not entitled to the affront, (if any be) neither are we concerned to answer it. Our part is to lament (as we really do) that there should be true occasion for such representation, or if none, that it should be offered our proprietary whom we both love and honor. And therefore we hope his obligations of care over us, and the people of this province, by no such means shall be cancelled. * And to conclude, as we have under the proprietary's administration hitherto enjoyed great tranquillity, we are truly desirous of a continuation of the same administration, and shall be willing to pay unto thee, his lieutenant, due respect in thy great station, not only by words, but such effective acts and actions as shall demonstrate unto the world our loyalty to the queen, honor to the pro- prietary, and true love to thyself."I
To follow the disputes that ensued between Evans and the assembly at this point, would prove tedious and uninteresting. The governor sturdily defended the rights of the proprietor,? but his loose and immoral behavior became so flagrant that, in 1708, at the request of the assembly3 Penn dismissed him, and appointed Charles Gookin as his successor. In his personal conduct Gookin appears to given satisfaction, but his admin- istration was as productive of conflict with the assembly as that
1 Col. Rec., ii, pp. 192-3.
2 " I heartily acknowledge to the governor, J. Evans, his quietness, good dis- tinction, integrity and courage. Had he passed those laws, he had destroyed me and himself too. I shall stick close by him in those methods he has taken." Penn and Logan Corresp., i, pp. 354, 356. See also ii, p. 290.
3 Votes, i, pt. ii, pp. 183-5; ii, p. 18.
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present deputy, and his orders to his former deputies and com- missioners of state, are contrary to the said charters.
" Thirdly, that he has had great sums of money last time he was here for negotiating the confirmation of our laws, and for making good terms at home for the people of this province, and ease his friends here of oaths, but we find none of our laws are confirmed, nor any relief against oaths, but an order from the queen to require oaths to be administered, whereby the Quakers are disabled to sit in courts.
" Fourthly, that there has been no surveyor general since Ed- ward Pennington died, but great abuses by surveyors, and great extortions by them and the other officers concerned in property, by reason of the proprietary's refusing to pass that law proposed by the assembly in 1701 to regulate fees, etc.
" Fifthly, that we are like to be remediless in everything that he hath not particularly granted or made express provision for ; because the present deputy calls it a great hardship upon. him, and some of the council urge it as absurd and unreason- able to desire or expect any enlargement or explanation by him of what the proprietary granted.
" Sixthly, that we are also left remediless in this, that when we are wronged and oppressed about our civil rights by the pro- prietary, we cannot have justice done us; because the clerk of the court, being of his own putting in, refuses to make out any process, and the justices by and before whom our causes against him should be tried, are of his own appointment, by means whereof he becomes judge in his own case, which is against natural equity.
" Seventhly, that sheriffs and other officers of the greatest trust in the government, which the proprietary hath commis- sionated, being men of no visible estates; and if any of them have given security it was to himself, so that the people whom these officers have abused and defrauded can reap no benefit of such security.
" Eighthly, that although the commissioners of property have
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power by their commissions to make satisfaction where people have not their full quantity of land according to their purchase, yet they neglect and delay doing right in that behalf.
" Ninthly, that we charge the proprietary not to surrender the government, taking notice of the intimation he had given of making terms, etc., and let him know how vice grows of late."I
Whatever Benjamin Franklin may have insinuated to the con- trary, the remonstrance, as drawn up by David Lloyd, presum- ably in accordance with these heads of complaint, but really with a variety of elaborations, is a series of studied insults and exag- gerations, portraying the proprietor as well nigh a heartless tyrant, and the people as suffering severe oppression. In fact its language is in no respect that of " open and intrepid defenders of the public liberties," says a Pennsylvania historian,2 " but the bitter, sarcastic language of long-subdued anger." The assembly was of course represented as the spotless champion of the people's rights.3 But Isaac Norris, one of the most conservative men in the province, did not think so. His opin- ion, though given several years later, applies with equal force to the assembly of 1704. Writing to the proprietor, Decem- ber 2, 1709, he said, " I think too much prevails when such a col- lective body, with whom business ought to be done, that should look at solids and substantials, set up for witty critics upon everything that is said or done, and grow voluminous, always remonstrating and valuing the last word highly. * * * The air of grandeur and sacred care for the honor and dignity of the house that runs through everything, is too visible, and the secret pride thereof too plainly appears, even in the great pretensions to and professions of mean and despicable thoughts of themselves."4
1 Votes, i, pt. ii, p. 16.
2 Hazard, Register of Pa., i, p. 388.
3 The "remonstrance" may be seen at length in Franklin, Works, iii, pp. 124- 127, 167-176.
4 Penn and Logan Corresp., ii, p. 417.
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Again, whatever Benjamin Franklin may have insinuated to the contrary, the statements of Norris and of James Logan, who were well acquainted with the whole proceeding, prove beyond .a shadow of doubt that, although the remonstrance was signed by David Lloyd as speaker of the assembly, and pre- :sumably at its direction, not only was it never read before that body, and consequently was never regularly approved by it, but in order to show that all he had written and sent to the proprie- tor had received the full sanction of the assembly, Lloyd delib- -erately interpolated the minutes." Not only did he do this, but in the letter to the enemies of the proprietor to whom the " re- monstrance " was first directed, he said, " I am requested in be- half of the inhabitants here to entreat that you would lay these things before him, and get such relief therein as may be obtained from him;" and if the proprietor should continue re- miss in his " promises and engagements," he should be obliged by, "Christian measures" to do justice "in those things in which this representation shows he has been deficient." He sup- posed that before this time they had heard of the " condition to which the poor province was brought by the late revels and disorders which young William Penn and his gang of loose fellows are found in." He declared also that the people of the province had been greatly abused by trusting in William Penn, and that the evidences they had of the governor's evil behavior, and of the proprietor's wilful neglect, had induced them to deal plainly with the proprietor.2
At a meeting of the council in Philadelphia, May 8, 1705, Gov. Evans had read before it letters from the proprietor relat- ing to the proceedings of the assembly, approving his refusal of the three bills last offered to him, copies of which had been sent to England, and directing him in all cases to assert his just rights, and to prosecute the turbulent. Methods were adopted to prove that the order to send the " remonstrance " to
1 Penn and Logan Corresp., i, pp. 329-334; ii, pp. 16, 62, 248-9, 416.
2 Ibid., i, pp. 327-8.
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the proprietor had been interpolated in the minutes of assembly, and, if possible, to bring an action of forgery against Lloyd. One of that worthy's henchmen was also to be prosecuted for his " scandalous and seditious words against the government."I Three days later Evans told the assembly that the proprietor, so far from agreeing with it in opinion, "was greatly surprised to see, instead of suitable supplies for the maintenance of gov- ernment and defraying public charges for the public safety, time only lost * * in disputes upon heads which he had fully settled before his departure, as could on the best precautions be thought convenient or reasonable." * " He is the more astonished," continued the governor, "to find you, for whose sake chiefly and not his own he has undergone his late fatigue and expensive troubles in maintaining it, (i. e. the govern- ment) express no greater sense of gratitude than has hitherto appeared. The proprietor also further assures us that, had these three bills * * * been passed into acts here, they had cer- tainly been vacated by her majesty, being looked on by men of skill to whom they have been shown, as very great absurdities.2 But what I must not be silent in is that he highly resents that heinous indignity and most scandalous statement he has met with in the letters directed not only to himself, but to be shown to some other persons disaffected to him. * If that letter was the act of the people truly represented, he thinks such proceedings are sufficient to cancel all obligations of care over them; but if done by particular persons only, and it is an im- posture in the name of the whole, he expects that the country
* take care that due satisfaction is given him. * * * will *
You contend and raise continual scruples about your privileges which have not been attempted to be violated, but seem to neglect what is truly so, and of the greatest importance to you. * The proprietor who * * * has hitherto supported the government, upon such treatment as he has met with,
1 Col. Rec., ii. p. 186.
2 Penn and Logan Corresp., i, pp. 356, 375.
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is frequently solicited to resign all without any further
care. But his tenderness to those in the place whom he knows to be still true and honest prevails with him to give the people yet an opportunity of showing what they will do." Referring to the probability of strict control if the government should be resumed by the crown, the governor said, in closing, that no privileges could be hoped for or depended on but what were founded on the royal charter to the proprietor, and that those who endeavored to persuade the people other- wise, did vastly more harm than good." The reply of the as- sembly was conciliatory in tone. The cause of this may be found in the fact that, when the contents of the " remonstrance" became generally known, so much dissatisfaction resulted that several of Lloyd's adherents failed of re-election, although he himself managed to secure the speakership. The reply ran as follows: "We are truly sorry that our proprietary and this house should disagree in opinion in the matters of our pro- ceedings in assembly, and his being surprised is no little sur- prise to us, considering that to pursue our own interest, and to answer the trust reposed in us, our part is to maintain a con- stant respect and due regard of the proprietary [in] both honor and advantage, where at the same time we preserve the rights and privileges of the queen's subjects, the freeholders of this province, which we are of opinion ought not to be withstood, and we hope that a right understanding in him and thyself of our true meaning and due respects toward both, and our de- sire of advancing the safety of the people under your govern- ment, will create better opinions of our intentions and actions. We should gladly know what three bills those were of which copies were sent home, and looked [upon] by men of skill as great absurdities, and what the proprietary's objections are unto them. If those three bills be the same we imagine them to be, we are of the mind [that] the interfering of the pro- prietary's commission granted unto thee with the charters 1 Col. Rec., ii, pp. 187-9.
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granted to the freeholders occasioned such clauses as seemed absurdities to men of skill, who might not be well ap- prised of our charter of privileges. * * * As to the represen- tation or letters sent to the proprietary by orders in the name of the former assembly, which he takes, it seems, as an indignity and resents it accordingly, it not having been done by this house, but being the act (or in the name) of the former; as we are not entitled to the affront, (if any be) neither are we concerned to answer it. Our part is to lament (as we really do) that there should be true occasion for such representation, or if none, that it should be offered our proprietary whom we both love and honor. And therefore we hope his obligations of care over us, and the people of this province, by no such means shall be cancelled. And to conclude, as we have under the proprietary's administration hitherto enjoyed great tranquillity, we are truly desirous of a continuation of the same administration, and shall be willing to pay unto thee, his lieutenant, due respect in thy great station, not only by words, but such effective acts and actions as shall demonstrate unto the world our loyalty to the queen, honor to the pro- prietary, and true love to thyself."I
To follow the disputes that ensued between Evans and the assembly at this point, would prove tedious and uninteresting. The governor sturdily defended the rights of the proprietor,2 but his loose and immoral behavior became so flagrant that, in 1708, at the request of the assembly3 Penn dismissed him, and appointed Charles Gookin as his successor. In his personal conduct Gookin appears to given satisfaction, but his admin- istration was as productive of conflict with the assembly as that
1 Col. Rec., ii, pp. 192-3.
2 " I heartily acknowledge to the governor, J. Evans, his quietness, good dis- tinction, integrity and courage. Had he passed those laws, he had destroyed me and himself too. I shall stick close by him in those methods he has taken." Penn and Logan Corresp., i, pp. 354, 356. See also ii, p. 290.
3 Votes, i, pt. ii, pp. 183-5; ii, p. 18.
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of his predecessor had been. He in turn was succeeded by William, later Sir William, Keith, who, on account of his sym- pathy with the assembly and his willingness to cater to its wishes, governed in comparative harmony until 1726, when he was superseded by Patrick Gordon.
Leaving the province, and its scenes of struggle and re- crimination, let us see how William Penn, in the later years of his life, felt toward the colony of which he had been the founder.I
At the outset it must be borne in mind that, subsequent to 1699, most of Penn's knowledge with regard to the affairs of the province was derived through his correspondence with James Logan. Between Logan and Lloyd there existed a deep personal animosity. The former was an aristocrat, the latter a democrat. The former was the devoted friend of the proprie- tor, the latter the leader of the people. It would not be re- markable, therefore, if the statements of Logan were at times colored with prejudice, but in the main they are corroborated by Isaac Norris.2
No sooner had the news of the treatment of his son come to the knowledge of the proprietor, and the "remonstrance" been placed in his hands, than the mild and pacific attitude of Penn underwent a sudden change. With regard to the former, he said, " My son's arrival and account has not much excited my care or love towards so rude and base a people 3 * Pray let my son have justice against the authors of that barbarous affront committed upon him and company, first [because] he was my son; second, he was first of the council, and not rightly within their order or orb of power, or their reach. They might have complained to the governor, only his supe-
1 " Oh ! Pennsylvania !" cried he, " what hast thou cost me ! Above £30,000 more than I ever got by it, two hazardous and most fatiguing voyages, my straits and slavery here, and my child's soul almost." Penn and Logan Corresp., i, p. 280.
2 Ibid., ii, p. 200.
3 Ibid., ii, p. 66.
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rior there. * * I take it as done to myself, though I blame his giving any handle to those people to reflect upon him.1 But the subsequent career of William Penn, Jr., showed him to be unworthy of his father's solicitude.2 In 1720 he died in France from disease caused by excesses.3 But with regard to the "remonstrance" and its author, the wrath of the proprietor was kindled, and as Lloyd continued his opposition, Penn was unsparing in his denunciation of him. In the strongest terms of threat or entreaty he called upon the people to drive Lloyd from power, or, at least to prosecute him for his insolence.4 But Logan showed him the impossibility of accomplishing this, and eventually the proprietor was forced to abandon his pur- pose.5
Having shown what was the attitude of the proprietor
1 Penn and Logan Corresp., ii, pp. 107-8, 357. 2 Ibid., p. 236.
3 Watson, Annals of Philadelphia, i, p. 106.
+ " I expect that Friends and your assembly will do me justice upon David Lloyd * * * and unless they will make him a public example and turn him out from being recorder, or a practitioner at any of my courts, I hereby desire Judge Mom- pesson, as he has expressed he can, would show them the force of their charters, as well as how they have basely made use of them." Penn and Logan Corresp., i, p. 357. " Watch over my just interest. Encourage the governor to be cour- ageous in all reasonable things * * * and undermine knaves and hypocrites of all sorts. * * * That very villainy (of Lloyd) should be punished in a singular manner, and unless he visibly shifts his course I would have him indicted for it as a high crime and misdemeanor * ** For David Lloyd's letter, it speaks for itself, and I desire, nay command the governor to call a select council, and view the (copy thereof) enclosed, and see, under the greatest secrecy, what is practical and fitting to be done to thwart these intrigues, but if not to be done to purpose, then to expose the villainy and its authors. * * * Remember that he be prose- cuted * * * if any room for it, unless he asks forgiveness, and does me and the country right * * * If they will not part with David Lloyd from the city, I will part with them or part them." * * Ibid., i, pp. 356-7; ii, pp. 16, 19, 65, 71, 235, 271-2.
5 After showing the proprietor how difficult, on account of his influence with the people, would be any attempt to prosecute Lloyd, Logan says, " He carries so fair with our weak country people, and those that long looked upon him to be the champion of Friends' cause in government matters in former times, that there is no possessing them." Ibid., ii, p. 119.
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toward Lloyd, it may be well now to consider something to which reference has already been made, viz., his opinion con- cerning the validity of the charter of privileges. His wrath against Lloyd, however, is visible throughout. With regard to the charter Logan wrote, "This people think privileges their due, and all that can be grasped to be their native right, but, when dispensed with too liberal hand, may prove their greatest unhappiness. Charters here have been, or I doubt will be, of fatal consequence. Some people's brains are as soon intoxicated with power, as the natives are with their beloved liquor, and as little to be trusted with it."" On another occasion, referring to the assembly, he wrote, " Ours here con- tends for the whole power, and leave the governor only a name, and they aver it is their right from thy first charter granted them in England, which should be obligatory on thee."2 Penn then expressed his sentiments as follows: " If our friends will not behave towardly, I shall be constrained to break it (i. e., the charter). However, the queen will, if I resign.3 * * * Now for the government: Depend upon it I shall part speedily with it, and had I not given that un- grateful and conceited people that charter, and had got but £400 per annum fixed for the governor, and made such good conditions for them, I had had twice as much as I now am likely to have. If I don't dissolve it, that charter, I mean, the queen will, which, after all, David Lloyd's craft and malice despised for its craziness."4 On February 17, 1705, the proprietor sent to Judge Mompesson the following remark- able letter. It is remarkable not only for its expressions with regard to the charter, but because it reveals the aristocratic side of Penn's character. He said, " The charter I granted was intended to shelter them against a violent or arbitrary gover- nor imposed upon us, but that they should turn it against me, that intended their security thereby, has something very un-
1 Penn and Logan Corresp., i, p. 299. 2 Ibid., ii, p. 182. 4 Ibid., p. 353.
3 Ibid., i, p. 342.
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worthy and provoking in it, especially when I alone have been at all the charge, as well as danger and disappointment in coming so abruptly back, and defending ourselves against our enemies here, and obtaining the queen's gracious appro- bation of a governor of my nominating and commissioning, the thing they seemed so much to desire; but as a father does not use to knock his children on the head when they do amiss, so I had much rather they were corrected and better instructed, than treated to the rigor of their deservings. I therefore earn- estly desire thee to consider of what methods law and reason will justify by which they may be made sensible of their encroach- ments and presumption, that they may see themselves in a true light. * * * There is an excess of vanity that is apt to creep in upon the people in power in America, who, having got out of the crowd in which they were lost here, upon every little eminency there think nothing taller than themselves but the trees, and as if there were no after superior judgment to which they should be accountable ; so that I have sometimes thought that, if there was a law to oblige the people in power in their respective colonies to take turns in coming over for Eng- land, that they might lose themselves again amongst the crowds of so much more considerable people at the custom house, exchange, and Westminster Hall, they would exceed- ingly amend in their conduct at their return, and be much more discreet and tractable, and fit for government. In the mean time pray help to prevent them not to destroy themselves. Accept of my commission of chief justice of Pennsylvania and the territories. Take them all to task for their con- tempts, presumption, and riots. Let them know and feel the just order and decency of government, and that they are not to command, but to be commanded according to law and constitution of English government."" What this instruc- tion meant is shown in a letter sent to Logan a short time previous. The proprietor then directed Mompesson to take
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