USA > Virginia > Exiles in Virginia : with observations on the conduct of the Society of Friends during the revolutionary war ; comprising the official papers of the government relating to that period. 1777-1778 > Part 7
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
"I do swear (or affirm) that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as a free and independent State,"-shall be discharged.
I am, respectfully, your very humble servant,
TIMOTHY MATLACK, Secretary.
To Colonel Wm. Bradford.
The committee appointed to prepare an address to the peo- ple, reported an essay, which was, with some amendments, agreed to, and a fair copy transcribed and signed. It was proposed to insert the same in the Evening Post ; the printer being sent for, a conversation ensued which we thought it might be proper to add hereafter by way of postscript to our address. In the evening we sent for Robert Bell, and agreed with him to publish it in a pamphlet, as follows, to wit.
86
EXILES FROM PENNSYLVANIA.
AN ADDRESS TO THE INHABITANTS OF PENNSYLVANIA,
By those Freemen of the City of Philadelphia, who are now confined in the Masons' Lodge by virtue of a General Warrant. Signed in Council by the Vice President of the Council of Pennsylvania.
Philadelphia, printed by Robert Bell, Third Street, 1777.
" The political liberty of the subject is a tranquillity of mind arising from the opinion each person has of his safety.
" In order to have this liberty, it is requisite that the govern- ment be so constituted that one man need not be afraid of another.
" When the legislative or executive bodies are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise lest the same monarch or senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner."-Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws, book ix. ch. vi.
Having in the course of the present week, laid before the public, some remonstrances which our present situation called on us to make to the President and Council, and in which we conceived you were equally (though not so immediately) con- cerned with ourselves, and perceiving that advantage is taken of our situation, to represent us to you, as men dangerous to the community : we think ourselves bound by the duty we owe to our country,-to our families,-to those who have heretofore held us in esteem,-and to the general welfare of society, to ad-
87
ADDRESS TO THE INHABITANTS.
dress you, and lay before you a particular statement of a most dangerous attack, which has been made upon the cause of civil and religious freedom, by confining, and attempting to banish from their tenderest connexions, a number of men who can, without boasting, claim to themselves the characters of upright and good citizens.
For some time past, it has been a subject of public conver- sation, that lists were made out of great numbers of the citi- zens of Philadelphia, who were to be confined for offences supposed to have been committed against the interests of Ame- rica. These reports were generally supposed to arise from intemperate zeal and personal animosities; and until the at- tempt, which creates the necessity of calling your attention to us, little regard seemed to be paid to them.
But a few days since the scene opened, and we the subscri- bers were called upon by persons, not known as public officers of justice, to put our names to a paper, " promising not to de- part from our dwelling-houses, and to be ready to appear, on the demand of the President and Council of the State of Penn- sylvania, and to engage to refrain from doing any thing inju- rious to the United Free States of North America, by speaking, writing, or otherwise, and from giving intelligence to the com- mander of the British forces, or any other person whatever, concerning public affairs."
Conscious of our innocence in respect to the charges insinu- ated in this paper against us, and unwilling to part with the liberty of breathing the free air, and following our lawful busi- ness beyond the narrow limits of our houses, disclaiming to be considered in so odious a light, as men who by crimes had forfeited our common and inherent rights, we refused to be- come voluntary prisoners, and rejected the proposal. We de- manded with that boldness which is inseparable from innocence, to know by what authority they acted, of what crimes we were accused meriting such treatment; and though to some of us the small satisfaction was given, of acquainting us they acted in pursuance of a recommendation of Congress, and to
88
EXILES FROM PENNSYLVANIA.
others was read part of a warrant from the President and Council, yet not one of us was allowed the indisputable right of either reading or copying it. Although the great number of messengers employed in the execution of this warrant, and of the persons who were the objects of it, varied some of the cir- cumstances attending it, yet the general tenor of their conduct was uniform, and marks the spirit which actuated them. We were all, upon our refusal to subscribe, either immediately, or in some short time conducted to this place, where we remained in close confinement, under a military guard, for twenty-four hours, expecting to be informed of the cause of our being taken, and to have an opportunity of defending ourselves ; but finding no notice taken of us by our persecutors, we at length unitedly demanded of one of the principal messengers, a copy of the warrant, by virtue of which we were seized, in order that we might know from thence, what heinous crimes were charged on us, to justify such rigorous treatment. After con- sulting his employers, and causing some delay, he thought pro- per to grant our demand; but how were we astonished to find a general warrant, specifying no manner of offence against us, appointing no authority to hear and judge whether we were guilty or innocent, nor limiting any duration to our confine- ment. Nor was this extraordinary warrant more exceptiona- ble in these respects, than in the powers given to the messen- gers to break and search not only our own, but all the houses their heated imaginations might lead them to suspect. It would be tedious to remark all the gross enormities contained in this engine of modern despotism; we therefore present you with a copy, from a bare perusal of which you will form a better idea of the arbitrary spirit it breathes, than from any description we could possibly give of it.
IN COUNCIL.
Philadelphia, August 31, 1777.
Whereas, the Congress of the United States of North Ame- rica, have by their resolve of the 28th instant, August, recom-
89
ADDRESS TO THE INHABITANTS.
mended to the executive powers of the several States, to ap- prehend and secure all persons, who have in their general con- duct and conversation evidenced a disposition inimical to the cause of America, particularly, Joshua Fisher, Abel James, James Pemberton, Henry Drinker, Israel Pemberton, John Pemberton, John James, Samuel Pleasants, Thomas Wharton, sen., Thomas Fisher, and Samuel Fisher, (sons of Joshua,) to- gether with all such papers in their possession as may be of a political nature, and that the persons so seized be confined in such places, and treated in such manner, as shall be consistent with their respective characters, and the security of their per- sons,-and that the records and papers of the Meetings of Suffer- ings of the Society of the people called Quakers, in the several States, be forthwith secured, and such parts of them as may be of a political nature, be forthwith transmitted to Congress. And whereas, it is necessary for the public safety at this time, when a British army has landed in Maryland, with a professed design of enslaving this free country, and is now advancing toward this city, as a principal object of hostility, that such dangerous persons be accordingly secured, therefore, resolved, that a suitable number of the friends to the public cause, be authorized forthwith to seize and secure the persons of the said
*Joshua Fisher,
*Thomas Fisher, son of Joshua,
*Samuel Fisher, son of Joshua,
*Henry Drinker,
*Joseph Fox,
John James,
*Samuel Shoemaker,
*Miers Fisher,
*Adam Kuhn, M. D.,
*George Roberts,
*Rev. Thomas Combe,
*Owen Jones, jun.,
*Charles Jervis,
*Samuel Pleasants,
*James Pemberton,
*John Pemberton,
*Israel Pemberton,
William Druit Smith,
Alexander Stedman,
Charles Stedman, jun.,
William Lennox,
*Caleb Emlen,
*Charles Eddy,
*Thomas Pike,
*Thomas Ashton, merchant,
*Thomas Wharton, sen.,
90
EXILES FROM PENNSYLVANIA.
*Samuel Emlen,
*Samuel Jackson,
*Hugh Roberts,
William Smith, broker,
*William Smith, D. D.,
William Inlay,
*John Hunt,
*Jeremiah Warder,
*Samuel Murdock,
*Thomas Gilpin,
*Abel James,
*Edward Pennington,
Elijah Brown,
*Thomas Affleck.
*Phineas Bond,
Resolved, That the following instructions be also given :
Early attention should be given to John Hunt, who lives on the Germantown Road, about five miles off the city, and to John Pemberton, Samuel Emlen, and other leaders in the Society of Quakers, concerning books and papers; as to the rest, your own prudence must direct.
Congress recommends it, and we wish to treat men of repu- tation with as much tenderness as the security of their persons and papers will admit. We desire, therefore, that if the persons whose names in the list are marked thus *, offer to you by a promise in writing to remain in their dwelling-houses ready to appear on demand of Council, and meanwhile to re- frain from doing any thing injurious to the United Free States of North America, by speaking, writing, or otherwise, and from giving intelligence to the Commander-in-chief of the British forces, or any other person whatever concerning public affairs, you dismiss them from further confinement of their persons. But if such engagement, or a promise equivalent thereto, can- not be obtained, we desire that in such case you confine the refusers, together with the others to whose names the said mark is not prefixed, in some convenient place, under a guard, with which the town major, Colonel Nicola, will supply you. The Freemasons' Lodge may perhaps be procured ; it would serve as well as any other place for this purpose. You may per- ceive that Council would not without necessity commit many of the persons to the common jail or even to the state prison.
91
ADDRESS TO THE INHABITANTS.
Resolved, That the following persons be appointed and au- thorized to carry into execution the resolve of yesterday respect- ing the arresting such persons as are deemed inimical to the cause of American liberty, viz. :
William Bradford,
Lazarus Pine,
William Carson,
James Claypole,
Sharpe Delany,
Captain Burney,
William Heysham,
William Graham,
John Downey,
James Kerr,
John Purviance,
William Hardy,
John Galloway,
William Tharpe,
Joseph Blower,
Charles Wilson Peale,
John Lisle,
Captain M'Cullock,
Paul Coxe,
Nathaniel Donnell,
James Loughead,
Robert Smith,
Adam Kimmel,
Thomas Bradford,
James Cannon,
together with such persons as they shall call to their assistance. GEORGE BRYAN, Vice-President.
The power of search must necessarily extend to the opening of locks.
GEORGE BRYAN, Vice-President.
A true copy.
WILLIAM BRADFORD.
You will observe that the President and Council, who know our characters, and to whom (but for their prejudice and want of candour in this instance), we could have appealed for the innocence of our conduct and conversation, have not under- taken to charge us with any offence, but rely as a founda- tion for their proceedings, on the information contained in a recommendation of Congress, to whom the greater part of us are scarcely known but by name, and who must have formed
92
EXILES FROM PENNSYLVANIA.
the hard judgment they pronounced against us unheard, from reports whispered by our enemies.
Can any thing more decisively evidence the want of proof against us, and the injustice of the insinuations, than this stub- born incontrovertible fact ? We have demanded as a matter of right, to be heard before both those bodies, who have hitherto declined it. A demand reasonable in itself, founded on the immutable principles of equity, and warranted by the constitution under which the Council derive every power they claim.
The powers granted by this warrant are such, as in any free country, where the laws and not the will of the governors, are the standard of justice, would be reprobated, as overturning every security that men can rely on. Your houses, which by the law of the land, are your castles against invaders, your chambers, your closets, your desks, the repositories of your deeds, your securities, your letters of business or friendship, and other domestic concerns, which every man naturally wishes to keep within the circle of his own family, are permitted to be broken, searched, exposed to the prying eye of malignant curiosity, and all this without any well-founded cause of sus- picion. This is not declamation, nor an idle apprehension of imaginary grievances, but a true representation of what some of us have experienced, in the execution of this unprecedented commission. Nor can any man think himself safe, from the like, or perhaps more mischievous effects, if a precedent of so extraordinary a nature, be established by a tame acquiescence with the present wrong.
By perusing the following remonstrance, made to the Coun- cil, by three of us, you will find that application was made for relief from our oppressions.
A remonstrance this day presented to the President and Council by the hands of their secretary.
TO THE PRESIDENT AND COUNCIL OF PENNSYLVANIA.
The remonstrance of Israel Pemberton, John Hunt, and Samuel Pleasants, sheweth :
93
ADDRESS TO THE INHABITANTS.
That Lewis Nicola is about to deprive us of our liberty, by an order from you, of which the following is a copy, viz. :
" In Council, September 3d, 1777.
" Ordered, that Colonel Nicola, town major, do take a pro- per guard and seize Israel Pemberton, John Hunt, and Samuel Pleasants, and conduct them to the Freemasons' Lodge, and there confine them under guard till further orders."
We are advised, and from our own knowledge of our rights and privileges as freemen, are assured, that your issuing this order is arbitrary, unjust, and illegal, and we therefore believe it is our duty, in clear and express terms, to remonstrate against it.
The order appears to be arbitrary, as you have assumed an authority not founded on law or reason, to deprive us, who are peaceable men, and have never borne arms, of our liberty, by a military force, when you might have directed a legal course of proceeding. Unjust, as we have not attempted, nor are charged with any act inconsistent with the character we have steadily maintained as good citizens, solicitous to promote the real interest and prosperity of our country. And that it is illegal, is evident from the perusal and consideration of the constitution of the government from which you derive all your authority and power.
We therefore claim our undoubted right as freemen, having a just sense of the inestimable value of religious and civil liberty, to be heard, before we are confined in the manner directed by the said order; and we have the more urgent cause for insisting on this our right, as several of our fellow-citizens have been some days, and are now confined by your order, and no opportunity is given them to be heard; and we have been informed that it is your purpose to send them and us into a dis- tant part of the country, even beyond the limits of the jurisdic- tion you claim, and where the recourse we are justly and law- fully entitled to, of being heard and of clearing ourselves from any charge or suspicions you may entertain respecting us will be impracticable.
94
EXILES FROM PENNSYLVANIA.
We fervently desire you may be so wise as to attend to the dictates of truth and justice in your own minds, and observe the precepts of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom you profess to believe in-" All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do you even so unto them," (Matthew vii. 12,) and then we have no doubt you will comply with this just claim we make, which will be duly acknowledged by your real friends and well-wishers.
ISRAEL PEMBERTON, JOHN HUNT, SAMUEL PLEASANTS.
Philadelphia, 4th of 9th month, 1777.
We, the subscribers, attended at the door of the Council chamber, and made application, by the Secretary, to be ad- mitted, in order to deliver our remonstrance, to which we could, after repeated applications, obtain no other answer than that " Council had issued the arrest in consequence of a resolve of Congress, and cannot now admit you to be heard."
We therefore delivered our remonstrance to the Secretary, and waited until he came out on another occasion, and told us " it had been read to the Council, and they afterwards pro- ceeded to other business which was before them." Imme- diately after which we were conducted by Lewis Nicola to the Freemasons' Lodge, where we are now confined, with a number of our fellow-citizens, with whom we have joined in a more full remonstrance to the President and Council ; and this evening William Bradford came to us, and read to us a letter of which the following is a copy, viz. :
SIR,
Council have resolved to send the prisoners now confined in the Freemasons' Lodge, to Staunton, in the county of Au- gusta, in the state of Virginia, there to be secured and treated in such manner as shall be consistent with their respective characters, and the security of their persons; which you are requested to communicate to them, and inform them that car-
95
ADDRESS TO THE INHABITANTS.
riages will be provided for their accommodation on the journey, unless they choose to provide themselves therewith. It is pro- posed they go off Saturday morning next.
I am, with great respect, Your humble servant, TIMOTHY MATLACK,
For Col. Wm. Bradford. Secretary.
Thursday, Sept. 4th, 1777.
The above is a true copy of the letter I received this even- ing from Timothy Matlack.
WILLIAM BRADFORD.
By the letter published at the foot of it, you will see what are the ideas of justice entertained by the Council. Instead of the required hearing-to avoid such application, they resolved to banish us unheard, into an obscure corner of a country nearly three hundred miles distant from our parents, our wives, our children, our dear and tender connexions, friends, and acquaint- ance, to whom we owe, and from whom we expect protection, assistance, comfort, and every endearing office, to a country, where the President and Council have no pretence of jurisdic- tion, from whence we may be liable to be further banished.
Before the receipt of that letter, we had prepared and sent the following remonstrance :
TO THE PRESIDENT AND COUNCIL OF PENNSYLVANIA.
The remonstrance of the subscribers, freemen and in- habitants of the city of Philadelphia, now confined in the Free- masons' Lodge,
Sheweth :
That the subscribers have been by virtue of a warrant signed in Council, by George Bryan, Vice-President, arrested in our houses, and on our lawful occasions, and conducted to this place, where we have been kept in close confinement, under a strong military guard, two or more days; and although
96
EXILES FROM PENNSYLVANIA.
divers of us demanded of the messengers who arrested us, and insisted on having copies of the said warrant, yet we were not able to procure the same till this present time, but have re- mained here unaccused and unheard.
We now take the earliest opportunity of laying our griev- ances before your body, from whom we apprehend they pro- ceed, and of claiming to ourselves the liberties and privileges to which we are entitled, by the fundamental rules of justice- by our birthright and inheritance-by the laws of the land-and by the express provision of the present constitution, under which your board derives their power.
We apprehend that no man can lawfully be deprived of his liberty without a warrant from some persons having competent authority, specifying an offence against the laws of the land, supported by oath or affirmation of the accuser, and limiting the time of his imprisonment, until he is heard, or legally dis- charged, unless the party be found in the actual perpetration of a crime. Natural justice, equally with law, declares that the party accused should know what he is to answer to, and have an opportunity of showing his innocence. These prin- ciples are strongly enforced in the ninth and tenth sections of the Declaration of Rights, which form a fundamental and in- violable part of the Constitution from which you derive your power, wherein it is declared-
" IX .- That in all prosecutions for criminal offences, a man hath a right to be heard by himself and his counsel, to demand the cause and nature of his accusation, to be confronted with the witnesses, to call for evidence in his favour, and a speedy public trial by an impartial jury of the country, without the unanimous consent of which jury he cannot be found guilty, nor can he be compelled to give evidence against himself, nor can any man be justly deprived of his liberty except by the laws of the land, or the judgment of his peers.
" X .- That the people have a right to hold themselves, their houses, papers, and possessions, free from search or seizure, and therefore warrants without oaths or affirmations first made, affording a sufficient foundation for them, and whereby any
97
ADDRESS TO THE INHABITANTS.
officer or messenger may be commanded or required to search suspected places, or to seize any person or persons, his or their property, not particularly described, are contrary to that right, and ought not to be granted."
How far these principles have been adhered to in the course of this business, we shall go on to show.
Upon the examination of the said warrant, we find it is in all respects inadequate to these descriptions; altogether un- precedented in this or any other free country, both in its sub- stance and the latitude given to the messengers who were to execute it, and wholly subversive of the very constitution you profess to support. The only charge on which it is founded, is a recommendation of Congress to apprehend and secure all persons who in their general conduct and conversation have evidenced a disposition inimical to the cause of America, and particularly naming some of us ; but not suggesting the least offence to have been committed by us.
It authorizes the messengers to search all papers belonging to us, upon a bare possibility that something political may be found, but without the least ground for a suspicion of the kind.
It requires papers relative to the sufferings of the people called Quakers to be seized, without limiting the search to any house or number of houses, under colour of which every house in the city might be broken open.
To the persons whom the Congress have thought proper to select, the warrant adds a number of the inhabitants of the city, of whom some of us are part ; without the least insinua- tion that they are within the description given by the Congress in their recommendation.
It directs all these matters to be executed (though of the highest importance to the liberties of the people), at the dis- cretion of a set of men who are under no qualification for the due execution of the office, and are unaccustomed to the forms of executing civil process, from whence, probably, have pro- ceeded the excesses and irregularities committed by some of them, in divers instances, by refusing to give copies of the
7
98
EXILES FROM PENNSYLVANIA.
process to the parties arrested; by denying some of us a reasonable time to consider of answers, and prepare for con- finement. In the absence of others, by breaking our desks and other private repositories, and by ransacking and carrying off domestic papers, printed books, and other matters not within the terms of the warrant. It limits no time for the duration of our imprisonment, nor points at any hearing, which is an abso- lute requisite to make a legal warrant, but confounds in one warrant the power to apprehend and the authority to commit, without interposing a judicial officer between the parties and the messenger.
Upon the whole, we conceive this warrant and the proceed- ings thereupon, to be far more dangerous in its tendency, and a more flagrant violation of every right which is dear to freemen, than any act that can be found in the records of the English Constitution.
But, when we consider the use to which this general warrant has been applied, and the persons upon whom it has been executed, (who challenge the world to charge them with offence,) it becomes of too great magnitude to be considered as the cause of a few. It is the cause of every inhabitant, and may, if permitted to pass into a precedent, establish a system of arbitrary power, unknown but in the Inquisition, or the despotic courts of the East.
What adds further to the alarming stretch of power is, that we are informed that the Vice-President of the Council has de- clared to one of the magistrates of the city, who called on him to inquire into the cause of our confinement, that we were to be sent to Virginia unheard.
Scarcely could we believe such a declaration could have been made by a person who fills the second place in the govern- ment, till we were this day confirmed in the melancholy truth by three of the subscribers, whom you absolutely refused to hear in person, or by counsel. We would remind you of the complaints urged by numbers of yourselves against the Par- liament of Great Britain, for condemning the town of Boston
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.