USA > Pennsylvania > Lives of the governors of Pennsylvania : with the incidental history of the state, from 1609 to 1873 > Part 10
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In 1712, Penn, borne down by the weight of years and in- creasing cares, his Colony a source of little profit to him, and
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himself embarrassed with debts incurred in its interest, finally determined to transfer it to the crown in consideration of twelve thousand pounds. But before the legal papers were executed, he was stricken with paralysis, by which he was reduced to the feebleness of infancy, and the transfer was suspended.
Until the session of 1714, uninterrupted harmony had pre- vailed between the Assembly and Governor, though the salary of the latter had frequently been left in arrears, half the pit- tance allowed him being often unpaid at the close of the fiscal year. It appears by the Logan MSS., as quoted by Gordon, that Gookin was a bachelor, and was selected because he would be a cheap governor. The 15th of February, the day for the convening of the Assembly, was stormy, and a quorum failed to assemble. When, on the following day, an organi- zation was effected, and a committee was sent to wait on the Governor, embittered by their former neglect, he refused to recognize them, their best endeavors failing to soften his temper. The committee appointed to remonstrate with him was driven from his door with threats and reproaches, and the Assembly was obliged to adjourn without attending to any business.
The breach thus opened was widened from year to year, until 1717, when, upon the petition of the Council, Gookin was removed. His conduct had become more and more un- reasonable, until, towards the close of his term, he had turned upon his most faithful friends, and demeaned himself in an extravagant manner, the effect no doubt of his lack of entire soundness of mind. IIe is said to have been much under the influence of his brother-in-law, Birmingham, for whom a township in Bucks County was named. He once removed all the justices of New Castle County for doing their duty in an action against Birmingham, leaving the county without a magistrate for six weeks. At another time, when the judges of the Supreme Court at New Castle would not admit a certain commission of his to be published in court, he sent for one of the judges and kicked him.
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SIR WILLIAM KEITH, Deputy Governor, May, 1717, to July, 1726. - Gookin was succeeded by Sir William Keith, of the north of Scotland, and before his appointment as Governor, had held the office of surveyor of customs for the southern Provinces, at a salary of five hundred pounds. He had occasionally visited Philadelphia, and was familiar with the political opinions prevailing in the Province. He had formed the acquaintance and secured the confidence of Logan, and other of the leading citizens, and had pre- viously done the Proprietor signal service in London. He arrived in the Province in May, 1717, and was received with much pomp and ceremony. It being harvest time, out of kind consideration for the interests of the country mem- bers, he delayed calling the Assembly until it was over, the 19th of August. In his inaugural address he assigned this as the reason of the delay. The Assembly in their reply ac- knowledged this courtesy, but took immediate occasion to ask a further favor in these words: " As the Governor was pleased to defer calling us, for the sake of harvest, so we crave leave to observe to him, that seed-time being just at hand, it will be a great inconveniency to many of the mem- bers to stay long at this season." The disposition manifested in this, his first official act, was characteristic of his entire administration, and was in striking contrast with that of several of his predecessors. Evans and Gookin had made themselves especially odious to the people by their intermi- nable quarrels, and the office of Governor had come to be regarded as necessarily in antagonism to their interests. Keith, by his affable deportment and thoughtful deference to their wishes, and by espousing the cause of the people on several occasions in opposition to that of the Proprietor, com- pletely disarmed them of hostility to the office, and made them his earnest advocates. For his good will he was re- warded with ample salaries, for want of which his predeces- sors had often languished.
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CHAPTER V.
HANNAH PENN, EXECUTRIX FOR PROPRIETORS, 1718-27.
SIR WILLIAM KEITH, Deputy Governor, July, 1718, to July, 1726 .- On the 30th of July, 1718, William Penn died, at the age of seventy-four. Six years before he had been prostrated by disease and never after recovered his physical vitality, though his mind was for the most part active. By his will, which he executed in 1712, he gave to his son William, the only surviving son by his first marriage, all his estates in England, amounting to twelve hundred pounds annually. To his wife Hannah, whom he made his sole executrix, for the equal benefit of herself and her five children, all his personal estate in Pennsylvania and else- where was devised, after paying all debts, and apportioning ten thousand acres of land in the Province to each of the three children of his son William, and to his daughter Letitia by the first marriage.
Upon the death of Penn, Keith was in doubt about his right to longer execute the duties of his office. He accord- ingly laid the matter before his Council and the Assembly, by both of which it was determined, that the Act of June 11th, 1711, for the further securing the administration of the Gov- ernment, provided that the incumbent should hold his office until his successor was appointed. William Penn, Jr., re- newed the commission of Keith, and gave him a letter of in- structions, as from the actual proprietor; but believing that by the terms of the will, the son William was not heir to the Province, Keith referred the subject to the Lords of Trade and Plantations, and the then Lord-Regent, by whom his continuance in office was confirmed. This action of Keith
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gave offence to the Penn family, they believing that the pro- prietary rights were fully inherited. Soon afterwards the son William issued a commission to Logan as Secretary of the Province.
Doubts existing as to the force of the Proprietor's devise, a suit in chancery was instituted to determine it, which re- mained for several years undecided. In March, 1720, Wil- liam Penn, Jr., died, and before a decision of the case was had, his son Springett died also. In the meantime, Hannah Penn, the sole executrix, assumed the management of colonial affairs, executing this difficult task with rare tact and business capacity. "She became," says Watson, " in effect our gov- ernor, ruling us by her deputies, or lieutenant governors, during all the term of her children's minority." The case was finally decided in 1727, to the effect that upon the death of William Penn, Jr., and his son Springett, the proprie- tary rights devolved upon John, Thomas, and Richard Penn, the surviving sons of William Penn, Sen., by the second mar- riage, Dennis the fourth son having in the meantime died; and that the Proprietor's agreement to sell the Province to the Crown for twelve thousand pounds, made in 1712, and on which one thousand pounds had been paid at the confirma- tion of the sale, was void.
Though general prosperity prevailed in the Province, and abundant crops rewarded the hand of the diligent, there was little money in circulation, so that citizens found it almost impossible to pay for their lands, or even the taxes thereon, the prices of produce, on account of its great abun- dance, being next to nothing. To remedy this evil, inspec- tors of flour, fish, and other products were appointed, who, by the careful and discriminating discharge of their duties, caused the Pennsylvania brands of these articles to become well established and popular, and to command the first prices and ready sale in the West Indies, whither most of the sur- plus produce was exported. An emission of paper money, hedged about with suitable securities and safeguards, was pro- vided for, which served to stimulate industry and greatly in-
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crease the general prosperity. Through the insinuating and skilful management of the Governor, the Assembly was in- duced to pass two Acts against which it had previously mani- fested the most unyielding hostility : one to provide for the establishment of a court of equity, with himself as Chancel- lor, and another for the formation of militia organizations.
During the early part of Keith's administration, a difficulty had arisen between the Indians upon the Susquehanna, and upon the Shenandoah, respecting the limits of their hunting- grounds. Hostilities between them seemed imminent. To settle these difficulties amicably was earnestly sought by the Governor. He accordingly visited the Governor of Virginia, and interested him in restraining the Indians living south of the Potomac from crossing to the north of that stream in pursuit of their game. IIe then invited the chiefs of the Five Nations to meet him in conference at Conestoga, a place about seventy miles west of Philadelphia, whither he went on the 6th of July, 1721, attended by a numerous cavalcade. Representatives of the Five Nations, with their chief men, were present. With many tokens of solemnity and sincere friendship, certified by the laying down of belts of wampum and bundles of skins and furs, the native orator excused the irregularities of their young men, which he attributed to the use of strong spirits, that takes away their sense of memory, of which they knew nothing before the arrival of the white man among them, and he concludes by saying, " That a chain may contract rust with lying, and become weaker; wherefore, he desires it may now be so well cleaned, as to remain brighter and stronger than ever it was before. [Presents another parcel of skins.] That, as in the firmament all clouds and darkness are removed from the place of the sun, so they de- sire that all misunderstandings may be fully done away." The Governor made answer to these short but graceful sen- tences, abounding in the native eloquence with which the speeches of these men of the forest were ever characterized, by a long and elaborate address, in which he answered the chief points made by the Indian; but so completely loaded
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down were his sentences with verbiage, that it is doubtful if the native counsellors understood or remembered much that he said. At the close he presented them with a coronation medal of the king in gold, and two days after a quantity of gay coats, powder, lead, biscuit, pipes and tobacco, which were doubtless better comprehended and appreciated than his speech, and the conference broke up with every evidence of satisfaction and pacific intention. The Governor, upon his return, was met at the passage of the Schuylkill by the city fathers, and over two hundred of the principal citizens, who conducted him through the streets after the manner of a hero returning from conquest.
Not long after this, an Indian was killed near Conestoga in a drunken quarrel with two brothers named Cartlidge. The murder was aggravated by acts of cruelty. Keith took prompt measures for the apprehension of the murderers, sent messengers to the chiefs of the Five Nations to assure them of his disapproval of the wicked deed, and finally himself made a journey to Albany, accompanied by Hill, Norris, and IIamilton of his Council, whither he had been invited by the Indians for a conference of the Governors of all the Colonies, when, after considering the subject of the murder, the grand sachem made this noble and magnanimous answer: "The great king of the Five Nations is sorry for the death of the Indian that was killed, for he was of his own flesh and blood; he believes the Governor is also sorry ; but now that it is done there is no help for it, and he desires that Cartlidge [the murderer] may not be put to death, nor that he should be spared for a time and afterwards executed; one life is enough to be lost; there should not two die. The king's heart is good to the Governor and all the English."
In all his official acts, Keith stood on the side of the people as represented by the Assembly, in opposition to the Council and the Secretary, who were considered as representing the Proprietor. It had long been the custom for the Governor to discuss bills which had been passed by the Assembly, sec- tion by section, and approve or reject them by the major 9
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voice. By the terms of the charter, Keith discovered that the Council had really only an advisory power, and as they had often delayed and defeated bills of importance by their opposition, he determined to act independently of them. This was strenuously resisted by the Council, and by Logan the Secretary, and was the beginning of a bitter controversy. Finally, in 1722, the Governor having discovered that Logan, as he alleges, had entered upon the minutes of the Council a statement which had not been formally approved, removed him from office, and appointed another in his place; where- upon Logan repaired to London, and laid his grievances be- fore Hannah Penn, now the acting Proprietor. Logan had long enjoyed the confidence of the Proprietor, and that confidence could not now be shaken by the trivial represen- tations of the Governor. She immediately wrote to Keith, sharply reproving him for displacing the Secretary without consulting her, or even his Council, which was enjoined in the charter, and directing him to reinstate Logan in his old position. This Keith refused to do, justifying his conduct, and claiming for himself absolute power in disposing of this matter. This opposition to the will of the Proprietor cost him his place, he being superseded in July, 1726.
Keith may be considered as one of the most successful of the Proprietary Governors, and though charged with craft and subserviency to gain his ends, and command popular favor, which were doubtless founded in truth, yet it appears that he used the power and influence which he thus acquired for the public good, and that the growth and prosperity of the Colony during his administration were unsurpassed nor even equalled by any other American Colony. Though not a Quaker, he secured to that sect privileges which had pre- viously been sought in vain, they being allowed to wear their hats in court, and to give testimony under affirmation instead of oath. So far had he won the popular favor, that he was immediately elected to the Assembly, after surrendering the gubernatorial power, and took his seat in that body; but in his wish to be elected speaker he was foiled, the methods he
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adopted to secure this result serving to alienate even his friends. Watson, in his reference to this event, says : " After- wards, when he [David Lloyd] exerted himself to thwart the ambitious designs of Sir William Keith, whom he wished to supplant as a dangerous political rival, he readily succeeded. In this, such was his management and success, that, although Sir William aimed for the Speaker's chair, and had his sup- port out-doors in a cavalcade of eighty mounted horsemen, and the resounding of many guns fired, David Lloyd got every vote in the Assembly but three." For a year or two after the close of his administration he manifested a most un- justifiable and malicious spirit, creating dissensions in the administration of his successor. But his power and influence rapidly waned. In 1738 he published a history of the Colony of Virginia, with the intention of writing the histories of all the other Colonies; but doubtless abandoned it for want of sufficient encouragement. He died in London in 1749, in poverty. " It may be very little known," says Watson, " that he, who moved with so much excitement and cabal as our Governor in 1726, should at last fall into such neglect, as to leave his widow among us unnoticed and almost forgotten ! She lived and died in a small wooden house in Third Street, between High and Mulberry. There, much pinched for sub- sistence, she eked out her existence with an old female, de- clining all intercourse with society or with her neighbors. The house itself was burnt in 1786."
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CHAPTER VI.
JOHN, RICHARD, AND THOMAS PENN, PROPRIETORS, 1727-46.
P ATRICK GORDON, Deputy Governor, July, 1726, to Au- gust, 1736. - Patrick Gordon, who had served in the regular army, and who was recommended by Springett Penn for royal confirmation, was appointed to succeed Keith. He arrived in the Province with his family in the summer of 1726, and met the Assembly in August. In his first address, he alluded to the fact of his having been a soldier, that he consequently knew nothing of the crooked ways of professed politicians, and must rely upon a blunt, straightforward course in his communications with them and in his adminis- tration of the government. IIe did not dissemble in making this declaration, for his public career seems to have been characterized by frankness and integrity.
During the first two or three years of his government, his predecessor in office succeeded in fomenting difficulties in the Assembly, of which he was a member, and in the Prov- ince; but his utterances were so extravagant, and his plans for personal aggrandizement were so injudicious, that his in- fluence over the party which he had at first led was soon lost, and the discreet and wise policy of Governor Gordon bore down all opposition. George I. died in June, 1727, and was succeeded by his son, George II. At the meeting of the Assembly in October following, a congratulatory address was framed and presented to the new king upon his peaceful and happy accession to the throne.
In 1728, several disturbances occurred among the Indians, chiefly incited by strong drink, which were participated in by worthless bands who had strayed away from the tribes to
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which they belonged. In these affrays several were killed and wounded. The Governor took prompt measures to ap -. prehend and punish the offenders, and succeeded in averting hostilities. A treaty was concluded with the Five Nations which was ratified with presents in the usual formal manner. At a council held at Philadelphia, on the 26th of May, for the purpose of renewing treaties with the several Indian tribes there represented, Captain Civility spoke in behalf of the chieftains, and in referring to the Governor's address, pre- viously delivered to them at Conestoga, said that " the Gov- ernor's words were all right and good; that they never had any such speech made to them since William Penn was here."
These conferences with the Indians were frequent, and were attended with much expense, being generally coupled with treaties for the transfer of land. The Assembly, at its meeting in 1729, drew a distinction between the expense of treaties for the preservation of peace in the Colony, and those for the acquisition of territory, claiming that the latter should be borne by the Proprietors, thus dividing the burden of the " frequent visits of the chiefs and their followers, to polish the chain of friendship with English blankets, broadcloths, and metals."
The prosperity of the Colony at this period was remarkable. Though not planted till 1680, more than half a century after the settlements of the other Colonies on the coast, it had the finest capital city in all British America, and the second in size, and a greater white population than Virginia, Maryland, and both the Carolinas. The causes of this prosperity were the peaceful policy adopted towards the savages, the security of life and property guaranteed by its beneficent code of laws, free toleration of religious sentiment, and the equality of all men before the law, making them eligible to office, and com- petent to give testimony in court, not excluding even the In- dian or the negro.
The entire amount of paper money which had been issued to the beginning of 1730, was seventy-five thousand pounds. Rumors being current of mismanagement in the loan office,
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Governor Gordon instituted an inquiry into the affairs of the treasurer, William Fishbourne, when it was discovered that he was a defaulter to the amount of eighteen hundred pounds. This was secured by the estate of the treasurer; but he was punished by being removed, and forever disqualified from holding office.
In 1732, it was discovered that the French from Canada were building and establishing trading-posts within the terri- tory of Pennsylvania, on the Allegheny and Ohio rivers, and that representatives of the Indians dwelling upon these rivers had been invited to a conference with the French at Mon- treal. To counteract this influence, the Shawanese upon the Allegheny were summoned to Philadelphia, and at a council there held, they were urged to remove farther east. This they declined to do, but asserted that the French had not mani- fested an unfriendly spirit towards the English. A treaty was soon afterwards made with the Six Nations, in which the Indians promised continued friendship for the English, and resistance to the encroachments of the French.
By the death of Hannah Penn, in 1733, and the pre- vious decease of Springett Penn, the Assembly decided that the power of Governor Gordon was at an end, and refused to act upon a message which he had communicated. But shortly afterward, the Governor received a new commission, executed by John, Thomas, and Richard Penn, to whom William Penn's estate and proprietary rights had descended. In the approval of this commission, the King expressly re- served the right to govern the Lower Counties on the Dela- ware, commonly known as the Territories.
This reservation was but the beginning of a series of en- croachments by the home government, not only upon the rights of this, but upon those of all the American Colonies. The judiciary act of 1727 was soon after annulled, which threatened great inconvenience, but was fortunately averted by reviving the act of 1722. This was followed by an at- tempt to pass a resolution, recommended by the royal board of trade, requiring that all laws not only of Pennsylvania,
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but of all the Colonies, should be transmitted to the King, whose assent was necessary to their validity, and that a copy of all laws previously passed should be submitted to him, who might annul any or all of them at his pleasure. Through the influence of the agent of the Assembly, Mr. Ferdinando John Paris, who was kept at Court as the representative of the Province, joined with the agents and friends of the other Colonies, action upon this resolution was stayed. But the disposition manifested in this proposition, so hurtful in its tendency to the dearest and most cherished rights of the Colony, was in character with those infringements of the Crown, which finally resulted in armed resistance, and their complete separation and independence.
In August of 1732, Thomas Penn, and two years later, John Penn, the Pennsylvania born, and the eldest of the surviving sons of William Penn, arrived in the Province. Their advent was hailed with demonstrations of joy and satisfaction on the part of the people, and furnished occasions of congratulatory addresses from the Assembly, framed in a spirit of unfeigned respect and gratification, by whom answers were returned pledging constant devotion to the interests of the Colony. To John Penn, the Assembly said: "Excited by affection and gratitude, we cheerfully embrace this opportunity of con- gratulating thee on thy safe arrival to the place of thy na- tivity. When we commemorate the many benefits bestowed on the inhabitants of this Colony, the religious and civil liber- ties we possess, and to whom these valuable privileges, under God and the King, are owing, we should be wanting to our- selves, and them that we represent, did we not do justice to the memory of thy worthy ancestor, a man of principles truly humane, an advocate of religion and liberty. What may we not hope for from the son of so great a man, educated under his care, and influenced by his example ! May his de- scendants inherit his virtues as well as his estate, and long continue a blessing to Pennsylvania." To which he returned this answer: " I return you my hearty thanks for this affec- tionate address. The kind regard you express for the memory
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of my father is most agreeable to me; and, as it was always his desire, so it is strongly my inclination, to do everything in my power to promote the happiness and prosperity of this Province."
Not long after the arrival of the latter, Governor Gordon was advised from London, that Lord Baltimore had made application to the king to have the three Lower Counties trans- ferred from the dominion of Pennsylvania to that of Mary- land. Richard Penn, the only one of the Proprietors re- maining in England, and a deputation of Quakers, protested against this ; but lest this opposition should fail, John Penn determined to return to England, to defend the Proprietary interests at Court, and soon after took his departure from the Colony, to which he never again returned, having died, un- married, in October, 1746, leaving his share of the Colony to his brother Thomas.
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