USA > Pennsylvania > History of the province of Pennsylvania > Part 9
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"Therefore this house having fully and maturely weighed the nature of the said Act, and the use that is and has been made of it, found themselves obliged in duty to the queen and justice to the people they represent to come to the following resolutions N. C. D.
"First, That it is the opinion of this house that tho' the said act of assembly might be by the governor intended for the queens service, and security of her subjects yet the manner of putting the same in execution, proves an ap- parent violation of the said royal charter, as well as the common and statute laws of England and is destructive to trade, and tends to the depopulating and ruin of this province.
"Secondly, that it is the opinion of this house that the firing of Shot at the sloop Philadelphia, in the several affidavits mention'd, when she was duly cleared at this port of Philadelphia as the acts of navigation direct and had the governors let pass, and upon her voyage to Barba- dos is not warranted by the said act of assembly, but that those who so fired at the said sloop after they had notice what she was and how she was cleared, ought to be prose- cuted as persons committing Hostilities against the queens liege people.
"Thirdly that it is the opinion of this house that in case the master of the said sloop had been liable to pay either powder money or other mulets imposed by the said act, yet the forcing him out of the vessel and imprisoning him, when security was offerd for answering the supposed offence is not warranted by the said act, but is most illegal and arbitrary.
"May it please the governor,
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"We having thus presented our opinion of the said act, entreat that thou would use the most effectual methods to put a speedy stop to the said exorbitant practices great abuses and oppressions mentioned in the said petition, (a copy whereof, we herewith lay before thee) and that the authors of those arbitrary actions & oppressions complained of may be prosecuted according to law, and be no longer permitted to abuse the queens authority and stand in open defiance of her royal uncles grant, obstruct our lawful com- merce, and invade our liberties, rights and properties, and under pretence of fortifying the river for the service of the queen, commit hostilities and depredations upon her liege people."
CHAPTER X.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR EVANS GROWN EXTREAMLY DISGUST- FUL -- THE ASSEMBLY REMONSTRATE AGAINST HIM TO THE PROPRIETARY- EVANS REQUIRES THEM TO LAY IT BEFORE HIM-THEIR REPLY-EVANS'S SPEECH TO THE SUCCEEDING ASSEMBLY, THEIR ANSWER-EVANS SENDS A PAPER TO THE HOUSE BY TWO OF HIS COUNCIL-THEIR RESOLVES UPON IT.
The assembly of Pennsylvania, and many of the people throughout the province, had for several years past been tired of Evans's administration-the heats & levity of his youth, so influenced his private conduct as made it in vari- ous respects quite unbecoming the dignity of his station, --- midnight frolics were said to be common with him-he is even charged with sometimes descending so far out of character, as to be found raking about the streets and mixing in night brawls and other indecent practices. This sort of conduct is said once to have brought him into a bad situation. Meeting with a loaded cart coming into town, and commanding the carter to turn to let him go by, and he not stiring quickly, he repeated his commands with a raised voice and threats, upon which the blunt carter with a mouthful of ill-language demanded who he was, that being on foot, would make a carriage loaded as that was turn out of the way for him, he replied I am the gover- nor. The carter told him he lied, for that the governor was more of a gentleman, & had more manners probably mean- ing consideration, than to expect such a thing, and began to use his whip, but being prevented from proceeding he too late discoverd his mistake, and then being as ready with his submission as he had been before with his whip, he was obliged to the governor that he let him escape without further notice.
Nor were affronts of this kind all that the governor met with in departing from the proper character of his station-
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the substantial part of the inhabitants saw with concern the growing ill effects of his loose conduct and example; some of them spoke of it to him from time to time but to very little purpose, the assembly also had not been wanting as well on this occasion as the public measures of his gov- ernment, but at length finding nothing else would do but an application to get him removed, they at their sessions last mentiond made a catalogue of his failings and remon- strated them to the proprietary, wherein among other things, they set forth.
That having set up a pretended militia he did by procla- mation exempt those that would enlist therein; from watch- ing, warding and serving as constables &c and that altho' it had been discontinued and never musterd since the false alarm in May 1706 yet the exemption was still continued against law, to the great oppression of those that did not so enlist. That the proprietary pursuant to the powers granted him by letters patent, had made certain constitu- tions and concessions containing divers rights, liberties and priveledges, which he gave the people a very sacred assur- ance they should enjoy, That in pursuance of the royal grant he also incorporated the city of Philadelphia vesting the mayor and aldermen with the power of conserving the peace and trying larcenies and other small offences punish- able by fine or whipping.
That the said lieutenant governor was in duty bound to rule the province according to the true intent of those con- stitutions and concessions until they were disallowed by the queen, yet had used several ways to elude and render them ineffectual, particularly, that when the assembly in the year 1704 prepared a bill for explaining and confirming the charter of the city, he, displeased at the city magistrates because they would have punished some of his companions for disorders in their night revels, such as beating the constable and watch, refused to pass the bill, commissionating the county justices to determine matters arising within the city, and properly
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cognizable by the city magistrates, to the end as they con- ceived, that he might not only get the fines at his own dis- posal (which the proprietary had granted towards support- ing the government of the said city) but also that the taverns & ale houses (which they call nurseries of disorders and debaucheries) might be multiplied and withal, that his arbitrary designs of raising money upon the queens sub- jects without law might be better effected, he had imposed two licences a year upon most of the keepers of those houses, the one for Wine, the other for Beer, and exacted eight pounds per annum or upwards from every one that had those two licences, and so proportionable for the rest, whereby he raised great sums of money upon the inhabitants of the province without law or precedent.
That by the charter of priveledges the freemen had a right to chuse an assembly on the first of October yearly forever, which assembly had a right to sit on their own adjournments, prepare bills to be passed into laws, impeach criminals, and redress grievances, and that the freemen had the same right to chuse sheriffs and coroners according to the charter; but that he had taken upon him to reject the peoples choice of sheriff and coroner for the city and county of Philadelphia in the year 1704, and had done the same this year, and had also undertaken to licence several tay- erns and ale houses in Philadelphia, without the recommen- dation of the city magistrates, that the assembly in the said year 1704 proposed a bill for explaining and confirm- ing the said charter of priveledges, and for preventing such infringements for the future, which the governor refused, and when that assembly shewed their dislike to his reject- ing the peoples choice, and commissionating other persons of his own appointment, he by message undertook to dis- miss the assembly against the form and effect of the charter, and established usage of the government, and contrary to his duty and trust to the proprietary and people committed to his care.
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That he pass'd a law but the last year, whereby he di- rectly appropriated eight hundred pounds of the land tax, with half the impost and excise, amounting to much more than the tax to his own use, tho' it ought to have been applied as usual under the mode of a gift to the queen, and at the same time secreted the lords of trades objections to their former laws, suffering that assembly to enact and himself to pass divers new ones liable to the same objec- tions, the which being offensive to their superiors might prove very detrimental to the government.
That part of the next returns which he made for the assemblys benevolence, was hatching a project of a false alarm, carried on by him, and two or three of his accom- plices to the great damage of both city & province, which besides exposing their nakedness to the French, tho' he knew that there was no real need of ammunition, nor any danger of the French at that time, he forced great quantities of powder and lead to be taken from the inhabitants. and thereby left them destitute if there should be a real occasion. That at the time of the said false alarm he shot at some, and orderd his men to shoot others of the queens subjects for endeavoring to save their goods, which were like to be stolen by a rabble of his own raising who even threatend the peoples lives as well as estates :- that one of the officers of his militia declared that if the French had come, and the queens collector had been there, he would have shot him one of the first: and that several of them swore they would be masters of the quakers brick houses in Philadelphia that day, That when one of the actors was apprehended the governor contrary to law and justice discharged him out of the constables hands saying that what the prisoner had done, was at his command.
That having formed a distinct assembly in and for the three lower counties, who had no power to make laws obliging upon the province; he concurred with them to make a law, whereby he laid another imposition upon the
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trade of the province impeding the passage granted by the royal charter to and from the same, and by colour of that law, had exacted great sums of Money from divers of the queens subjects against their wills and endeavored to sink some of the vessels which himself had cleared and knew to be fair traders; and had like to have killd several people on board those and other vessels for refusing to come under that imposi- tion, having caused divers great guns to be fired at them.
That he had without any colour of law exacted twelve shillings from the master of every vessel outward bound for a Let pass, notwithstanding they had their clearance according to the acts of navigation; a heavy tax upon trade to the grievous oppression of the subject.
That although the governor might collect from the at- torney generals opinion upon their former laws how it was expected that their constitutions should conform as near as may be to the laws and interest of England, and knew what the opinion of the board of trade was about fines and for- feitures &c, nevertheless he had hitherto refused to concur with the assembly in having the method of convicting clerks of the peace &c for official misbehavor here, as such officers are in England. and in having ale houses licenced by the justices here as they are in England, & ordering the fines and forfeitures to go to the queen for the support of government as also in having the courts of judicature regu- lated as near an English establishment, as the circumstances of this young colony could admit of.
That the governor on his own authority had granted a com- mission for privateering,-that he had beat and sent to prison Solomon Cresson, a constable for endeavoring to disperse the company from a lewd tavern at midnight, where he the governor had happend to be, tho unknown to Cresson.
These and several other charges swell the catalogue to a great length, the design being to get him removed, they seem to have been indefatigable in furnishing materials to go to work upon.
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The governor understanding what was going forward against hin came to town and sent a message to the house informing them, That it was by accident only that he was now in town at the time of their meeting, and not by de- sign, for as they had taken upon them (or endeavor'd at least) to invert the order of government by adjourning themselves at pleasure and then send him notice of the time they thought fit to meet again, as if he was to attend their appointments and not they his, so he must let them know he could take no notice of any such adjournments.
But being informed that the business of their present meeting was chiefly to agree and sign some address or rep- resentation to be sent to England, he required them forth- with to lay before him all such addresses or representations as were or should be prepared by them and that they pre- sume not to send any such out of the government untill they had been fully communicated to him, as they of right and justice ought to be, and was practised in other govern- ments, adding, that he desired their answer without delay.
The assembly replied. That although the act for ascer- taining the number of members of assembly, made the last year in affirmation of the constitution and known usage of the province allowed them to sit upon their own adjourn- ments; yet they did not remember that they had adjourned without acquainting him with the occasions, and motives of their adjournments, and on that account had been put to very great trouble in sending to his country house and elsewhere, and as they never adjourned but with subinis- sion to his call, whenever he thought fit to convene them again, so they never endeavored to restrict him to their appointments, therefore his suggestion of their taking upon them or endeavoring at least to invert the order of govern- ment was groundless.
That they expected he had by this time considerd of the bills they had laid before him long since; and would have been ready to pass them, or tell them he would not, as also
:
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to give the province some relief in those matters they complained of from time to time, and could have no re- dress, which was so great a neglect in his administration, that they could do no less than remonstrate.
That as for what representations they should send to England, the substance of them was diffused in the several addresses, remonstrances and resolves of the house, wch had been already laid before him, and that what they added to them chiefly related to the false alarm, and his beating the constable when he was doing his duty upon the watch, with some other practices unbecoming his station. And as a repetition thereof might not be very grateful to him, so they were not as yet satisfied that it was their duty to lay before him what addresses they made concerning those matters, wherein he either refused or neglected to give them relief.
And that since they perceived he was not inclined to proceed with them either in legislation, or to favor them with an answer to their addresses as they had often desired, they thought fit to acquaint him that being mostly persons of mean Estates, and whose personal care about their domestic affairs was by the approaching harvest renderd indispensibly necessary, they should be forced to adjourn 'till the governor should find occasion to require their fur- ther attendance.
Having sent this answer the assembly adjourned till the 234 of the following September-the first of October came on the anniversary elections according to charter-the representatives then chosen met on the 14th, and were told by the governor that:
Although as he perceived the choice of representatives in assembly had fallen generally upon the same persons now, as were in the last year, with whom so much time was unhappily lost by he knew not what influence which might and ought to have been spent in the service of the country, yet he was now to look upon them as a new choice and that
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they were to consider themselves as entirely disengaged from those differences and fruitless disputes which they very improvidently and unnecessarily fell into and inain- tained, and that this they would find to be the first effectual advance to business, and without which it was in vain for him to meet them.
That he should without any design of reflection upon the proceeding of the last assembly (for that these would have their weight elsewhere) but for the benefit and use of the present in a few words point to those Rocks they split upon, which they might easily avoid. The chiefest and he thought the cause of most of the rest, was the assemblys being so fixt on, and tenacious of every thing they them- selves proposed tho altogether foreign to the great business then in hand; no less than the restoring to her majestys subjects the courts of judicature and reviving the pleas and process, the very essentials of a well regulated govern- ment, that several things inconsistent with his duty tho not essential were put into a ballance with those great rights the people then languished for, which, says he, I do most seriously protest was my earnest desire to pass a bill for, and was ready to agree to every thing consistent with the just discharge of the trust reposed in me for that end, and that he doubted not but when they came to a review of those affairs, they would find that every thing necessary to the establishment of courts had been actually consented to almost in the very manner proposed (altho many things in that bill might have been found at a time when there was less necessity for a law not altogether proper) and that it must appear very unaccountable to impartial men, that the house could not think fit to agree that the country should have any courts at all, unless he would suffer a bill, stuffed with various matters not any wise then pertinent to pass.
That he hoped what he had said wd serve for a sufficient caution to them of falling into the like mistakes, whereby this province instead of enjoying the great advantage and .
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benefit of the best of constitutions, to wit, assemblys might have cause to think them the greatest grievances.
That what he had now to offer for the service of the coun- try was to recommend to their consideration the preparing such a bill for establishing the Courts, that might consist with reason and his duty to pass, for that certainly he should pass no other, and this he proposed not from any necessity they lay under of such a law, the courts being settled by as good authority as any derived from the royal charter, but to convince them he was still truly inclinable to give general satisfaction by a law, and to remove those ill impressions that have made upon the ignorant against the present establishment, and if any thing on their parts might be thought upon for the honor and service of the country, he should freely accept their proposals, and readily agree to whatever was conducive to that end, when he returnd to meet them again; for that they knew manifestly the affairs of the lower counties interfered with those of the province by reason that her majestys service did immediately require his presence there, whither he designed tomorrow, where he should use all possible dispatch and in the mean time it was necessary that they should be adjourned.
They told him they had deliberately read and considerd the copy of his speech, and finding it to contain severe re- flections against the last assembly obliged them to inspect their minutes and proceedings, on which they found they had taken great pains and used earnest endeavors for the service of the country, who they were fully assured were well satified therewith, so that they conceived this sort of treatment to be an indignity offerd them unbecoming his station.
That as to what he said that the Rock they split on was being fixed and tenacious of every thing they themselves proposed tho' altogether foreign to the business then in hand, to wit, restoring to the queens subjects the courts of judicature, and reviving the pleas and process &c.
They found by the journal of the house that divers con-
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siderable alterations were made to accomodate the bill of courts in divers respects to his mind, and upon a review of the whole bill the several paragraphs of it having been distinctly read in the house, they were of opinion that it containd nothing foreign to the regular establishment and well being of the courts of judicature, but on the contrary considering the magistrates here were generally such as had not been very conversant in the law (and that the obtaining and continuing those of greater knowledge and experience, wd be both difficult and uncertain as well as chargible) the said bill would be of great use and service to the province in general as well as to those concerned in the magistracy in particular to whom they conceived it would be as a directory for the discharge of their duties; neither could they perceive anything in it inconsistent with his duty to pass, nor (as last amended) much differing from his own proposals, save in two points, the one about displac- ing of clerks for misbehavor, and the other about the jus- tices granting licences, both which were agreeable to the laws of England, that ought to supply the defects of their own.
That if the people then languished for those great rights as his speech suggested, they intreated him to consider that the repeal of the former law about courts came to his hands long before that assembly were elected, and if the assembly in being at the arrival of the said repeal would not agree with him to settle them by a law, he had the opportunity of doing it sooner in the method since taken and applauded, and if blame were due to any on that account, they knew where to place it.
That they did not conceive that the bill was stuffed, with various matters not anyways pertinent, nor that it would appear unaccountable to impartial men, that the assembly then insisted on what they did as he was pleased to suppose, which would render not only them, but the generality of the freemen (who by a second choice have signified their approbation of those proceedings) very ignorant as well as
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great enemies to their own interest, & were it true, they merited pity more than blamc.
That they were of opinion, notwithstanding his protes- tation of a desire to pass the bill for establishing courts, that his pretended readiness to agree with the last assembly and his present speech filled with reflections and invectives against them could not be well resented by the country nor be a prudent method of begining business with the house.
That if the last assembly had been guilty of the mistakes he suggested, his caution to them would be more season- able, but they, having used their endeavors for a regular establishment, and shewd their dislike to the violation and encroachments attempted upon the rights of the subject, and being resolved to follow their example therein, and do what they could for the public good, there would be no just cause for any to conclude that this part of the constitution, wherewith they were entrusted, would become a grievance to the province unless they would concede that the power granted them by the royal charter should be renderd so precarious as some would have it subservient to arbitrary designs & practices, leaving the grievances of the people unredressd, and those evil ministers and officers, that op- press and abuse the country to go on without rebuke.
That as to the preparing such a bill for establishing courts as might consist with reason and the governors duty to pass, as he seemed resolved to pass no other, so they hoped they should never press or (so much as) propose it, tho' they could not but take notice that his suggesting a doubt to the contrary argued a diffidence of them before trial, which look'd something uncharitable.
That he was pleased to acquaint them that they lay under no necessity of such a law, and that the courts were already settled by good authority only he was willing to remove those ill impressions that have been made upon the igno- rant, if they were of that opinion, they thought it would be misspent time to do it by a law.
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But by the complaints already laid before them of the great injustice in those courts, and abuses and injuries sus- tained by the queens subjects of late in being denied those remedial writs weh even his own ordinance prescribed should be granted of course, they were sensible of the contrary and had good cause to believe there was some defect which (as he was pleased to say in another case) would, they hoped have its weight elsewhere if not speedily redress'd here.
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