questioned; and, after upbraiding them, in his way, for risking the rejection of so important an act, on account of the proprietary exemption, resolved all their reason for adhering to, what he called, the indirect and perplexed method of their bill, into their sovereign pleasure to have it so. The same paragraph contained also some strange insinuations, "that, not daring to trust their cause on its own bottom, they had chosen to blend both bills together, that they might have a better chance of having their chief governor and his estate subjected to their mercy." And what with his implicit confidence, that the crown, in the common method, would neither pass that or any other law, for the sake of the greatest sums, if the proprietary claim to an exemption was just in itself; and what with his foresight of manifest inconveniences that might ensue from a total rejection thereof (which he himself had nevertheless persevered in doing), the next paragraph is hardly to be deciphered at all; except that, in the close of it, he attempts to justify his own uncommon method, by saying, "he had separated the two parts of the bill, that the province might be served either way; [which the assembly had been altogether as provident of before.] Any absurdity in this method he professed himself unable to discover; and the good-natured construction put upon it by them, of his intending to secure an infallible exemption to the proprietary estate thereby, he said he should leave among the rest of the groundless charges against him." Condescend he did, however, to offer one amendment more, which, according to him, was to reconcile all; namely, by the addition of the following words to the exemption clause proposed to be added to the first bill, to wit; "The estates of the honorable Thomas Penn and Richard Penn, Esquires, excepted; which shall be taxed in the manner directed by a particular law,

passed or to be passed for that purpose." Not willing, however, to rest the controversy here, he proceeded to declare, "that their extracts from the journals of Parliament proved nothing to the purpose for which they were quoted, the constitution of England and the constitution of Pennsylvania being no way similar; that how many soever of his former amendments they had admitted, their leaving out the most material one, made the proposal of a separate bill a necessary expedient; so that they had no reason for bursting out into such a lofty strain of rhetoric concerning his amending his amendments, &c.; that as to the number of money bills he had rejected, they were but five in all, and all rejected for sufficient reasons, [such as we have seen!] and that, if they were disposed to relieve their country, they had many other ways, to which he should have no objection." Proceeding then to the personal topic, and his being treated as a stranger, he takes a retrospect of their conduct, with an intent to show, that they had treated Mr. Hamilton, though a native, with as many abuses as they had treated him; and here occurs a paragraph or two which must be inserted verbatim ; namely,

"And here, was I inclined to go beyond my own times, I might begin with reminding you how contemptuously you treated the proprietary offer of four hundred pounds, for erecting a place of strength on the Ohio, together with an offer of one hundred pounds per annum towards its support; which offers were made at a time, when your concurrence would probably have prevented many of the calamities we now groan under.

"I might also observe, that when Mr. Hamilton first called upon you, pursuant to his Majesty's orders, to grant such supplies as would enable him to draw forth the strength of the province, and to repel force by force,

you would not admit that the French encroachments and fortifications on the Ohio were within our limits, or his Majesty's dominions; thereby seeking an excuse to avoid doing what was required of you."

He had also the disingenuity to mention the late defeat of his Majesty's forces, in express terms, as having happened "for want of that timely support and assistance which it was in the power of the province to have afforded." And having again declared, that he could not recede from his amendments, and expressed his satisfaction at their intended complaint against him, he concluded with the two following paragraphs, which are equally insidious, injurious, and unbecoming.

"Upon the whole, it appears clear to me, that you never intended that any of your bills should pass for raising money to defend the province; and this seems now to be placed beyond all dispute, since those people under whose influence you are chiefly known to be, are said to have declared publicly to you, that they would sooner suffer than pay towards such purposes.

"However, I shall put one proof more, both of your sincerity and mine, in our professions of regard for the public, by offering to agree to any bill, in the present exigency, which it is consistent with my duty to pass, lest, before our present disputes can be brought to an issue, we should neither have a privilege to dispute about, nor a country to dispute in."

Together with this message, the secretary also brought down another altogether as extraordinary, in which the governor acquaints the House, "that he had considered their bill, for the better ordering and regulating such as were willing and desirous to be united for military purposes within that province; and, though there were many things in it of a very extraordinary nature, and that he was convinced it would never an

swer the purpose of defending the province, even if it could be carried into execution, in any reasonable time, which he was afraid it could not, yet, to show he was desirous of doing any thing that had even a chance of contributing to the safety of the province, he should consent to it in the shape they had sent it, as it would be entering into new disputes, should he amend it properly."

And, what is perhaps more extraordinary still, the governor, on the same day, namely, Saturday, November 22d, received some despatches from the proprietaries, the contents of which he did not communicate to the House till the Monday following; by which time he was ready to unmask such a variety of batteries as he thought would be sufficient, by their very noise alone, so to intimidate his antagonists at least, that they should not presume to make him such a return to his last message as they had done to his former.

The first was a report from his council, containing such a discussion of Indian affairs as was to be taken for a discharge in full of the Shawanese complaints mentioned in a message from the assembly, at their first sitting in consequence of the governor's summons.

The second was a call upon them to provide for a swarm of French inhabitants banished out of Nova Scotia by Governor Lawrence, and sent at a venture to be distributed through the rest of his Majesty's colonies along the continent.

And the third, not only notified the receipt of the proprietaries' despatches above mentioned, but farther specified, "That, such was their care and regard for the people, that they had no sooner received the account he had sent them of General Braddock's defeat, than they sent him an order upon their receiver-general for five thousand pounds, as a free gift to the public, to

be applied to such uses as that event might make necessary for the common security of the province; that he had directed the said receiver-general to have the money ready as soon as possible; and that it should be paid by such persons as should be appointed by act of assembly for the disposition of any sum they might think necessary to raise for the defence of the province in that time of danger." Two other clauses were also added; one importing, "That this timely and generous instance of the proprietaries' care and anxiety for the inhabitants could not fail making the most lasting impression upon the minds of every well-wisher to that country;" and the other, "That the governor upon that occasion again recommended it to them to lay aside all disputes, and to grant such supplies, in addition to what the proprietaries had given, as his Majesty's service and the pressing exigences of the province required."

That they might not, however, have any merit to plead on either of these heads, but might seem to be driven by force into every such measure as was thus recommended, on the very next day after this, and before it was possible for them to come properly to any resolutions at all, came again the mayor of Philadelphia, having now also prevailed with his corporation to join him and his prompters, with a remonstrance, in a style altogether dictatorial, "reproaching them with losing their time in deliberations, while their fellow-subjects were exposed to slaughter, and in debates about privileges, while they were deprived of the great first privilege of self-preservation, and requiring them to postpone all disputes, grant necessary supplies, and pass a reasonable law for establishing a militia; and, in the close of it, recommending despatch, as the people seemed already in a deplorable and desperate state, and they feared it would not be possible to preserve

VOL. III.

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