USA > Pennsylvania > The Register of Pennsylvania : devoted to the preservation of facts and documents and every other kind of useful information respecting the state of Pennsylvania, Vol. XII > Part 33
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117
This preamble and resolution appears to be a separate act, having no connexion with the resolution for con- structing the feeder dam, adopted at a different time, although on the same day, acted upon after intervening business, appearing in the journal four pages apart from the first resolution, and adopted unanimously by the board, while the first was carried by a majority only. Taking it for what it thus appears to be, I see nothing in the measure which is forbidden by the law. Every thing on the face of these official acts appears to be in accordance with the law, if the acts are viewed sepa- rately as they appear upon the journal.
But, taking the two acts together, we find that there is an alteration in the place of forming the connexion, and that a dam is to be constructed above the Great Island, higher than six feet above low water mark. If the dam was directed to be constructed for the mere pur-
pose of forming the proposed connexion, and the com- missioners, the better to disguise their object and evade the proviso in the law limiting the heighth of the dam, have merely changed its name, giving it the empty " cognomen" of a " feeder dam" when in truth it is a con- nexion dam, the whole proceedings would without doubt be a criminal violation of the law. The illegality, if it exist at all, consists more in the motives than in the acts of the commissioners. If they have violated the law, in the premises, the violation consists in the application of a power given to them for one purpose to the accom- plishment of another object for which they have no au- thority so extensive. It is like the alleged unconstitution- ality of the tariff laws. The opponents of the protective system admit that congress may lay duties for rerenue, but they deny the power of that body to lay duties for the purpose of protecting domestic industry. Congress pass an act appearing on its face to be for the purpose of revenue, but arranged in all its details, in such a manner as to accomplish the supposed unauthorized object of protection. Admitting their authority to be thus limited, the violation would consist in the conceal- ed motives of the members-in the improper applica- tion of a lawful power to an object over which they have no such power. In cases of this kind, where the violation depends upon the secret purposes of the per- sons exercising the authority, it is not competent for the courts to pronounce the act void for want of authority. Nor is it competent for the Auditor General to reject the vouchers offered by the superintendent, in the pre- sent case, for want of proper motives in the commis- sioners who have directed the expenditure, because there is no want of authority here. They have kept within the limits of their powers. If there is any thing wrong it is in the abuse of an authority unquestionably confided to them, and not in any attempt to exercise a power not confided. Whenever any officer, authoriz- ed to disburse the money of the state, transcends his authority, the public must look to the Auditor General to guard their finances, and to arrest the expenditure. But where the law has entrusted a discretionary au- thority, over a particular subject, to a certain body of men, so long as they keep within the limits of the power confided, the Auditor General can administer no relief against its improper exercise. It is not his duty to ar- raign their motives and to treat their acts as void, on the ground of a supposed abuse of a reposed authority. Drawing their authority from the same source with the Auditor General, they must answer for all abuses to the common superior-the representatives of the peo -? ple. If the canal commissioners have changed the lo- cation of the feeder dam for the purpose of evading the law relative to the Bald Eagle connexion, I know of no remedy in the Accountant Department. If an officer execute a writ, issued in pursuance of a judgment ap- pearing on the record to be within the jurisdic- tion of the tribunal"rendering the judgment, it is a jus- tification to him, notwithstanding the court may have abused its authority, or may have had in view the accomplishment of improper or rather proper but un- authorized objects. So if the superintendant have dis- bursed the public money, in pursnance of directions from the superior agents of the commonwealth, and those directions appear, upon their face, to be within the scope of the authority confided to his superiors, it is a justification to the former, notwithstanding the latter may have had an unauthorized object in view in giving those directions. It is only where the authority of the superior is transcended that the inferior is justified in refusing obedience, not where it is misapplied or abused.
To avoid all delay I have thrown these views hastily together in language loose and imperfect. I have full confidence however in the construction attempted to be enforced. Although a separate answer to each point is not given in the order in which they were pre- sented, still an answer to each will be found in some portion of what I have said. In order that I might be
1833.]
MISCELLANEOUS.
better understood, I may have gone further than requir- ed. If so, I rely upon your kind indulgence, for the unintentional trespass upon your attention.
Very respectfully, yours, &c.
ELLIS LEWIS.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOROUGH TOWN COUNCIL OF READING.
Thursday, August 6, 1833.
Council met at the Court House, pursuant to notice from the President. Present Messrs. Jackson, (Prest. ) Boas, Keim, Eckert, Kendall, Koch, and Arnold.
A petition was presented praying Council to grant the petitioners permission to build a culvert or bridge in the hollow in North Queen street, of certain dimen- sions therein stated, at their own expense, Council to furnish the stone, which was unanimously granted.
The committee that was appointed to inquire into the expediency of altering the names of some of the streets, report as follows, viz.
As the naming of the streets of the borough of Read- ing, occurred previous to the Revolution of 1776, and are deemed incompatible with the republican simplici- ty of our present form of government, your committee therefore suggest the following alterations as being more in conformity with the spirit of the times in which we live, and to the free institutions it is our happiness to sustain, viz.
The street running immediately on the bank of the river Schuylkill, to be called Water Street.
Bridge street,
Front do.
Treat 66
Second do.
King
Third do.
Queen 66
Fourth do.
Callowhill
Fifth do.
Prince
Sixth do.
Duke
Seventlı do.
Earl
Eighth do.
Clement
Ninth do.
Lord
Tenth do.
Vigour
Eleventh do.
STREETS RUNNING EAST AND WEST.
Centre street to be called
Penn Street.
Thomas «
Washing ton do.
Richard 66
Franklin do.
Hamilton
Chesnut do.
Margaret
Walnut do.
Whereupon it was unanimously, Resolved, That the above names of the streets be adopted.
Mr. Keim was appointed to have indexes at the cor- ners of the streets altered so as to agree with their pre- sent names. Adjourned.
Attest-
DAVID MEDARY, Town Clerk.
LIGHTNING .- On Tuesday afternoon, about six o'clock, during a heavy shower of rain, the Lightning struck the steeple of the German Reformed Church in this borough, and injured it so considerably that it is thought to be necessary to take down the wood work and re-build it. The lightning is supposed to have de- scended the rod or spire of the steeple, as a portion of the weather boarding at the top was burst off. In the square where the bells are hung much damage was done to the Venetian windows,one of which was knock- ed out, and large pieces of weather-boarding were torn off, as well as several pillars, one of which fell on the roof and broke a hole through it. In the balustade around the terrace, many of the balusters were broken off, and shattered into splinters. From the steeple the fluid descended to the church, and tore away part of the shingles and scorchied the cornice on the north east corner of the building. The bricks in the gable end at the east side of the church, are fractured and split, one of the large beams across the building one
foot by eight inches in size, was severed through and a part of the plaistering of the ceiling was broken off. The wood in several places was scorched and. blacken- ed by the heat, but no fire was discovered by those who entered the building immediately after the occur- rance of the accident. It is stated that the lightning is- sued from a cloud directly on the west of the church, and that it passed over the steeple of the Lutheran church, which stands within a hundred yards of the building struck, and which is considerably higher than the latter, though not yet completed. There was no lightning rod. - Reading paper of August 10th.
COURT. - The Court of Quarter Sessions of this coun- ty assembled on Monday last. A considerable amount of business was transacted on the first three days of the weck. The Grand Jury was discharged on Wednesday morning, and also the pettit jury with the exception of a single pannel detained for the trial of an issue ap- pointed for Thursday. No indictments were preferred for offences above the degree of Larceny, a circum - stance which speaks well for the moral condition of a population exceeding fifty thousand souls. The Presi- dent in his charge to the Grand Jury, adverted again to the expediency of some improvements in the county Prison, by which the benefits of the modern peniten- tiary system might be extended to this county .- Ib.
STONE COAL.
WELLSBOROUGH, Pa. July 13.
A coal bed has recently been discovered on Wilson creek, about seven miles south of this place, which bids fair to be of great value. Openings have been, and are now making, in several places In the mountain, and a considerable quantity of coal has been thrown out, spe- cimens of which have been shown us. The quality of this coal is the same as that of the Blossburg mines, and as the location is precisely on the same parallel and but about twelve miles west of these, there is no doubt but it is a continuation of the same strata. The thickness of one stratum has been ascertained to be five feet, of pure coal, corresponding with that of one of the Blossburg veins.
That our county abounds in mineral wealth, there is now not a remaining doubt; all that is wanting is suffi- cient enterprize among the inhabitants to open a road to market; and from the exertions that have been made by some individuals within the last few years, we think the time cannot be far distant, when this most desirable object will be accomplished. The Tioga rail road will, when completed, open a direct communication with the minesat Blossburg; and the country presents the great- est facilities for either a rail road or canal, to the newly discovered beds on Wilson creek, to lead either north or south; these beds being situated but one mile from the summit level of the ridge dividing the waters of the north and west branches of the Susquehanna. - Phenix.
ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. July 16.
A HEROINE,-An old maiden lady named Witman, of Montjoy township, near this borough, in the 80th year of her age, did, a few days ago, mow and make an acre of heavy grass into hay. Well may the county of Lan- caster be denominated the garden of America-when her fair daughters are able and willing, at such an age, to undergo such industry .- Olive Branch.
COLUMBIA, July 27.
THE WEATHER. - There has been some excessively warm weather since our last. On Saturday the ther- mometer stood at 88° in the shade; on Sunday at 86; on Monday at 93; on Tuesday at 87; and on Wednesday it was as high as 94. This latter is said to have been the warmest day experienced in Columbia for ten years past, as tested by a thermometer which has hung in the same place for that time.
We learn that the heat of Wednesday proved fatal to
112
MISCELLANEOUS.
[AUGUST
two of the stage horses employed on the pike between Lancaster and Philadelphia.
On Thursday we had rain in abundance, since when the air has been cool and agreeable .- Spy.
From the Uniontown Democrat. FAYETTE SPRINGS,
Situated in the Mountains, on the east side of the Laurel Hill, in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, eight miles east from Uniontown, and about one third of a mile from the great National Road.
The water of this spring has been analyzed, and found to possess qualities highly medicinal. Its loca- tion is in a deep glen, and the surrounding scenery is grand and picturesque-nature's wildness, just suffi- ciently modified by cultivation to relieve the monotony.
The mountain air is of that pure, bracing kind that comes upon the care and disease worn frame, like a fountain in the desert to the fainting wanderer,-a ve- ry seasonable and effectual relief.
The hotels near the spring, Wiggins' & Downer's, are of the best class, very capacious and well furnished. Their tables are well supplied,-if not with the ener- vating luxuries of the city, with mountain luxuries; just the kind that please the palate, while they impart health and vigor to the system. Every desirable ac- commodation is enjoyed, and on very reasonable terms.
The National road is now being put in fine order. Three lines of stages run upon it, passing the hotels, from the east and the west, four or five times every day.
If curiosity prompts the visitor he can, at two miles distance from the spring, view the grave of Braddock, and trace the road by which his army marched to their field of death. At a further distance of one mile, he can trace, in a meadow of the Mount Washington farm, the lines of Fort Necessity, where the youthful valor and prudence of our country's father gave the earnest of his future glorious success.
A few miles north east of the spring, by a delightful mountain ride, the admirer of nature's works may be gratified with a view of the " Ohio Pyle Falls" of the Youghiogheny river, -a very imposing sight.
Sporting propensities can be indulged by a great va- riety of game, from the fox to the pheasant. Abun- dance of the trout exist in the runs and creeks in the vicinity,-the catching of which is "capital sport;" the gust of eating them is known only in the act ; pen and ink cannot describe it,
In short, taking together the spring-the air-the hotels-the conveniences of arrival and departure-the objects of curiosity and admiration-the game and its attendant amusements, few places of summer resort, if any, so strongly invite a visit and a few weeks stay as does the Fayette Spring. If the female, enervated by the parched and foul air of the city or town, wishes to regain her healthful glow and pulse, let her visit the Fayette Spring. If the man of business, seeks a respite from anxiety, and desires to re possess that vigor of nerve and fulness of muscle, of which care and exer- tion have deprived him, -let him repair for a few weeks to the Fayette Spring in the mountains, where care and the pestilence may not reach him.
Several families and individuals from Pittsburg, Wheeling, Greensburg, Uniontown, and elsewhere have already been in attendance, and all concur in the re- presentations here given, and have determined to make the " Fayette Spring" a stated summer resort. Other visiters are daily expected.
July 26th, 1833.
A VISITOR.
To the Editor of the Miners' Journal.
quently met with than any portion of the United States, as densely settled or as contiguous to the sea-board.
As a party of assistants engaged under my direction in the location of the Philipsburg Rail Road were occu- pied, a few days since in protractions at their encamp- ment, information was given that an axe-man attached to the party had been bitten by a rattlesnake. One of the assistants, Mr. Henry Hopkins, of Massachusetts, immediately hastened to the spot, and applied his lips to the wound, sucking it for some time, and as long as it appeared to him that the treatment could be of any service. The hand and arm of the man nevertheless swelled excessively; but in the course of a day or two the swelling went down, and neither the assistant or the man have since experienced the slightest inconvenience. The case seems to be a very conclusive one in favor of the efficacy of such treatment, where an individual happens to be at hand sufficiently resolute to administer it, as the snake had been previously very much irritated, and the wound in the hand was a deep one. It is scarce- ly worth while to mention that the assistant took the precaution, after resigning his patients hand, of giving to his own mouth the benefit of a pretty thorough ablution.
Respectfully your ob't. servant,
MONCURE ROBINSON. Schuylkill co. Pa. August 8, 1833.
From the United States Gazette.
Mr. Chandler .- In looking over some private papers, I discovered the following account of the dimensions of the articles on Christ Church Steeple, if it will be any gratification to your readers, it is at your service, it was taken at the time when the steeple was undergoing some improvements, March 28th, 1826.
Yours, &c. W. H. D.
Length of the Vane 7 feet 43 inches, widthi 2 feet 45 inches.
Heighth of the Cap 2 feet 43 inches, width at the bottom 1 foot 22 inches.
Circumference of the large ball 7 feet 7 inches, dia- meter 2 feet 6 2-3 inches.
Do. of the small balls 1 foot 10} inches, diameter 7 2-3 inches.
Distance from one ball to the other 3 feet 52 inches, The following is written on the Cap:
The right reverend William White, D. D. consecrat- ed first Bishop of the Episcopal Church of Pennsylva- nia, February 4th, 1787.
From Poulson's American Daily Advertiser.
The corner stone of the Commissioner's Hall of Moy- amensing, near Ninth and Christian streets, was laid on' the 6th August, amid a concourse of respectable inha- tants and citizens from the adjoining district. The' usual records containing the names of the officers of the . building and the district, &c., were read by the Presi- dent of the Board of Commissioners, and deposited within the foundation.
The ceremony was interesting and impressive, and after it was concluded, the assembled citizens, in con- sequence of the unfavorable state of the weather, ad- journed to the long room at the New Lebanon House, where, by the appointment of the Commissioners, an address was delivered by Henry Helmuth, Esq., their Clerk and Solicitor.
UNITED STATES MAIL .- Olden Times .- On the 20th of May, 1788, the Post Master General was directed to cause the mail to be regularly transported between the city of Philadelphia and the town of Pittsburg, once a fortnight, by the way of Lancaster, Yorktown, Carlisle, Chambersburg and Bedford.
There are now, we believe, four daily mails between Philadelphia and Pittsburg-three through this place,
Dear Sir-It occurs to me that a communication of the following incident may be of value in this section of country, where the Rattlesnake is perhaps more fre. | and one through York and Gettysburg.
HAZARD'S REGISTER OF PENNSYLVANIA.
DEVOTED TO THE PRESERVATION OF EVERY KIND OF USEFUL INFORMATION RESPECTING THE STATE.
EDITED BY SAMUEL HAZARD.
VOI .: XII .- NO. 8. PHILADELPHIA, AUGUST 24, 1833. NO. 295.
WILLIAM PENN.
The following remarks form a portion of a review of a work published in London in 1827, entitled "The His- tory of the Rise and Progress of the United States of North America, till the British Revolution in 1688; by James Grahame, Esq." They are extracted from the " American Quarterly Review of December 1832:" and are in reply, as the reviewer observes, to "a concession" made by Mr. Grahame, " of the merits of Penn in terms too much qualified, and with insinuations, which imply unwarrantable selfishness and injustice."
" The origin of Pennsylvania points directly to the honour of its founder. Wo to the man of letters, who would substitute indiscriminate eulogy for reflection, and degrade the art of writing into a traffic of flattery! But we may praise the dead; we may praise the excel- dent: we may vindicate the memory of those who led the van of honourable action in the establishment of our country, and in the contest for tolerance and vir- tue.
It has been objected to Penn, that he was subservient to the court of a despotic sovereign; but he was ever the intrepid defender of freedom of conscience: he did his utmost, for example, to promote the election of Al. gernon Sydney to parliament: and he strenuously re- sisted the encroachments of the Duke of York upon the rights of the colonists of New Jersey.
It is made a cause of censure, that Penn joined with the other proprietaries of East Jersey in surrendering the jurisdiction of that province to the king; but when it is considered, in how many hands the jurisdiction was wested, what singular disputes had arisen, what trans- fers and assignments had been made of proprietary pro- perty in New Jersey, it does not seem reasonable to ascribe the surrender to pusillanimity, when it may have been essential to the safety of the colony. A nu- merous partnership, a landed aristocracy, a close cor- poration of proprietaries, seem the least favourable sovereignty that can be imagined. And there remained no choice but to imitate the democracies of New Eng- land, (which would have been impossible, ) or to give up to the crown the jurisdiction of the territory. The example of Carolina proves that a proprietary govern- ment, in the hands of a company, was the worst form established in America.
It is said that Penn did not show horror enough at the execution of Cornish and others; and condemned the conduct of James in terms too moderate. " The king is greatly to be pitied for the evil counsels that hurry him to the effusion of blood." And was he not greatly to be pitied? The expression of Penn implies that the measures of cruelty were alike wicked and un- wise. We find nothing in his remark to justify cavil- ling. And what if it be true, that Jeffreys, after the revolution, attempted to excuse himself, by declaring that the court had desired greater severities, and " had snubbed him for being too merciful?" Is the testimony of Jeffreys, the culprit, in self-justification, and after his own overthrow and imprisonment-is such testimony to be believed?
VOL. XII.
The reservation of quit-rents is charged upon Penn, as being inconsistent with his lofty design of making "a holy experiment, and setting an example to the na- tions." It is said, he should have avoided mingling the care for his private estate with his purpose as a founder of a colony. It is true that Penn designed to promote his own fortunes while he secured an asylum for the persecuted. He spent money lavishly, and he expect- ed returns. Was it not just and proper that he should? He exposed himself to no reproach, unless he exacted un. reasonable terms. But that he could not well have done; since his lands were in competition with a continent. In reserving a quit-rent he erred on the score of prudence: when the United States sold lands in the west on credit, they created a body of debtors, united and having a common interest to defeat or diminish the claim of the creditor; in like manner, the purchasers of Penn were almost unanimously aggrieved by the stipulation into which they had entered: and an unwise contract fur- nished a perpetual source of jarring and discord. It may be, there was in the case an error of judgment; whether there was a blameable covetousness, or on which side the covetousness existed, depends not upon the fact of a reservation of quit-rents, but upon the whole view of the bargain between the proprietary and the purchasers.
Again: it is said, that Penn advocated the perpetuity of bad laws, by " his general anathema against all re- sistance to constituted authority." In the first place, we answer, Penn did not deal in anathemas: and in the next piace, he did not denounce all resistance; quite the reverse; he denounced resistance by force of arms, but he favoured passive resistance to injustice. The Quaker doctrine is often a wise one. It is no idle phan- tom, but a principle, capable of disconcerting the strongest government that ever ventured upon the com- mission of wrong. Will you have an example? Look at Ireland at this moment; where a British parliament and a Reform ministry cannot collect the tithes. The policy of O'Connell is a true Quaker policy; he offers no resistance, but quietly omits to pay tithes for the support of a church to which he does not belong; and if we read rightly the signs of the times, he will in the issue gain the victory. He will have "refused to suffer bad laws," will have refused successfully, and all with- out resistance.
But it is charged upon Penn, that he coveted the lands of Lord Baltimore. We are not on this head dis- posed to quarrel with the decision of the Lord Chancel- lor Hardwicke; and since the tribunals of England, wholly disinterested, refused to give a literal enforce- ment of the claims of Lord Baltimore, there is hardly room for treasuring up an accusation against the memo- ry of Penn. Be it, that he was "very intent on his own interest in these parts;" that is to his honour, if he respected justice. "I would not be thus impor- tunate," says he, " but to serve s province; because the thing insisted on was more than ninety nine times more valuable to me than to him; to me, the head; to him, the tail." Now it is distorting the plain meaning of Penn, to say, that he here claims the territory in dis- pute, on the ground of his needing it. He is but offering an excuse for his inflexibility in maintaining what he defends as his right by other arguments.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.