INTRODUCTION. To obtain an infinite variety of purposes, by a few plain principles, is the characteristic of nature. As the eye is affected, so is the understanding; objects at a distance strike us according to their dimensions, or the quantity of light thrown upon them; near, according to their novelty or familiarity; as they are in motion or at rest. It is the same with actions. A battle is all motion:-a hero all glare; while such images are before us, we can attend to nothing else. Solon and Lycurgus would make no figure in the same scene with the king of Prussia: and we are at present so lost in the military scramble on the continent next us,* in which it must be confessed we are deeply interested, that we have scarce time to throw a glance towards America, where we have also much at stake, and where, if anywhere, our account must be made up at last. still wore the same equal face; nobody aspired; nobody was oppressed; industry was sure of profit, knowledge of esteem, and virtue of veneration. An assuming landlord, strongly disposed to convert free tenants into abject vassals, and to reap what he did not sow, countenanced and abetted by a few desperate and designing dependants on the one side; and on the other, all who have sense enough to know their rights, and spirit enough to defend them, combined as one man against the said landlord, and his encroachments, is the form it has since assumed. And, surely, to a nation born to liberty like this, bound to leave it unimpaired as they received it from their fathers in perpetuity to their heirs, and interested in the conservation of it in every appendage of the British empire, the particulars of such a contest cannot be wholly indifferent. We love to stare more than to reflect; and to be On the contrary, it is reasonable to think, the indolently amused at our leisure, rather than com- first workings of power against liberty, and the mit the smallest trespass on our patience by wind-natural efforts of unbiased men to secure theming a painful, tedious maze, which would pay us in nothing but knowledge. But then, as there are some eyes which can find nothing marvellous, but what is marvellously great, so there are others which are equally disposed to marvel at what is marvellously little; and who can derive as much entertainment from their microscope in examining a mite, as Dr.- in ascertaining the geography of the moon, or measuring the tail of a comet. selves against the first approaches of oppression, must have a captivating power over every man of sensibility and discernment amongst us. Liberty, it seems, thrives best in the woods, America best cultivates what Germany brought forth. And were it not for certain ugly compari sons, hard to be suppressed, the pleasure arising from such a research would be without alloy. In the feuds of Florence, recorded by Machiavel, we find more to lament and less to praise. Scarce can we believe the first citizens of the an cient republics had such pretensions to consideraon, though so highly celebrated in ancient story. And as to ourselves, we need no longer have recourse to the late glorious stand of the French parliaments to excite our emulation. Let this serve as an excuse for the author of these sheets, if he needs any, for bestowing them on the transactions of a colony, till of late hardly mentioned in our annals; in point of establishment one of the last upon the British list, and in point of rank one of the most subordinate; as being not only subject, in common with the rest, to the It is a known custom among farmers to change crown, but also so the claims of a proprietary, who their corn from season to season for the sake of thinks he does them honour enough in governing filling the bushel: and in case the wisdom of the them by deputy; consequently so much farther re-age should condescend to make the like experimoved from the royal eye, and so much the more ex- ment in another shape, from hence we may learn posed to the pressure of self-interested instructions. whither to repair for the proper species. Considerable, however, as most of them for hap- It is not, however, to be presumed, that such as piness of situation, fertility of soil, product of have long been accustomed to consider the colovaluable commodities, number of inhabitants, ship-nies, in general, as only so many dependencies on ping, amount of exportations, latitude of rights and privileges, and every other requisite for the being and well-being of society, and more considerable than any of them all for the celerity of its growth, unassisted by any human help but the vigour and virtue of its own excellent constitution. the council-board, the board of trade, and the board of customs; or as a hot-bed for causes, jobs, and other pecuniary emoluments, and as bound as effectually by instructions as by laws, can be prevailed upon to consider these patriot rustics with any degree of respect. A father and his family, the latter united by in- Derision, on the contrary, must be the lot of him terest and affection, the former to be revered for who imagines it in the power of the pen to set any the wisdom of his institutions, and the indulgent lustre upon them; and indignation theirs for daruse of his authority, was the form it was at firsting to assert and maintain the independency interpresented in. Those who were only ambitious of repose found it here; and as none returned with an evil report of the land, numbers followed, all partook of the leaven they found; the community *This publication was made in London during the war that begun in 1753, and the author, who always adapts himself to his situation, had discernment enough to perceive that a work on a subject so important would lose none of its consideration by being published in a remote colony. The introduction, which is a model of vivid style and sound wisdom, written as in London, and with the zeal of a man zealous for the prosperity of the British government. viii woven in their constitution, which now, it seems, is become an improper ingredient, and therefore to be excised away. But how contemptibly soever these gentlemen may talk of the colonies, how cheap soever they may hold their assemblies, or how insignificant the planters and traders who compose them, truth will he truth, and principle principle notwithstanding to be measured by the sphere assigned them to act Courage, wisdom, integrity, and honour are not in, but by the trials they undergo, and the vouchers they furnish, and if so manifested, need neither robes nor titles to set them off. FRANKLIN'S WORKS. AN HISTORICAL REVIEW OF THE CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. THE Constitution of Pennsylvania is derived, first, from the birthright of every British subject; secondly, from the royal charter granted to William Penn by king Charles II., and thirdly, from the charter of privileges granted by the said William Pennas proprietary and governor, in virtue of the former, to the freemen of the said province and territories; being the last of four at several periods issued by the same authority. The birthright of every British subject is, to have a property of his own, in his estate, person, and reputation; subject only to laws enacted by his own concurrence, either in person or by his representatives: and which birthright accompanies him wheresoever he wanders or rests; so long as he is within the pale of the British dominions, and is true to his allegiance. Penn, and the commendable desire of his son to enlarge the British empire, to promote such useful commodities as might be of benefit to it, and to civilize the savage inhabitants. In the third section, which constitutes the said William Penn the true and absolute proprietary of the said province, there is a saving to the crown, of the faith and allegiance of the said William Penn, his heirs and assigns, and of all other proprietaries, tenants, and inhabitants of the said province, as also of the sovereignty thereof. The fourth, professing to repose. special trust and confidence in the fidelity, wisdom, justice, and provident circumspection of the said Penn, grants to him and his heirs, and to his and their deputies, free, full, and absolute power, for the good and happy government of the said country, to ordain, make, and enact, The royal charter was granted to William and under his or their seals, to publish any Penn in the beginning of the year 1681. A laws whatsoever, for the raising of money for most alarming period! The nation being in public uses of the said province, or for any a strong ferment; and the court forming an other end appertaining either unto the public arbitrary plan; which, under the countenance state, peace, or safety of the said country, or of a small standing army, they began the unto the private utility of particular persons, same year to carry into execution, by cajoling according to their best discretion; by and some corporations, and forcing others by quo with the advice, assent, and approbation of the warrantos to surrender their charters: so freemen of the said country, or the greater that by the abuse of law, the disuse of par- part of them, or of their delegates and depuliaments, and the terror of power, the king-ties, to be assembled in such sort and form, as dom became in effect the prey of will and to him and them shall seem best, and as often pleasure. as need shall require. The charter governments of America had, before this, afforded a place of refuge to the persecuted and miserable; and, as if to enlarge the field of liberty abroad, which had been so sacrilegiously contracted at home, Pennsylvania even then was made a new asylum, where all who wished or desired to be free might be so for ever. The basis of the grant expressed in the preamble was, the merits and services of admiral VOL. II.... A 1 By the fifth, the said William Penn is impowered and authorized to erect courts of judicature, appoint judges, and administer justice in all forms, and carry all the laws so made as above, into execution, under the pains therein expressed; provided the said laws be consonant to reason, and not repugnant or contrary, (but as near as conveniently may be) agreeable to the laws and statutes and rights of England; with a saving to the crown in 1 case of appeals; for this reason doubtless, that they do in any sort withstand the same: that in case any act of injustice or oppression was committed, the party injured might be sure of redress. By the sixth, which presumes, that in the government of so great a country, sudden accidents might happen, which would require a remedy before the freeholders or their delegates could be assembled to the making of laws, the said William Penn, and his heirs, by themselves or their magistrates duly ordained, are impowered to make and constitute fit and wholesome ordinances, from time to time, as well for the preservation of the peace, as for the better government of the inhabitants, under the saine proviso as that above, regarding the laws, and so as that the said ordinances be not extended in any sort to bind, change, or take away the right or interest of any person or persons, for or in their life, members, freehold, goods, or chattels. and, on the contrary, enjoins them, to be at all times aiding and assisting, as was fitting to the said William Penn and his heirs, and unto the inhabitants and merchants of the province aforesaid, their servants, ministers, factors, and assigns, in the full use and fruition of the benefit of the said charter. And in the last place, a provision is made, by the king's special will, ordinance, and command, that, in case any doubt or question should thereafter perchance arise, concerning the true sense or meaning of any word, clause, or sentence contained therein, such interpretation should be made thereof. and allowed in any of his majesty's courts, as should be adjudged most advantageous and favourable to the said William Penn, his heirs and assigns; provided always, that no interpretation be admitted thereof, by which the allegiance due to the crown may suffer any prejudice or dimunution. And to the end, that neither the said Wil- The whole consists of twenty-three secliam Penn or his heirs, or other the planters, tions; of which it is presumed, these are the owners, or inhabitants of the said province, most material. They are penned with all may, by misconstruction of the power afore- the appearance of candour and simplicity said, through inadvertency, or design, depart imaginable; so that if craft had any thing to from their faith and allegiance to the crown, do with them, never was craft better hid. As the seventh section provides, that a transcript or duplicate of all laws, so made and published as aforesaid, shall within five years after the making thereof, be transmitted and delivered to the privy council for the time being: and if declared by the king in council, inconsistent with the sovereignty or lawful prerogative of the crown, or contrary to the faith and allegiance due to the legal government of this realm, shall be adjudged void. The said William Penn is also obliged to have an attorney, or agent, to be his resident representative, at some known place in London, who is to be answerable to the crown for any misdemeanour committed, or wilful de fault or neglect, committed by the said Penn against the laws of trade and navigation; and to defray the damages in his majesty's courts ascertained; and in case of failure, the government to be resumed and retained till payment has been made; without any prejudice however in any respect to the landholders or inhabitants, who are not to be affected or molested thereby. His majesty, moreover, covenants and grants to and with the said William Penn, in the twentieth section, for himself, his heirs and successors, at no time thereafter, to impose or levy any tax on the inhabitants in any shape, unless the same be with the consent of the proprietary or chief governor, or assembly, or by act of parliament in England. On pun of his highest displeasure, he also commands all his officers and ministers, that they do not presume at any time to attempt any thing to the contrary of the premises, or little is left as possible to future instructions, and no where is there to be found the shadow of a pretence, that such instructions should be laws. All is equally agreeable to law and reason, the claims of the crown and the rights of the subject; nor, indeed, would the grant have been valid if it had been otherwise. The words legal government are words of great significancy.-No command of the king's is a legal command, unless consonant to law, and authenticated by one of his seals:-the forms of office in such case providing, that nothing illegal shall be carried into execution; and the officer himself being responsible to the laws in case of yielding a criminal obedience. It would therefore be a waste of words to show, that the crown is limited in all acts and grants, by the fundamentals of the constitution; and that, as it cannot alienate any one limb or joint of the state, so neither, on the other, can it establish any colony upon, or contract it within a narrower scale, than the subject is entitled to by the great charter of England. But if it is remarkable, that such an instrument as this should be the growth of an arbitrary court, it is equally so, that the king's brother, James, duke of York, (afterwards the most unhappy of kings) was at the rebound, a party in it; for it seems, the right to all that tract of land now called the territories of Pennsylvania, was, by a prior grant, vested in him; and, in August, 1682, he assigned it by his deeds of feofliment to the said William Penn. It may also be inferred, that the said Wil liam Penn had been as diligent in collecting a number of proper adventurers together, as in obtaining the necessary authorities from the crown: for in the interval between the charter and the grant, he made use of the provisional powers given him by the sixth section of the former, to pass his first deed of settlement under the title of "Certain conditions, or concessions, agreed upon by William Penn, proprietary and governor of Pennsylvania, and those who are the adventurers and purchasers in the same province." but a treble vote. One third of them was, The lawsagreed upon in England were in all forty; partly political, partly moral, and partly economical. They are of the nature of an original compact between the proprietary and the freemen, and as such were reciprocally re This, however, contains only rules of settlement, and of trade with, and treatment of the Indians, &c. with the addition of some ge-ceived and executed. neral injunctions for preserving of order and keeping the peace, agreeable to the customs, usages, and laws of England. In the next year following, Mr. Penn printed and published a system of government, under the following title, to wit, "The frame of the government of the province of Pennsylvania in America: together with certain laws greed upon in England, by the governor and divers freemen of the aforesaid province. To be farther explained and confirmed there by the first provincial council, if they see meet." At the head of this frame, or system, is a short preliminary discourse, part of which serves to give us a more lively idea of Mr. Penn preaching in Gracechurch-street, than we derive from Raphael's Cartoon of Paul preaching at Athens: as a man of concience he sets out; as a man of reason he proceeds, and as a man of the world he offers the most plausible conditions to all, to the end that he might gain some. Two paragraphs of this discourse, the people of Pennsylvania ought to have for ever before their eyes: to wit, 1. "Any government is free to the people (whatever be the frame) where the laws rule and the people are a party to those laws: and more than this is tyranny, oligarchy, or confusion." 2. "To support power in reverence with the people, and to secure the people from the abuse of power, that they may be free by their just obedience, and the magistrates honourable for their just administration, are the great ends of all government." This frame consisted of twenty-four articles, and savoured very strongly of Harrington and his Oceana. In the governor and freemen of the province, in the form of a provincial council, (always in being and yet always changing,) and general assembly, the government was placed. By them conjunctively, all laws were to be made, all officers appointed, and all public affairs transacted. Seventy-two was the number this council was to consist of: they were to be chosen by the freemen; and, though the governor or his deputy was to be perpetual president, he had But in the following year the scene of action being shifted from the mother country to the colony, the deportment of the legislator was shifted too. Less of the man of God now appeared, and more of the man of the world. One point he had already carried against the inclination of his followers; namely, the reservation of quit-rents, which they had remonstrated against as a burden in itself, and, added to the purchase-money, was without precedent in any other colony: but he artfully distinguishing the two capacities of proprietary and governor; and insinuating, that government must be supported with splendour and dignity, and that by this expedient they would be exempt from other taxes; the bait took, and the point was carried. To unite the subtlety of the serpent with the innocence of the dove is not so easily done as said. Having in this instance experienced the weight of his credit and the power of his persuasion, he was no sooner landed, than he formed a double scheme for uniting the province with the territory, though it does not appear he was properly authorized so to do, and to substitute another frame of government in lieu of the former, which having answered the great purpose of inducement here at home,* for collecting of subjects, he was now inclined to render somewhat more favourable to himself in point of government. Of much artifice we find him accused (by the provincial assembly of 1704, in a representation addressed to himself) in the whole course of this proceeding; whether justly or not let the world determine. They tell him, for example, in so many words, "That we find by the minutes of the assembly and other papers, as well as living witnesses, that, soon after thy first arrival here, thou, having obtained the duke's grant for the three lower counties [the territory that is to say] prevailed with the people of the province to unite in legislation and government with them of the lower counties; and then by a subtle contrivance and artifice, laid deeper than the capacities of some could fathom, or England, where this Review was first published and condition, that whenever the crown hal assumed that government, or the people there revolted, or refused to act with us in legislation, as they often did, that then the said second charter should become impracticable, and the privileges thereby granted of no effect to the province, because the representatives of the lower counties were equal in number with those of the province, and the charter required a greater number than the province had, or by charter could elect for members of council and assembly; and our numbers, by the charter, could not be increased without the revolter's consent." In the interval between this session at Chester, in December, 1682, and the next at Philadelphia in March and April, 1683, Mr. Penn, notwithstanding the act of settlement, furnished himself with another frame, in part conformable to the first, in part modified according to the said act; and in part essential the circumstances of many could admit them time then to consider of, a way was found out to lay aside that, and introduce another charter, which thou completed in the year 1683." At a place called Chester, in December, 1682, the freemen both of the province and territory were convened; but those of the province having, by election, returned twelve persons to serve for each county as members of the provincial council, were induced to accompany that return with significations and petitions by their sheriffs, &c. importing that because of the fewness of the people, their inability in estate, and their unskilfulness in matters of government, their desire was, that the twelve so returned for each county, might serve both for provincial council and general assembly; that is to say, three of each twelve for members of council, and the remaining nine for assembly-men; with the same powers and privileges granted by the charter or frame of government to the whole: and ac-ly different from both and concerning this cording to these significations and petitions of theirs, an act of settlement was drawn up and passed, in which, after the said charter or frame has been artfully mentioned as one of those probationary laws, which by the council and assembly might be altered at pleasure, the model of the said council and assembly so reduced is admitted; the persons so returned are declared and enacted to be the legal council and assembly; the number of the said council is fixed at three persons out of each county for the time to come; the number of assembly-men for each is reduced to six; and, after a variety of farther regulations, the said charter or frame is solemnly recognised and accepted: as if with these alterations and amendments it was understood to be complete. The act for uniting the province and the territory humbly besought, as it is therein specified, by the deputies of the said territory, was also passed at the same time and place; in virtue of which all the benefits and advantages before granted to the provincials, were equally communicated to both; and both from that time were to be as one people under one and the same government. Of this act, however, the provincial assembly of 1704, in the representation to their proprietary before cited, complain in the terms following: "And as to the conveniency of the union of the province and lower counties, we cannot gainsay it, if the king had granted thee the government as the duke had done the soil: but to our great grief and trouble, we cannot find that thou had any such grant; and if thou had, thou would not produce it, though often requested so to do: therefore we take it the harder that thou, who knew how precarious thy power was to govern the lower counties, should bring thy province into such a state again, the assembly of 1704, in their representation aforesaid, thus freely expostulate with the proprietary to wit, 66 The motives which we find upon record, inducing the people to accept of that second charter, were chiefly two, viz. That the number of representatives would prove burdensome to the country: and the other was, that, in regard thou had but a treble vote, the people, through their unskilfulness in the laws of trade and navigation, might pass some laws over thy head repugnant thereunto, which might occasion the forfeiture of the king's letters patent, by which this country was granted to thee; and wherein is a clause for that purpose, which we find much relied upon, and frequently read or urged in the assembly of that time; and security demanded by thee from the people on that account." "As to the first motive, we know that the number of representatives might have been very well reduced without a new charter : and as to the laws of trade, we cannot conceive that a people so fond of thyself for (their) governor, and who saw much with thy eyes in those affairs, should, against thy advice and cautions, make laws repugnant to those of trade, and so bring trouble and disappointment upon themselves, by being a means of suspending thy administration; the influence whereof and hopes of thy continuance therein, induced them, as we charitably conclude, to embark with thee in that great and weighty affair, more than the honour due to persons in those stations, or any sinister ends destructive to the constitution they acted by. Therefore, we see no just cause thou had to insist on such security, or to have a negative upon bills to be passed into laws in general assemblies, since thou had by the said charter (pursuant to the authority and direction of the king's letters patent aforesaid) formed those assem |