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be emitted is not exorbitant, it may be attended with no bad consequences to the province.'

Now the principal of these amendments was the following proviso, viz. Provided always, and it is hereby farther enacted by the authority aforesaid, that this act or any thing therein contained, shall not take effect, or be deemed or construed or taken to have any force or effect, until the same shall have received the royal approbation of his majesty, his heirs, or successors.' Which proved to be so far from being unobjectionable, that, upon the question, the house unanimously resolved, 'Not to agree to this amendment, because they apprehended it to be destructive of the liberties derived to them by the royal and provincial charters, as well as injurious to the proprietaries' rights, and without any precedent in the laws of the province.' And the governor, on the other hand, adhered, 'Because the clause so proposed to be added was founded on the additional instruction from the lords justices, in pursuance of the Commons' address above specified; which instruction had been known to the province ever since January, 1740; and consequently, they might see the reason of his adding it was such as he could not allow himself the liberty of receding from.'

And here it is to be lamented, that, while this affair was first under the consideration of parliament, neither the proprietary nor the provincial agent thought fit to lay those clauses of their charter before the house, by which the said proprietary and the assembly are entrusted with the whole legislative power, subject to the royal revision and ratification, and may even put laws not inconsistent with their allegiance in force, for the term of five years, without it; since, in all probability, that measure would have produced some such a temperament as might have prevented the broil which ensued apparently for want of it.

The assembly took the governor's reply immediately into consideration, and prepared a suitable rejoinder; in which having interwoven the unanimous resolution just specified, they declared themselves assured, from the report of their committee, to whom they had referred both the clause and the

examination of their laws, that there had not been one single instance of a law passed under such a restriction as that then contended for, from the first settlement of the province to that day. And here they might have safely stopt, if they had thought fit, seeing nothing could be added in their justification stronger than their charter-claims, and such a series of practice founded upon them: but, willing to be every way fortified, they entered farther into an enquiry, why so dangerous an experiment should be then pressed upon them without the least apparent necessity? and proceeded to shew, that the instruction itself was a temporary one: that, though it was directed to a governor of that province among the rest, it neither did nor could suit their circumstances, either at that or at any other time before or since: that this, having been manifested to and acknowleged by the lords of trade, the ends of it, as to them, had been fully answered: that the said lords, in their report to the house of commons, subsequent to that address to the throne concerning the paper currencies of America, having signified, that they would humbly propose that his majesty would be graciously pleased to repeat his orders to his governors of the plantations, not to give their assent, for the future, to any bill or bills for issuing or re-issuing paper-money, proceed to say, 'We hope these propositions for reducing and discharging the paper-currency of the plantations, may have a good effect in those governments which are held by immediate commission under his majesty; but we are very doubtful, whether they will produce the like effect in the charter governments, who do apprehend themselves by their particular charters and constitutions to be very little dependent upon the crown, and for that reason seldom pay that obedience to his majesty's orders, which might be reasonably expected from them;' that, notwithstanding what is here said concerning the repetition of these orders, they had good reason to believe those orders, at least to their governors, had never been repeated: that a bill, in which was a clause to inforce the orders and instructions of the crown in America had been repeatedly brought into parliament, and as often rejected: that the go

vernor himself had represented this bill (to restrain the issues of paper-money) as of mischievous tendency: that even the very proprietaries had made a merit of opposing it: that, as in the act of parliament for that purpose which did pass in June 1751, the eastern colonies alone were included, so Pennsylvania was left in full possession of its rights, even by the parliament itself: that, as the date of the governor's commission was many years posterior to the date of the instruction, they hoped and presumed, he was at full liberty to pass all their acts upon the terms granted them by the royal and provincial charter, without putting them to the disagreeable necessity of examining the validity of such instructions, &c. And, lastly, as to the issue of their enquiry, concerning the necessity of contending for the present amendments, they not only declared themselves at a loss to find it out, but also called upon the governor to comply with the general voice of the people, and the repeated unanimous applications of their representatives in granting them and the province the seasonable relief provided for in the bill, by giving his assent to it as it stood.

How the governor was circumstanced may be gathered from his actions: he adhered to his amendments, and returned the bill as before, with a written message, in which he persevered in holding up the instruction as an insurmountable bar, till revoked, to the assent required of him; urging, that his predecessor had done the same in 1746: that the assembly admitted the validity of it in ordinary cases; and, without pretending to dispute, only hoped he would find himself at liberty on a re-consideration to give his assent, notwithstanding, to a currency-bill, when any extraordinary emergency required it: that then, it seemed plain, they did not think an instruction, founded on an address of the commons, was either illegal or temporary, or destructive of their liberties; that if these were then the sentiments of both governor and assembly, there was no room for the insinuation that he had been the first to press so dangerous an experiment; that if there was no instance before of a like clause offered, there was, perhaps, no instance of the like.

instruction, which otherwise, it was to have been supposed, would have met with the same dutiful obedience; that a restraining instruction was, perhaps, on no occasion so necessary as in the business of money, over which the king had peculiar prerogatives; that if they could make it appear to his majesty's ministry, that an addition to their currency was at that time necessary, the royal compliance was not to be doubted; that with regard to the former currency-bill by them cited, he was still of the same opinion; but that, surely a very moderate share of penetration was sufficient to distinguish between an act to enforce all orders and instructions, and an instruction founded on an address of parliament; that they would certainly allow him to judge for himself in a point recommended to his observance on pain of incurring his majesty's highest displeasure; that he did not by any means blame them for contending for what they apprehended to be their rights and privileges, consequently could have no objection to their examining the validity of the king's instructions, provided they proceeded with such temper and moderation, as might give the world no room to repeat the charge brought against the charter-governments by the lords of trade, of apprehending themselves very little dependent on the crown; and that, upon the whole, he was sincerely of opinion, the royal instruction was of the same force as when the late governor told the assembly, in the year 1746, he could not bring himself to such a pitch of boldness as to contravene it.

It is obvious, that the conjuring up the ghost of these departed instructions, was only to strike an awe into the assembly, and thereby prepare them for what farther practice, the new orders which could not but accompany the proprietary's paper already recited, might enjoin.

The king, the king's ministers, and the house of commons, were authorities too big for a provincial representative to compete with, and therefore it might be supposed their very names would serve.

But they were too wise and too steady to be amused, and the difference of language made use of by the proprietaries.

and their governor, was alone sufficient to warrant the different conduct they observed; for though the governor talked only of the sovereign power, the proprietaries talked only of themselves; 'If we shall be induced from the state of your trade to consent to an increase of your paper-currency.'

Not thinking themselves obliged, therefore, to consider what additional inducements were necessary to incline those great men to suffer their deputy to discharge the duty of his commission, the assembly chose to lose their bill rather than pay more for it than it was worth.

Accordingly, the governor's amendments being again put to the question, were again rejected unanimously; and a committee was appointed to answer his message, which they did in such a manner as shewed they were more anxious to do justice to their cause than make their court to the gover

nor.

What governor Thomas did in passing the five thousand pounds act, they urged against what he said; the validity of instructions in ordinary cases, said to be admitted by the assembly of that time, they explain away, by saying, the distinction was only made use of to furnish the governor with a pretence, or inducement to pass the bill: that this was not the first instruction unlimited in point of time, and remaining as yet unrevoked, which neither was or would, as they hoped, be observed; since there was one still to be found in the council-books to governor Keith, dated July, 1723, requiring him, for the future, not to pass any private act without a suspending clause, till his majesty's approbation had been first obtained; that unfortunate, indeed, would the case of Pennsylvania be, if governors were never to be freed from the obligation of occasional instructions. If the king,' said they, 'should judge all the purposes of his instruction answered, upon passing the paper-money bill in parliament in 1751, we must, nevertheless, for ever continue under the burden of it without redress. And if we should suppose the governor is restricted by the proprietaries from giving his assent to the emission of any farther sum in bills of credit, as we have very little reason to doubt, if then the proprieta

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