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 8
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
99
ADDRESS TO THE INHABITANTS.
unheard, and we call upon you to reconcile your present con- duct with your then professions, or your repeated declarations in favour of general liberty.
In the name therefore of the whole body of the freemen of Pennsylvania, whose liberties are radically struck at in this arbitrary imprisonment of us, their unoffending fellow-citizens, we demand an audience, that so our innocence may appear, and persecution give place to justice. But if, regardless of every sacred obligation by which men are bound to each other in society, and of that constitution by which you profess to govern, which you have so loudly magnified for the free spirit it breathes, you are still determined to proceed, be the appeal to the righteous Judge of all the earth, for the integrity of our hearts, and the unparalleled tyranny of your measures.
James Pemberton,
Henry Drinker,
Thomas Wharton,
Phineas Bond,
Thomas Combe,
Thomas Gilpin,
Edward Pennington,
John Pemberton,
Thomas Pike,
Thomas Fisher,
Owen Jones, jun.,
Miers Fisher,
Thomas Affleck,
Charles Eddy,
Charles Jervis,
Israel Pemberton,
William Smith, (broker,)
John Hunt,
William Druit Smith,
Samuel Pleasants,
Masons' Lodge, Philadelphia, September 4th, 1777.
N. B .- The three last subscribers were first attended by some of those who executed the general warrant; but after their remonstrance to the President and Council, were arrested by Lewis Nicola, and conducted to the Lodge, by a special order to him.
The foregoing remonstrance was delivered to Thomas Wharton, Jr., President, &c., last evening, who promised to lay it before Council, and send an answer to one of the gentlemen, who delivered it to him this morning ; but no answer has yet been received.
September 5th, half-past two o'clock, P. M.
100
EXILES FROM PENNSYLVANIA.
Thus the matter rested till about seven o'clock yesterday evening, when instead of returning an answer to our repeated demand of an hearing, which we still adhere to as our un- doubted right, the Secretary of the Council enclosed to William Bradford a copy of a new resolve, desiring him to acquaint us with it; wherein, without the least mention of supporting their insinuations against us, they shift the ground on which they set out, and propose a test to be taken by us, in full satis- faction of all their suspicions.
To this resolve we are preparing an answer, which we in- tend soon to lay before them ; and in the mean time, we beg you will avoid the being influenced by any anonymous publica- tions, which our adversaries, to draw our attention from the immediate object before us may utter against us, filled with falsehoods and misrepresentations, which it is apparent the authors would never have published, if they were not assured the printers would conceal their names.
Our attention is now engaged in a most important struggle for civil and religious liberty ; we therefore hope you will not expect us to waste that time in refuting such anonymous per- formances, which is wholly requisite for bringing this grand point to a proper conclusion. We cannot, however, wholly pass by a publication in the last Evening's Post, calculated to throw an odium on the just cause in which we are suffering. It is represented in that piece, that the Quakers are the prin- cipal objects of resentment, and the cause assigned is the issuing "seditious publications called testimonies," one of which they assert has been unseasonably published at two critical periods.
A single ray of Christian charity would be sufficient to show the uncandid construction put by that writer upon the exercise of those religious rights secured by the Constitution to every religious society, of warning and admonishing their members to avoid every thing inconsistent with the principles they hold. It is well known, that at both the times hinted at, contending armies were endeavouring within the circle of their yearly
101
ADDRESS TO THE INHABITANTS.
meeting, to procure all persons that should come in their way to join them in military preparations.
The testimony of the Quakers is against all wars and fight- ing, and against entering into military engagements of any kind ; surely then, it was the right of the representatives of that Society, to caution their members from engaging in any thing contrary to their religious principles. But if it be an offence in those who were active in that publication, what have those of us done who are not members of that Society, who are of the Church of England (which two denominations comprehend all the subscribers), and who have published no testimonies ?
But this cannot be considered by the writer as a dangerous publication, or why does he republish it in the present critical situation of public affairs ? Surely this charge is a mere pretence to vilify a respectable body of the inhabitants.
Thus we have furnished you with a calm and dispassionate account of our present circumstances, and we wish to have it considered as a vindication of our own characters, and a peaceable though firm assertion of the inalienable rights of freemen.
Difficulties may perhaps await us, but relying on the assist- ance of that Almighty Being who is the guardian of the innocent, we prepare to meet them, rather than endanger public happiness and freedom, by a voluntary surrender of those rights which we have never forfeited.
Masons' Lodge, September 6th, 1777.
Israel Pemberton,
Phineas Bond,
John Hunt,
Miers Fisher,
James Pemberton,
Thomas Fisher,
Thomas Wharton,
Samuel R. Fisher,
John Pemberton,
Thomas Affleck,
Thomas Coombe,
Charles Jervis,
Edward Pennington, William Smith, (broker,)
Henry Drinker,
Thomas Pike,
102
EXILES FROM PENNSYLVANIA.
Samuel Pleasants, Thomas Gilpin, Charles Eddy,
William Druit Smith,
Elijah Brown, Owen Jones, Jr.
P. S .- The foregoing address was prepared, and intended for publication in the Evening Post of the 6th instant ; but before we thought proper to deliver it to the printer, we chose to have some conversation with him. He was sent for and attended us. We told him we had a paper to publish in our vin- dication, with our names signed ; that as we were confined on some suspicions unknown to us, it was hard we should be attacked by anonymous writers in the papers, our characters aspersed, and prejudices excited against us, when we were demanding a hearing, which ought to be unbiassed and im- partial. We therefore required of him, as what we thought a matter of right, according to the rules of every impartial free press, that he would refrain from publishing hereafter any anonymous papers reflecting upon us, and that he would acquaint us with the name of the writer of two paragraphs, in the then last Post, highly injurious to our characters. To the former he gave us an absolute promise to adhere ; to the latter he said that he could not give up the name without the writer's consent ; that he would go to him and return with his answer as soon as he could, at the same time promised that if we desired it he would insert our address in the Post of that evening, though it would delay its appearance till some time the next day. He went away, and we have not since heard from him. Hence we conclude the writer is ashamed to avow the performance.
We now lay before you a remonstrance presented to Con- gress by eight of us, who were selected by them, and recom- mended to the Council as dangerous men, who ought to be secured, the rest of us being named by the Council themselves, and included together with them in the general warrant.
103
ADDRESS TO THE INHABITANTS.
TO THE CONGRESS.
The remonstrance of the subscribers, citizens of Philadel- phia, sheweth :
That we are confined by a military guard, having been arrested and deprived of our liberty, by order of the President and Council of Pennsylvania, in consequence of a resolve made by you, on the 28th day of the last month, " recommending to the executive powers of the several states, to apprehend and secure all persons who have in their general conduct and con- versation evidenced a disposition inimical to the cause of America," and particularly naming us, the subscribers, " to- gether with all such papers, in our possession, as may be of a political nature ;" the copy of which resolve we could not obtain till yesterday afternoon.
/
Conscious of our innocence, and that we have ministered no just occasion to have our characters thus traduced, and in- juriously treated, we have remonstrated to the said President and Council, against their arbitrary, unjust, and illegal pro- ceedings against us, and demanded our undoubted right of being heard by them ; knowing we can manifest the falsehood and injustice of any injurious charge, or suspicions, they or you may entertain concerning us ; but we are denied the oppor- tunity of such a hearing, and were last evening informed, by their order, that they have resolved to send us to Staunton, in the county of Augusta, in Virginia, to be secured there ; and we are now told that place is appointed by you, for our con- finement.
We therefore, by our love to our country, whose true interest and prosperity we have steadily pursued, through the course of our conduct and conversations, and in justice to our characters, as freemen and Christians, with that freedom and resolution which influences men conscious of being void of just cause of offence, are bound to remonstrate against your arbitrary, unjust, and cruel treatment of us, our characters and families, and
1
104
EXILES FROM PENNSYLVANIA.
against the course of proceeding you have chose and pre- scribed ; by which the liberty, property, and character of every freeman in America is or may be endangered. Most of you are not personally known to us, nor are we to you ; and few of you have had the opportunity of conversing with any of us, or of knowing any thing more of our conduct and con- versation than what you have received from others ; and thus we are subjected to the unjust suspicions you have entertained from the uncertain reports of our adversaries, and are con- demned unheard, to be deprived of our most endearing con- nexions, and temporal enjoyments, when our personal care of them is most immediately necessary.
We are therefore engaged in the most solemn manner, to call upon and entreat you, to reconsider the course of your proceedings respecting us ; and either by yourselves or the said President and Council, to give us the opportunity of a hearing and answering to every matter suggested to, and entertained by you or them, against us; being assured we shall appear to be true friends to, and anxiously solicitous for the prosperity of America, on the principles of justice and liberty ; and though we are clearly convinced, from the precepts of Christ, the doctrine of his Apostles, and the example of his followers in the primitive ages of Christianity, that all outward wars and fightings are unlawful, and therefore cannot join therein for any cause whatever, we cannot but remind you that we are by the same principles restrained from pursuing any measures in- consistent with the apostolic advice, " to live peaceably with all men," under whatever powers it is our lot to live, which rule of conduct we are determined to observe, whatever you, or any others, may determine concerning us.
Your characters, in the conspicuous station you stand, and the regard due to the liberties, properties, and even the lives of those who are, or may be affected by the course of your pro- ceedings, so loudly proclaim the justice of our demand of a hearing, that if more time remained for it, we judge further reasoning unnecessary, beseeching you to remember that we
105
ADDRESS TO THE INHABITANTS.
are all to appear before the tribunal of Divine Justice, there to render an account of our actions, and to receive a reward according as our works have been. And we sincerely desire for you, as we do for ourselves, that we may all so direct our course, that we may at that tribunal receive the answer of " well done," and enjoy the reward of eternal peace and hap- piness.
We are your real friends,
Israel Pemberton, Henry Drinker,
James Pemberton, Thomas Fisher,
John Pemberton, Samuel Pleasants,
Thomas Wharton, Samuel R. Fisher.
Philadelphia, 5th of 9th month, 1777, Lodge Alley.
We have seen the resolves of Congress published in the Evening Post, of which we shall take due notice, and also the papers published by order of Congress, in a supplement to the Pennsylvania Packet. As they are particularly pointed at a religious society who are capable of answering for their own conduct, we shall leave it to them to confute the insinuations contained in some parts of that publication, which some of us know they are able to do.
We also think it our duty to acquaint you, that Alexander Stedman and Charles Stedman, jun., who are included in the general warrant, were apprehended and brought here with us ; but in a few hours they were carried under guard to the New Prison, where we are informed they yet remain, as much neglected by their accusers as we have been.
N. B. Seven o'clock, P. M .- We presented another remon- strance to the President and Council this day, to which we have received an answer, both which we shall endeavour to hand to the public to-morrow.
Masons' Lodge, September 9, 1777.
We now lay before you the papers referred to in our note of last evening, together with a copy of a letter received by Dr.
106
EXILES FROM PENNSYLVANIA.
Hutchinson, informing us of the result of Council upon the last remonstrance.
Copy of a letter from Timothy Matlack to William Bradford.
Philadelphia, September 5th, 1777.
SIR,
A remonstrance, signed by the gentlemen confined at the Masons' Lodge, having been presented to Council and read, the Council took the same into consideration, and asked the advice of Congress thereupon, which being received, Council thereupon passed the following resolve, which they beg the favour of you to communicate to the aforesaid gentlemen.
In Council, Philadelphia, September 5th, 1777.
Resolved, That such of the persons now confined in the Lodge, as shall take and subscribe the oath or affirmation re- quired by law, in this commonwealth, or that shall take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation, to wit:
" 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 William Bradford.
N. B .- This letter was delivered to Mr. Bradford, as the answer of Council to the second remonstrance.
Copy of a third remonstrance, presented to the President and Council yesterday, by the hands of Samuel Rhoads, and Dr. Hutchinson.
107
ADDRESS TO THE INHABITANTS.
Philadelphia, 8th September, 1777.
TO THE PRESIDENT AND COUNCIL OF PENNSYLVANIA.
The remonstrance of the subscribers, freemen and inhabi- tants of the City of Philadelphia, now confined in the Masons' Lodge, sheweth :
That it is with pain, we find ourselves under the disagreeable necessity of again remonstrating against your extraordinary mode of treating us. When our last remonstance was de- livered to your President, he gave expectation to our fellow- citizens who waited on him, that he would lay it before you, and return an answer. Notwithstanding which, we have as yet received no answer whatsoever to it, but instead thereof, a paper signed by your Secretary, was delivered to us by William Bradford, the contents of which we shall have occasion to re- mark on.
But we must not omit another letter received through the same channel, by which we are confirmed in the truth of what we had before heard, that on the very day you were addressed by three of us to be heard, and before we were furnished with a copy of the general warrant, you had resolved to banish us to Staunton, in the county of Augusta, in Virginia, a place where you claim no jurisdiction, and to which we are utter strangers. This resolution formed against a body of innocent freemen, while demanding to be heard, is, we believe, the first instance of the kind to be found in the history of our country ; and besides the violent infringement of the laws and constitu- tion which you have engaged to govern by, the hardship is heightened by the particular situation of that country at this time ; as it is publicly asserted that the Indians have already commenced hostilities upon the frontiers of Virginia, not very far distant from the place of our intended banishment, as though you could find no place of security without endangering our lives.
From the professions you have repeatedly made of your love of liberty and justice, and the manner in which we have de-
108
EXILES FROM PENNSYLVANIA.
manded our undoubted rights, we had reason to expect to have heard from you on the subject of our last remonstrance ; but we find we were mistaken, and the complaints of injured free- men still remain unanswered.
Whether you imagine we are of too little consequence to be regarded, or expect that confinement will reduce us to a tame acquiescence with your arbitrary proceedings, we shall not de- termine; it will not divert our attention from the important object we have in view in behalf of ourselves and our country. Nor will subtle proposals, fit only to captivate the unwary, de- coy us from the sure ground on which we stand, into a measure as illegal and unconstitutional as your general warrant, and our oppressive treatment under it.
The proposition contained in your resolve of the 5th inst., to discharge us upon taking the test " required by law," or the new test framed by yourselves, now demand our notice.
And first we would observe, that if you had a right to make such a proposition, we think it very improper to be made to men in our situation. You have first deprived us of our liberty, on one pretence, which finding you are not able to justify, you waive, and require as a condition of our enlargement, that we should confess ourselves men of suspicious characters, by doing what ought not to be expected from innocent persons. This kind of procedure is not new in history ; for though the great patriots of the Revolution found better expedients for the secu- rity of their government than what arises from oaths of abjura- tion, yet the annals, both of Old and New England, are stained with accounts of men, in circumstances similar to our own, dragged before magistrates, on the bare suspicion of crimes ; of whom tests, which they conscientiously scrupled to take, have been afterwards demanded, as the condition of their en- largement. But such examples, we should hope, would not have found patrons among men professing to be reformers upon all the plans of civil and religious liberty, adopted by the free nations of Europe.
It is strange to us, that men entrusted with supreme execu-
109
ADDRESS TO THE INHABITANTS.
tive powers, should be so regardless of the laws you have most solemnly engaged to execute, as to require us to do more than those very laws enjoin. By the Test Act, every inhabitant may take the test, and enjoy all the rights of freemen, or de- cline it, and submit to a deprivation of some of them, which are expressed in that act; but no power is given to any officer of justice whatsoever, to tender it to any person except in particular circumstances, and as the charge against us is not founded on a breach of that law, it is evident you exceeded your authority in putting it to us. But if after what is past, we could be surprised at any thing you do, we should have been astonished at the rapid progress of your usurpation in assuming legislative powers to yourselves, while the Assembly was sitting under the same roof. You have overturned the only security the Constitution has given the people against absolute despotism, by attempting to exercise the authority of framing a resolve operating as a law at the same time the powers of executing it.
Your duty as one branch of the Constitution, is confined to the executing the laws as you find them, and does not extend to the making new ones to salve your own irregular conduct. You have undertaken all this by proposing a new test of your own enacting, unknown to the laws and constitution of the government which you are to execute, unsupported by any authority under which you act; and this an ex post facto law made to criminate by a refusal those who before were innocent. And if we were in your opinion such dangerous persons, as you, under the sanction of the Congress, have endeavoured to represent us, and could not be secured without sending us to so remote and dangerous a part of the country, beyond the limits of your jurisdiction, how will the public be secured by our taking either of the tests you have proposed ? That men of bad principles will submit to any tests to cover their dan- gerous and wicked purposes, is evident to all who have been conversant in public affairs.
The great Lord Halifax, who in the name of the people of
110
EXILES FROM PENNSYLVANIA.
England presented the crown to King William and Queen Mary at the Revolution, has expressed himself on this subject, in the following nervous terms : " As there is no real security to any state by oaths, so no private person, much less states- man, would ever order his affairs as relying on it ; for no man would ever sleep with open doors, or unlocked up treasure or plate, should all the town be sworn not to rob."
Another most extraordinary proceeding we find in your Secretary's letter, where he says, that you asked, and received the advice of Congress upon our remonstrance, before you de- termined upon it. What! shall unaccused citizens, demand- ing their inherent rights, be delayed or refused a hearing until Congress can be consulted ? A body, who have engaged not to interfere in the internal police of the government. Perhaps you thought the authority of a recommendation from Congress would render your arbitrary designs effectual, and countenance you in the eyes of the people. We trust you will be mistaken, and that neither Congress nor the people will approve your measures.
Having thus remarked on your proposal, protesting our in- nocence, we again repeat our pressing demand, to be informed of the cause of our commitment, and to have a hearing in the face of our country, before whom we shall either stand acquitted or condemned.
Israel Pemberton,
William Drewet Smith,
James Pemberton,
Samuel Pleasants,
John Hunt,
William Smith, (broker,)
Thomas Wharton,
Charles Jervis,
Thomas Coombe,
Thomas Pike,
Edward Pennington,
Thomas Gilpin,
Samuel R. Fisher,
John Pemberton, Henry Drinker, Phineas Bond,
Thomas Fisher, Elijah Brown,
Thomas Affleck,
Miers Fisher,
Owen Jones, jun.,
Charles Eddy.
.
111
ADDRESS TO THE INHABITANTS.
Philadelphia, September 8th, 1777.
" SIR,-
The remonstrance delivered by you and Samuel Rhoads, Esq., to me, has been read in Council, and I am directed to acquaint you, that the business to which this remonstrance re- lates, is referred to Congress.
I am, with great respect, your humble servant,
T. MATLACK, Secretary.
To Doctor Hutchinson, (Present.)"
Masons' Lodge, September 9, 1777, 10 o'clock, P. M.
TO THE INHABITANTS OF PENNSYLVANIA.
The following is a copy of a paper we received at half-past four o'clock this afternoon, and we have since received orders to prepare for our banishment to-morrow.
"IN COUNCIL.
Philadelphia, September 9th, 1777.
Resolved, That
James Pemberton,
Phineas Bond,
Henry Drinker,
. Rev. Thomas Coombe,
Israel Pemberton,
Charles Jervis,
John Pemberton,
William Drewet Smith, Charles Eddy.
Samuel Pleasants,
Thomas Wharton, sen.,
Thomas Pike,
Thomas Fisher, (son of Joshua,)
Owen Jones, jun.,
Samuel Fisher, (son of Joshua,)
Edward Pennington,
Miers Fisher,
William Smith,
Elijah Brown,
Thomas Gilpin, and
John Hunt,
Thomas Affleck,
apprehended by Council, as persons who have uniformly manifested, by their general conduct and conversation, a dispo- sition highly inimical to the cause of America, and now im-
112
EXILES FROM PENNSYLVANIA.
prisoned in the Freemason's Lodge in this city, they refusing to confine themselves to their several dwellings, and thereby making the restraint of their persons in another manner neces- sary; and having refused to promise to refrain from corre- sponding with the enemy ; and also declined giving any assu- rance of allegiance to this State, as of right they ought ; do thereby renounce all the privileges of citizenship; and that it appears they consider themselves the subjects of the King of Great Britain, the enemy of this and the other United States of America, and that they ought to be proceeded with accord- ingly.
" Resolved, That persons of like characters, and in emer- gencies equal to the present, when the enemy is at our doors, have in the other States been arrested and secured upon sus- picions arising from their general behaviour, and refusal to acknowledge their allegiance to the States of which they were the proper subjects ; and that such proceedings may be abun- dantly justified by the conduct of the freest nations, and the authority of the most judicious civilians. Therefore,
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.