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he had also the pleasure to find himself excused for the present by their adjournment, from the impossible task, of constructing such a reply as the pressure of his case required.

Perhaps they thought the absurdity he had fallen into, by charging them with a resolution to take advantage of their country's danger, to aggrandize and render permanent their own power and authority, too glaring to need any comment. Perhaps they did not think it proper to retort, that the inhabitants of a colony, so remote from the principal seat of empire, had abundantly more to apprehend from an excess of power in their governor, than the governor could possibly have from a like excess in their representatives; the executive, as before observed, being a single principle always in force, and the legislative composed of two co-equal principles, which must always tally, or can no otherwise operate, than by restraining and controlling the operations of each other, as in the case before us; and, perhaps, they had not the resolution of the house of commons of July 2, 1678, in sight at that time, which was as follows, viz.

"That all aids and supplies granted to his majesty in par liament, are the 'sole gift of the commons; that all bills for the granting any such aids and supplies ought to begin with the commons; and that it is the undoubted and sole right of the commons to direct, limit, and appoint in such bills, the ends, purposes, considerations, conditions, limitations, and qualifications, of such grants, which ought not to be changed by the house of lords.' To say nothing of certain remarkable provisions of theirs in the year 1678 (which, in a course of conferences with the lords, they adhered to) to appoint a receiver of their own for the administration of the money then granted for the payment and disbanding of the army, and the payment of the same into the Chamber of London, instead of the Exchequer.

Their adjournment was to the first of September; but they were assembled by special summons on the 13th of June; and the first minute on their books of public note is, one, to specify the approbation given by the lords justices to governor Thomas's act for granting five thousand pounds out of

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bills of credit for the king's use. The date of this approbation is October 9, 1748, so that it was subsequent to the king's instruction so pertinaciously insisted upon; and having, either by some accident or neglect been overlooked thus long, the governor, as we have seen, had in the December. before taken the advantage to express himself thus hardily to the assembly: Colonel Thomas's conduct is no rule to me, nor will mine be for any one that may succeed me; and if we may judge from his not transmitting that act to England, we may presume, that he did not look upon that particular as the most recommendatory part of his administration. It is true, he was never censured for it; and, indeed, how could he, as the transaction was never made known to his majesty or his ministers.'

And the next minute that follows this, concerning the said approbation, notifies,

That sundry letters from sir Peter Halket and colonel Dunbar were then read, acknowleging the receipt of certain presents from the house to the officers of their respective regiments, of the most considerate and acceptable kind, and returning thanks for the same.

The reason of this summons assigned by the governor in his message was to this effect, "That general Braddock having begun his march towards fort Du Quesne, had represented to him, 'That in case he should reduce that fort, his intentions were to leave a garrison, with all the guns, stores, &c. he should find in it; that in case the French should abandon and destroy the fortifications, &c. as he had reason to apprehend they would, he should then repair it, or construct some place of defence; but that in either case, as the artillery, stores, &c. he had with him would be absolutely necessary for the prosecution of his plan, he was determined to leave none of them behind him, and expected to have all his wants of that kind, as well as provisions for his garrison, supplied by the governments of Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania; and, that he might not be delayed in his operations, those things might be immediately forwarded to him under proper convoys;' adding, that the said general had

lately received intelligence, which he had communicated to him, that the French, together with their Indians, intended, as soon as the army was far advanced, to fall upon the back country; and that, though the general thought it a bravado, he also thought it advisable to take all possible precautions against it; that he had called them together upon this application and intelligence; that he had recommended it to them to enable him to furnish such of the things demanded as were proper for the province, and to conduct them to the places where they would be wanted, which could not be well done without a strong guard; as also by a militia or otherwise, to protect the said back country against the incursions of the enemy; that, upon the receipt of the general's letter, he had written to the governors of Virginia and Maryland, to know what shares of these supplies their governments. would respectively furnish; that he needed not inforce the point by any other arguments, than that fort Du Quesne was within their province, and that the great expence the nation. was at on this occasion would be thrown away, his majesty's intentions rendered abortive, and his arms dishonored, if the countries the said general should recover were left in such a naked condition, that the French might take possession of them again, as soon as the army should be withdrawn, &c.

A very little skill in political matters would have shewn those concerned, that there was rather more management concealed under this speech than was strictly necessary, and put them on their guard accordingly.

The assembly of Pennsylvania had some wisdom as well as much plainness; and therefore, by way of preliminary, desired to have the letter in their custody, which was to be the ground of their proceedings. The governor hesitated: said it contained many matters not proper to be made public; that it would not be safe, therefore, unless the house would previously promise him it should not be printed; but however, he would shew it to a committee, if the house would appoint one for that purpose. The house on the other hand, renewed their request in writing, alleged that it had

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always been the custom, when assemblies were called together on occasion of letters received, to communicate those letters; that giving a committee a sight of letters, on which any important step was to be taken, did not seem sufficient; but that the letters should lie before the house to be read as often as necessary to the right understanding of the matters. they contained or required; that the governor might safely put his trust in the prudence of the house; in fine, they would hear of no alternative, since the importance of the contents of that letter had been urged as the reason for calling them together at so unseasonable a time of the year; and, as they could not take the letter into consideration without seeing it, they hoped he would not, by starting new methods of proceeding, and engaging them in trivial disputes, any longer obstruct or delay the public service.

This was done the sixteenth. The next day, instead of an answer, the governor sent them down a brace of new messages. One in the morning, giving them to understand, "That the roads they had ordered to be made to the Ohio would be attended with a much greater expence than was at first imagined; that the money sent to the commissaries was already spent ; that more was wanting; and, that the general having discharged the soldiers' wives out of the army, with a stoppage of one shilling sterling a week out of their husbands pay for their subsistence, it would become the compassion of the province to supply what would be farther necessary for that purpose;" and another in the afternoon, containing more intelligence. Intelligence he himself had now received, and had forwarded to the general: namely, that several bodies of troops had passed from Canada over the lake Ontario in their way to the Ohio, to join the forces already there; that the French were doing their utmost to engage the Indians on their side; and, rather than fail, were determined to oppose general Braddock with the whole force of Canada. Containing also a repetition of what in effect he had said before concerning the back country; heightened with some new apprehensions, that when the troops were removed, the enemy might either cut off or greatly interrupt their communication

with the province, which might be every way attended with fatal consequences. And all was made use of to authorize a fresh demand for a militia-law, and a new demand for a supply to enable him to build strong houses on the new road to the Ohio, and to maintain such a number of men as should be necessary to keep the communication between the province and the army open, escort provisions, stores, &c. that the general might neither be forced to weaken his army by making detachments from it, nor expose those detachments to be surprized and cut off; and that he might occasionally make use of them as auxiliaries too, in case the numbers brought against him should make such a reinforcement necessary; and (after having rung all the changes that such a medley of demands and suggestions in such hands was capable of) making the province answerable, as usual, in case of non-compliance, for all mischiefs.

On the 21st, however, when the house (having taken inte consideration, that the fifteen thousand pounds given to the king's use in the preceding April, and paid out of the money in the disposition of the house, which was almost exhausted, could not answer all the purposes intended by the bill for granting twenty-five thousand pounds to which the governor refused his assent) had already prepared two money-bills, one for striking ten thousand pounds for the exchange of defaced bills, and one of fifteen thousand pounds more for the king's use, the governor's answer concerning general Braddock's letter came; and therein he asserted, that the governor for the time being had a right to call the assembly together whenever he thought the public service required it; that his speeches or messages were a sufficient foundation for them to proceed upon; that they having, by the plenitude of their own power, not only given their orders to the printers to proceed with the publication of the secretary of state's letters, in contradiction to his to the contrary, but also claimed a right of doing the same by any other papers laid before them, they could not be at a loss for the reason of his caution on the present occasion; that he being answerable. for every secret of state that should be communicated to

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