"The House cannot be supposed insensible of the distresses of their fellow-subjects on the frontiers. Several of the members reside there. They hoped they had in this bill provided for those people the means of speedy assistance, and avoided all objections. They see none now of importance enough, in their opinion, to prevent the passage of the bill. They grant the money freely to the King's use, and cannot admit of amendments to a money bill; they therefore persuade themselves, that the governor will consider the present circumstances of the province, and the consequences of dispiriting the inhabitants by depriving them at this time of their privileges, without which they would think the country scarce worth defending; and that he will not suffer a proprietary instruction, new, unjust, and unseasonable, to deprive his Majesty of a grant so large, so freely given, and so necessary for his service, and for the preservation of the proprietary estate, as well as the securing the lives and fortunes of the inhabitants, who promised themselves great happiness in being placed immediately under his care and protection."

The kings of Great Britain have a negative on laws as well as the deputy-governors of Pennsylvania; but then they use it as rarely as possible; and, when they do, they rather demur than refuse. But the deputygovernor of Pennsylvania, having no such managements to observe, thought the peremptory style the best; and so sent down the secretary with a verbal message, which is entered in the minutes of the province in these words;

"Sir,

"The governor returns the bill entitled, 'An act for striking the sum of sixty thousand pounds, in bills of

credit, and giving the same to the King's use, and for providing a fund to sink the bills so to be emitted, by laying an excise upon wine, rum, brandy, and other spirits.' And his Honor commands me to acquaint the House, that he will not give his assent to it; and, there being no person to judge between the governor and the House in these parts, he will immediately transmit to his Majesty his reasons for so doing."

The remainder of that day (the 15th), as it may be surmised, was wasted in a vain discussion of the difficulties they were involved in; for the House broke up without coming to any resolution. The next was a blank likewise; no business was done; but, on the third, having resumed the consideration of the governor's objections to their bill, the committee's report thereupon, the governor's verbal message refusing his assent to the said bill, and the proprietaries' instructions, prescribing to the representatives of the freemen of the province the modes of their raising money for the King's service, they came to the following resolutions, to wit;

"That the said proprietary instructions are arbitrary and unjust, an infraction of our charter, a total subversion of our constitution, and a manifest violation of our rights, as freeborn subjects of England.

"That the bill for granting sixty thousand pounds to the King's use, to which the governor has been pleased to refuse his assent, contains nothing inconsistent with our duty to the crown, or the proprietary rights,' and is agreeable to laws, which have been hitherto enacted within this province, and received the royal approbation.

"That the right of granting supplies to the crown is in the assembly alone, as an essential part of our

constitution, and the limitation of all such grants, as to the matter, manner, measure, and time, is only in them. "That it is the opinion of this House, that the many frivolous objections, which our governors have been advised from time to time to make to our money bills, were calculated with a view to embarrass and perplex the representatives of the people, to prevent their doing any thing effectual for the defence of their country, and thereby render them odious to their gracious sovereign, and to their fellow-subjects, both at home and abroad.

"That the proprietaries' increasing their restrictions upon the governor, beyond what they had ever done before, at a time when the province is invaded by the King's enemies, and barbarous tribes of Indians are ravaging the frontier settlements; and their forbidding the passing of any bills, whereby money may be raised for the defence of the inhabitants, unless those instructions are strictly complied with, is tyrannical, cruel, and oppressive, with regard to the people, and extremely injurious to the King's service; since, if the assembly should adhere to their rights, as they justly might, the whole province would be thrown into confusion, abandoned to the enemy, and lost to the crown.

"The House, therefore, reserving their rights in their full extent on all future occasions, and protesting against the proprietary instructions and prohibitions, do, nevertheless, in duty to the King and compassion for the suffering inhabitants of their distressed country, and in humble but full confidence of the justice of his Majesty and a British Parliament, wave their rights on this present occasion only; and do further resolve, that a new bill be brought in for granting a sum of money to the King's use, and that the same be made conformable to the said instructions."

By this new bill, both the sum and the time were reduced one half; that is to say, the sum to thirty thousand pounds, and the time for raising it, by excise, to ten years. The bill was immediately prepared and read, and the next day was sent up to the governor, who, on the 20th, condescended to signify, that he was ready to pass the same into a law, provided a clause therein, relating to the fines and forfeitures being paid into the treasury, was first struck out; which, on count of the present exigency of affairs, having been also agreed to by the House, the said bill was, on the 21st of September, passed accordingly into a law.

Under these circumstances, in this manner, and for these considerations, had Governor Denny the honor to extort this proprietary sacrifice from these honest, considerate, able, spirited men, who had stood in the gap for so many years, and who had never been driven out of it, if it had been possible for them to have saved their country and its constitution too.

To the cruelty of the conjuncture alone they gave way; not to any superiority of reason in their adversaries, nor through any failure of integrity or fortitude in themselves.

Of this, a sufficient testimonial remains still to be given, out of their minutes; wherein are to be found (and it is to be hoped will for ever remain) the remarks of the committee, by order of the House, on the proprietaries' instructions, already before the reader, which contain as full a vindication of themselves and their conduct, as is in the power of thoughts and words to express; and consequently as full an exposition of the claims and demands brought against them.

Too long, however, is this performance, to be given in the entire; more especially in the close of so long a narration; and too significant is it to admit of any

abridgment; to the Appendix, therefore, the reader must be referred, if he has a curiosity to see it; where it is lodged, as a requisite, without which neither his entertainment nor his information could be complete.*

It will suffice to say in this place, that it was unanimously approved of, and agreed to, by the House; and that the House was unanimous also in resolving, " that it was highly necessary, a remonstrance should be drawn up and sent home, setting forth the true state of Pennsylvania, and representing the pernicious consequences to the British interest, and to the inhabitants of that province, if, contrary to their charters and laws, they were to be governed by proprietary instructions."

The true state of Pennsylvania is now before us. It is apparent, the assemblies of that province have acted from the beginning on the defensive only. The defensive is what every man, by the right and law of nature, is entitled to. Jealousy is the first principle of defence; if men were not to suspect, they would rarely, if ever, be upon their guard. Magna Charta is apparently founded upon this principle; nay, provides, that opposition should be always at hand to confront and obviate danger. Penn, the founder of the colony, founded it upon Magna Charta; and, as we have seen, the birthrights of his followers were rather enlarged than diminished by his institutions. That the latter part of his active life, therefore, was employed in undermining his own foundations, only serves to excite our concern, that so few should be of a piece with themselves, and to make him answerable in part for the trespasses of

his heirs.

* This document, entitled "Report of a Committee of the Assembly, September 23d," is omitted in the Appendix, for the reasons stated above, (p. 383,) where references to it may be found - EDITOR.