USA > Pennsylvania > The history of Pennsylvania from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 10
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As in his former dispute, which was with the assembly, Mr. Logan had repaired to England
166
HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
[1722.
for advice and assistance, so did he in this di- lemma. He returned with new and peremptory instructions from Mrs. Penn and her advisers, sustaining the dismissed secretary in every par- ticular, and enjoining Keith to reinstate Logan in all his offices-to make no speech, send no message, return no bills, and pass no law without the assent of a majority of the council. Mrs. . Penn also condemned the issue of paper money, and found nothing in Keith's administration to approve, except his Indian treaties, and even of these the merit was given to the council. The trustees added a letter to Governor Keith, in which they intimated that, if disputes must be had, he might not always be a party to them. His continuance in office they told him was only in the willingness of Hannah Penn that he should have a further trial, and the result depended on his adherence to her instructions. If question rose, they added, "there is sufficient power to end all disputes with thee about it."
These letters and instructions were the more unpalatable from being brought to him by Lo- gan. Keith was a man of no small penetration, as his course indicated. He thought probably that Logan's failure to procure his removal was not due to Hannah Penn's "willingness to give him further trial," but to the want of con- currence among the parties interested, the estate being still in litigation. He felt assured that
167
DISPUTE WITH KEITH.
1722.]
Logan and Mrs. Penn would have removed him instantly if they could have done it. His posi- tion was fortified by the prosperous state of the province and his personal popularity. Instead of conforming to his instructions, he refused to reinstate Logan. He justified his course in a letter to Hannah Penn, in which he alluded to the security which he had given, in accordance to Act of Parliament, that he would obey the royal instructions; and maintained that to admit the veto of the council in legislation would be to invade the royal prerogative.
The letters he had received, with his reply, he communicated to the assembly. Logan also memorialized that body. David Lloyd, Logan's old antagonist, now chief-justice of the province, published a long opinion adverse to the council and supporting the governor. Keith himself replied to Logan, and the whole public became interested in the dispute. The assembly sided with the governor, highly approved of his con- duct, voted him a thousand pounds, and de- spatched a remonstrance to the widow of the proprietary.
Keith was victor, but his position was pre- carious. His strength lay in the fact that he was nominally appointed by William Penn, and that the administratory powers of his widow, assumed during the pendency of the suit at law, were of too doubtful a tenure to embolden her
168
HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1726.
to remove him without the consent of all the claimants under the will, and the trustees of the estate under the mortgage. Keith's enemies in England were active; the proprietary influence in the province, led by Logan, was more powerful in England than in the province; and the in- fluence of the Friends was brought to bear against him by artful misrepresentations-or at best by misconstructions of his conduct. A way was discovered to procure unanimity among the representatives of Penn. They agreed upon a successor; and, to avoid the questions which might arise out of his appointment by Hannah Penn, 'Springett Penn, the grandson of the founder, and his heir-at-law, proposed him to the crown, and he was appointed. Rumours of this proposed change reached the province before the official intelligence, and it is intimated were com- municated to members of the legislature, but con- cealed from Keith. The waning fortunes of the governor were manifest in the coolness of the assembly. Keith desired a vote approbatory of his course in relation to the dispute with the council and proprietaries. This vote, after delay. was reluctantly granted, and expressed in cold terms. They further displayed their changing
humour by granting only four hundred pounds
toward his support for the year 1726. This injustice stung him to the quick, and caused his first angry message to the assembly. Before the
169
KEITH AND FRANKLIN.
1726.]
house replied, the new governor, Patrick Gordon, Esq., arrived, and Keith was superseded. Go- vernor Gookin, Keith's predecessor, in his last message to the legislature pleaded his personal wants. Keith had too much manliness to do this, and the house not gratitude enough to pro- vide for him without. So the connection, so long agreeable and courteous, terminated in coldness, if not in disgust. Probably an unwillingness to protract the difference with the proprietary family was the principal motive for this neglect of Keith, who certainly deserved well at the hands of the assembly. Franklin, by whose au- tobiography a very unpleasant idea of Keith's character is preserved, and who can be suspected of no partiality for the man, says he was a good governor for the people, though not for the pro- prietaries. He certainly differed from them in his views of policy, and did not always regard his instructions. But the general prosperity of the colony was never greater under any deputy- governor than under Governor Keith; and no administration was more quiet and effective.
Benjamin Franklin has given Sir William Keith a wider range of fame than any other pro- vincial governor possessed. The Boston printer boy arrived in Philadelphia in 1723; and a letter written by him falling under Keith's notice, the governor had discernment enough to discover his capacity, and friendship enough for him to desire
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170
HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1726.
to encourage it. A boy of seventeen years takes proffers of service and friendship very literally, and follows openings of business with pertinacious industry. Though the autobiography of Frank- lin would lead us to suppose that Keith wilfully sent him to London on a bootless errand, we must acquit Keith of any deliberate purpose to play such a "pitiful trick." No doubt, like many other men of plausible presence and easy humour, he promised more than he was always capable of performing, and shuffled when he should have been frank. He promised Frank- lin letters of credit in London which Franklin never received, and the young man sailed with the impression that the letters were on board. Whether Keith found that he had « no credit to give," and being ashamed to confess it, intended the lad should work his own way; or whether he forgot his promise in the hurry of his corre- spondence; or did actually write letters which Franklin missed, are points which Franklin might himself have settled by writing back to Keith from London, or by demanding an explanation on his return to Philadelphia. As he did neither, we know nothing more of the acquaintance of Keith and Franklin, than that the former opened to young Franklin an episode in life which cer- tainly did him no harm, and laid the foundation of some useful acquaintances.
1726.] .
HANNAH PENN'S LETTER.
171 .
CHAPTER X.
Answer of Hannah Penn to the assembly's remonstrance-
Reflection upon Keith-Close of his life-Arrival of Governor Gordon-Quiet temper of the assembly-Affirmations-Salt tax abolished-Agent in England appointed-His useful- ness and efficiency-Franklin commences business in Phila- delphia-New emission of paper-Franklin's efforts to pro- mote it-Opposition of proprietaries-Franklin clerk of the house-Commencement of the Philadelphia Library-Indian treaty expenses-Land purchases-Lancaster county set off from Chester-Question of toleration of Roman Catho- lic worship-The court of chancery abolished-Arrival of Thomas and John Penn-An unlucky poet-Death of Go- vernor Gordon-Logan president-Boundary dispute with Maryland.
TOGETHER with Governor Gordon came a very well-written letter of Hannah Penn in answer to the remonstrance of the house, addressed to the proprietary family, during the controversy with Keith. In this letter, the widow charged upon Keith the procuring of that remonstrance with a view to wresting the government out of the hands of the family of Penn. " I do assure you," she wrote, "it is not easy for me to say whether for your safety or my own I am better pleased that this attempt upon the rights of the family and your privileges has proved unsuccess- ful; and without saying any more of that piece
172
HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1726.
of management, I hope we shall all of us learn to cultivate and maintain so entire an agree- ment, and mutual good understanding, as may preservé us from ever becoming a prey to de- signing men; who, it is evident, (notwithstanding their fair practices,) consider none of us in any other light than to serve their own ends and purposes, even though at the expense of all that is dear to us." She defended her instructions to Keith on the ground that they were in effect the same that had been given by her husband to all his deputies. The letter produced a sooth- ing effect upon the public mind.
Whether the charge alleged by Mrs. Penn against Keith was well founded or not, there is no doubt that Hannah Penn believed it; and Keith by his subsequent conduct proved that he was not incapable of entertaining such an inten- · tion. He obtained a seat in the assembly, and endeavoured with all his address to embarrass the government. But as he talked out of the house, with a great deal of vanity, of his plans for subverting all the proprietary governments, and declared his intention of embarrassing the Penn family till they should sell to the crown, and he obtain a re-appointment, his own folly defeated his influence, and he returned to England poor and disappointed. Franklin, in his characteristic style, thus refers to the close of Keith's life :- "There is no man long or much conversant in
173
GOVERNOR GORDON.
1726.]
this overgrown city, [London,] who hath not often found himself in the company of the shades of departed governors, doomed to wander out the residue of their lives, full of the agonizing re- membrance of their past eminence, and the severe sensation of present neglect. Sir William Keith, upon his return, was added to this unfortunate list; concerning whom the least that can be said is, that either none but men of fortune should be appointed to serve in such dignified offices, or otherwise that, for the honour of government itself, such as are recalled, without any noto- rious imputation on their .conduct, should be preserved from that wretchedness and con- tempt which they have been but too frequently permitted to fall into for want even of a proper subsistence."
Governor Gordon was well advanced in years when he arrived. He was discreet and peace- able; and though some important questions arose during his administration, he managed to escape contention with the people and the council and proprietaries. Keith's administration was happy in its fruits for his successor. The very dis- turbance between him and the council ministered to peace ; for all the parties discovered that, being in a peculiar position, they were obliged to waive questions of abstract right and nice political dis- cussions for quiet's sake-just as sensible parties to any contract, finding themselves not so well 15*
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· 174
HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1726.
fixed as they could desire, will adhere to a bar- gain, inconvenient in some respects, rather than risk all by throwing it up. Convinced of the good intentions of Penn to his colony, the people were fain to overlook the natural anxiety of the - proprietors to guard their own interest, and were willing generally to concede that the proprietors and people had a common stake in the well-being of the province. The long-mooted question about affirmations was determined by an act passed in the province during the close of Keith's ad- ministration, and duly ratified in London. The privilege of importing salt duty free, enjoyed by other colonies, was conceded to Pennsylvania by Keith's instance; and the province, having no complaints to make, or privileges to ask, moved on quietly and in prosperity. The only dis- turbance was some Indian encounters near Co- nestoga, in which bloodshed occurred; but further evil consequences were for the present averted by treaty and presents. Some apprehensions were also entertained of French interference with the Western territory, it being discovered that visits were exchanged between the French and Shawanese Indians, French agents coming to the territory of Pennsylvania, and the visit being returned by an Indian deputation to Montreal. The authorities of the province were put on the alert by these discoveries, but nothing decisive was effected.
175
AGENT APPOINTED.
1727.]
The relations of the province with the royal government were, on the whole, satisfactory. Upon the accession of George II. in 1727, the proper congratulatory addresses were forwarded. An admission of the necessity of the late pro- prietary's (William Penn) continued residence in London, was made in the appointment of a resident agent in London. So much inconvenience had been suffered since the illness, and particularly since the death of Penn, by the want of a voice at court, that this arrangement seemed highly . necessary. It proved very salutary and useful, and was continued down to the time of the Revo- lution. The agent was the special minister of the assembly, to whom he reported. The pro- prietaries took care of their own interests. Penn's sons had neither his intellect or enlarged views of policy ; and though affection for the founder's person, and respect for his talents, prevented the thought of such a measure during his life, these considerations could not operate to such an extent in relation to his children. The first provincial agent was John Fernando Paris ; and his services were efficient and his movements discreet. In connection with the other colonial proprietors and agents, he suc- ceeded in averting a proposed order that all provincial laws should be inoperative until they
, had received the royal sanction. This order would have been detrimental in the highest de-
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176
HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1729.
F
gree to the interests of the colonies. In Penn- sylvania, as in other colonies, laws went into operation as soon as enacted. If the royal as- sent was repressed, the law could be modified and re-enacted; and thus, except in a few marked and especial cases, the royal revision was prac- tically inoperative. The English colonial policy was guided by the Board of Trade; and the worst burden of colonial dependence was found in the restriction of colonial industry, for the benefit of the English merchants and manufac- turers.
Benjamin Franklin had now returned from his visit to London, and in 1725 commenced business as a printer in Philadelphia. In 1729 he obtained possession of the Pennsylvania Ga- zette, a paper which had been unsuccessfully published a few months before it came into his hands. There had been another paper in the city for about ten years, and a printing press was in operation as early as 1686. It was principally reserved for Franklin, however, to show what effects can be produced upon public opinion by the skilful periodical writer. The Pennsylvania Gazette soon claimed attention ; and, as Franklin expresses it, "the leading men, seeing a newspaper now in the hands of those who could handle a pen, thought it convenient to oblige and encourage him." About this time the subject of an extension of the paper cur-
177
PAPER CURRENCY.
1731.]
rency began to excite attention. The old issue had been, to a great extent, redeemed and can- celled, and the people felt the need of a more abundant circulating medium. Franklin was in favour of the measure; and, to further it, wrote and printed a pamphlet on "The Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency." The pamphlet was well received, and the "outside pressure" upon the assembly to procure the desired emis- sion was strengthened by it. The proprietary interest opposed the measure-prudently, as ex- perience has shown-and consented only on con- dition that an equivalent should be provided for the depreciation of their quit-rents by the de- preciation of the currency. The sum issued amounted to eighty thousand pounds, which re- mained in circulation, under successive acts, until 1773, when the amount was largely increased. For Franklin's services in procuring the passage, he obtained the printing of the money. He was already printer to the house; and in 1736 was elected its clerk-a position which he made one of influence as well as profit. The Philadelphia Library, now one of the largest and best in the United States, dates from 1731, when its nucleus was formed by the deposit in one place, of such books as they could spare, by Franklin and his friends. The future statesman was then in his twenty-fifth year, and thus early he commenced his career of usefulness.
178
HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1732.
During Governor Gordon's time, a question was raised which afterward became a frequent source of disputes between the proprietary go- vernors and the people. In the making of Indian treaties, and in keeping up pacific relations with the aborigines, large sums were required to be expended for presents. These charges were in- curred by the province, except such as Penn personally incurred. By an act of the assembly in 1700, all purchases of Indians, except such as were made by Penn or his heirs and grantees, were declared void, and the sole right to pur- chase was thus restricted to the proprietary family. The assembly made a distinction in 1729 between the charges incurred in ordinary treaties and such as were made for the purchase of lands; insisting that the party who had the monopoly of the purchase should bear the ex- penses. The value of the proprietary lands had now risen from the original price to between forty and fifty dollars for the hundred acres, subject to a quit-rent of one penny an acre. The increasing population, and the large size of the counties in 1732, caused the erection of Lan- caster county out of the western part of Chester.
In 1732, by the death of Springett Penn, the heir-at-law, and Mrs. Hannah Penn, the assembly regarded Governor Gordon's authority closed ; but the arrival of a new commission, signed by John, Thomas, and Richard Penn, prevented
179
1732.] . NEW COMMISSION.
controversy on that subject. Controversy on no point appeared to be desired by him; and except in such claims as he was supported' by the pro- prietary interest against the assembly, he gene- rally yielded. . He felt it his duty to call the attention of his council to the open celebration of mass at a chapel in Walnut street, contrary to the statute. His council were of opinion that the statute did not extend to the province, and advised the governor to consult his superiors in England. No further proceeding was had in the matter. The services of the Romish church were undoubtedly performed in the province much earlier, since Penn, in a letter to Logan, in 1708, says : " With these is a complaint against your government, that you suffer public mass in a scandalous manner ; pray send the matter of fact, for ill use is made of it against us here." Governor Gordon's notice of the matter was un- doubtely caused by the popular fears of Roman Catholics as sympathizing with the French, and with the Indians suspected of being in the French interest. The Walnut-street chapel, however, remained undisturbed.
The new commission of Governor Gordon ex- pressly reserved to the crown the government of the territories now forming the State of Dela- ware. Another abridgment of the provincial governor's power took place in the abolition of the Court of Chancery. The assembly disco-
180
HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1734.
vered that the possession of the powers of chan- cellor by the governor was contrary to the charter. Pending the discussion Governor Gor- don died, and no subsequent governor took upon himself the office.
In 1732 Thomas Penn, one of the proprieta- ries, came to his province. He was met at Chester by Governor Gordon with a large con- course of gentlemen, whose unexpected civility quite discomposed the visitor. He was received at Philadelphia with discharges of canon from . the shipping and ringing of bells. Crowds paid their respects to him; and, among the rest, a worthy Welshman, who had prepared a compli- mentary address in verse, but so cold was his reception, that he withheld the poem. In de- scribing his interview, the poet says Thomas Penn spake but three sentences to him: "How dost do ?- Farewell .- The other door!" A cool · reception for an ambitious poet certainly-but the son had not the courtly ease of the father, and was undoubtedly more embarrassed by the crowd than they by him. Watson, who has preserved the anecdote, has in his possession the identical "copy of verses." In 1734, John Penn, "the American," came over, and was similarly received. His return to Europe was hastened by the intelligence that Lord Balti- more was making interest to obtain the territo- ries on the Delaware.
,
181
BOUNDARY DISPUTES.
1736.]
The administration of Governor Gordon was terminated by his death in 1736. The admi- nistration of the government devolved on the council, of which Logan was president, and it remained in his hands two years. As the charter vested the legislative power in the governor and assembly, in the absence of a governor there could be no legislation. With wise policy, to avoid jealousy, the assembly regularly met to advise the government, but enacted no laws. Ex- cept a few skirmishes between the sheriffs of Lan- caster and Baltimore county, Maryland, and cer- tain armed bands of volunteers, nothing of note occurred during Logan's administration. Settlers were harassed, blood was shed, captures were made, jails forced, and other illegal and foolish proceedings took place under nominal legal au- thority. A pause was put to these breaches of the peace by the arrival of an order of the king in council, requiring the respective governments to suppress disturbances, and refrain from grant- ing the lands in dispute till the king's pleasure should be further known. Difficulties still con- tinued, however, till the proprietaries made a compromise, in London, by which the contest of subordinates was abandoned without prejudice to the claims of their superiors. The result of this controversy has been anticipated in a pre- vious chapter of this work.
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182
HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1789.
CHAPTER XI.
Governor Thomas-His attempts to induce the assembly to make warlike preparations-Declaration of war between England and Spain-Instructions from England-The as- sembly frames a supply-bill, but adjourns without passing it -Enlistment of bond-servants-Disputes upon this subject -Refusal of the house to vote money until the servants were discharged-Thomas Penn supports the governor -- The merchants of Philadelphia and the council remonstrate with the assembly-The money bill passes, with conditions -The governor declines to avail himself of it-The house applies the money to the payment of masters who had lost their servants-Governor Thomas demands the equipment of armed vessels-The house refuses it-Thomas Penn re- turns to England-Quarrel about the appointment of a port physician-Governor Thomas sweeps his opponents from office-Election riot-Compromise between the governor and the assembly-Franklin's public services-Volunteer military preparations-Resignation of Governor Thomas.
GEORGE THOMAS, Esq., a planter of Antigua, was appointed governor of Pennsylvania in 1727. He had an unfortunate propensity for disputes, and a confidence in his controversial abilities, which led him into positions of contest with the assembly which he might readily, with a little prudence, have avoided. A disagreement between England and Spain, which commenced in 1737, ripened into open hostilities in 1739. While this
183
1740.]
GOVERNOR THOMAS.
probability of war was impending, Governor Thomas endeavoured to induce the assembly, principally composed of Quakers, to take mea- sures for the defence of the colony. The assem- bly declined to pass any laws for the establish- ment of a military service, and referred the governor to his own authority, as deputy of the captain-general, to organize the forces of the country from such citizens as were disposed to fight. Instead of availing himself of this intima- tion, Governor Thomas entered into a war of words with the assembly, during which the public business was neglected, and what was immediately irksome to the governor, his sup- port was withheld.
This state of affairs continued till official news of the declaration of war was received, in 1740, together with instructions from the throne which left enlistment for the service voluntary in Penn- sylvania, but required that the province should furnish transports and stores for the troops to be raised in the province, until they arrived at the place of rendezvous in the West Indies. The assembly pleaded their consciences against raising money for such a purpose, and Governor Thomas renewed the request in a different form, leaving the use of the money undesignated, otherwise than "for the king's use." The assembly framed a bill for granting a sum of money, but adjourn- ed before it was acted upon. Rumours of peace
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