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blies, and, thereupon reserved but a treble vote in the provincial council, which could not be more injurious to thee than to the people, for the reasons aforesaid."

And again, afterwards;

the proprietary power as might awe the majority into proprietary measures.

"Thus was the first charter laid aside, contrary to the tenor thereof, and true intent of the first adventurers; and the second charter introduced and accepted by the general as-assembly, after he had been brought up to sembly held at Philadelphia, in the first and second months, 1683, where thou solemnly testified, that what was inserted in that charter was solely intended by thee for the good and benefit of the freemen of the province, and prosecuted with much earnestness in thy spirit towards God at the time of its composure."

In less than three years after Mr. Penn's arrival in the province, and when it began to wear a thriving face, a dispute between lord Baltimore, proprietary of Maryland, and him, furnished him with a pretence to return to England; leaving the government to be administered by five commissioners of state, taken out of the provincial council, the remainder of that council, and the general assembly.

James II. was now on the throne: Mr. Penn was attached to him closely by obligations, if not by principles: that prince's impolitic plan of restoring the Roman ritual by universal toleration, seems to have been almost inspired by him in the king's dispute with the fellows of Magdalen college, Mr. Penn was an active instrument on his majesty's behalf, not without some injurious imputations to himself: and for some years after the revolution, had the misfortune to lie under the suspicions and the frowns of the government.

His nursling-colony was yet in the cradle, while it was thus deserted; consequently stood in need of all expedience to facilitate its growth, and all preservatives against disorders.

Thus John White, the former speaker, who signed the letter from the assembly to Mr. Penn, concerning the misdemeanours of More, was no sooner returned for the county of Newcastle, than he was thrown into prison, and by violence wrested out of the hands of the Philadelphia by habeas corpus. The said governor also finding that the said assembly was not of the proprietary complexion, and that they were disposed to open the session with a discussion of grievances, found pretences for several days to evade giving them audience, all either frivolous or groundless; and in the mean time, left no stone unturned to temper the council to his own mind; and then by their concurrence, to make a suitable impression upon the assembly.

The assembly, however, not only retained their firmness, but also took care to leave the two following memorials of it in their minutes to wit, May 14. "That whereas this assembly have attended here for several days, and have sent several messengers to the governor and council, appointed to confer with the members of assembly according to charter: and whereas the said messengers have given this house to understand, that they were answered by the governor, that there was not a full council to receive them: and, whereas this house being well assured, that there is, and has been, for these two days last past, a competent number of members in town, ready to yield their attendance, yet several of the said members have not been hitherto permitted to sit in council, to the great detriment and grievance of the country: therefore, we desire, that these grievances may be speedily redressed, and our liberties inviolably preserved."

May 15. "That no person who is commissionated or appointed by the governor to reDisorders it actually fell into, which are ceive the governor's fines, forfeitures, or revestill to be traced in the minutes of their as- nues whatsoever, shall sit in judgment in any semblies: one More in particular, we find court of judicature within this government, in impeached by the assembly before the pro-any matter or cause whatsoever, where a fine vincial council, of misdemeanour in ten several or forfeiture shall or may accrue to the goarticles, and, in a letter to the proprietary, vernor." signed by John White, speaker, represented On the last of these two days, and previous as an aspiring and corrupt minister of state. to the last of these votes, the governor at We find the assembly and provincial coun-length favoured them with the meeting desircil at variance about their respective powers ed; and thereat made a speech, in which are an! privileges; what is more extraordinary still, we find the proprietary, in 1686, requiring and enjoining his said commissioners to dissolve the frame of government by his late charter constituted; and they not being able to carry this point, we find, in December, 1688, a deputy-governor appointed, captain John Blackwell, who, like a practised man, set out with endeavouring to sow dissensions among the freemen, and by making such a display of

the following remarkable paragraphs: viz.

"I suppose you have been formerly acquainted with the reasons and necessity of the proprietary's absenting himself so long from you as till the late revolutions in England; he hath frequently evidenced his strong desire above all things to be restored to you: what hath hindered of late, we have from the divers reports of things transacted in England, which require we should wait for their being

rendered more certain; and, in the mean time, strive in our prayers, that the Lord, who governs this universe, will do it in his wisdom and good will, towards all his suffering people, and ourselves in particular.

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I suppose, gentlemen, you expected some bills should have been sent down to you from the provincial council, for your consideration, before your coming up and passing them into laws at this meeting. Divers reasons might be why none were; I shall acquaint you with some of them: viz.

"1. The honourable proprietary, for reasons known to himself, hath given positive directions for letting all the laws drop or fall, except the fundamentals, and afterwards for calling together the legislative authority, to pass such of them, or others, as they should see fit for the future; which is my full intention to do.

should be proposed, they could not take effect among us as laws, till his pleasure should be therein declared; I came to a resolution within myself, of observing them in the course of my government, as so many rules and instructions given me by my master, as far as I should find and judge them not contrary to the laws of England, and in supplying the want or defect in your laws by the laws of England, which I believe will be most grateful to our superiors in England, especially at this time; and will be as useful among ourselves, there being no other way occurring to my understanding whereby you may receive the benefit of them: and in this purpose I am ready, unless you should otherwise advise, until by better information out of England, we shall be led out of these state meanders."

The assembly answered, among other things, as follows: viz.

"We heartily wish that thy design in coming hither, with all imaginable respect to our governor and inhabitants here, may be pursued accordingly with suitable measures; and we cannot but have that opinion of our worthy governor's tender regard to the people here, that as he will justify no unbecoming behaviour in us towards his representative, so we hope he will vindicate no unlawful or rigid procedure against us. As to our governor's absence, we are very sensible that, as it may be to his disappointment, so it is extremely to our prejudice. Were we in expectation of re

"2. The honourable proprietary, being by his patent from the king, authorized by himself, his heirs, &c. with consent of the freemen, to make, and under his seal to publish, necessary laws for the good of the people; which had never been done with all requisite circumstances, whilst himself was here; and without which, I must doubt whether what were passed, or should hereafter be passed, have that due sanction or establishment which laws require; and finding the great seal, under which they should pass, was not to be had, the keeper thereof refusing to allow the use of it in any cases by my direction, I therefore look-ceiving bills from thee and the council as fored upon it as labour in vain to attempt it.

"3. The present posture and alteration of affairs in England; the uncertainty touching the condition of the proprietary himself, and his power: and the fears of what dangers might ensue, as well to him as ourselves, in passing and confirming laws of such a nature, as would have been approved of in this conjuncture of affairs, forbad it.

"4. The animosities and dissensions which were here amongst you before I came, and have been lately revived amongst the members of the provincial council, by the endeavours of some, as to their proceedings in that service, hindered their agreement in council, as to doing any thing; insomuch as I was constrained, for love and peace sake, upon that and the other foregoing considerations, to dismiss them from further attendance on that ac

count.

"5. An expedient occurred to me, of less danger to us all: viz. that I, being by my commission, as aforesaid, referred for my rule and instructions to the laws then in being, and which had been, as well by the proprietary as people, approved and owned as such, whilst he was amongst you here, and observing that he had reserved the confirmation and disannulling of what laws should be made in his absence, to himself; so that if any were or

merly; to the reason thou art pleased to give why none are sent, that the proprietary and governor hath given directions for letting all the laws drop or fall, we are credibly informed, that afterwards he was well pleased they should stand; and all the laws made here since his departure, were sent for his perusal, and none of them, to our knowledge, in the least declared void by him; neither do we conceive that he hath any reason so to do.

"As to the establishment of laws, we expected nor aimed at any higher sanction than was used in the governor's time; but in case bills had been prepared and promulgated according to charter, and had passed by us into laws, and the great seal had been necessary and the same duly required to be applied to the said laws, and the keeper refused the same, then we might justly blame such refusal: but as to the way thou mentions, that our proprietary and governor is authorized by himself, and with consent of the freemen, to make laws, and under his seal to publish them, and not in the granted way of the charter and act of settlement; as we do not desire, so our hopes are, that no laws of that make will be imposed upon us: and had we made laws at this time, as formerly, we question not but that they had been as inoffensive in the present conjuncture, as afore: and we

do conceive, that our laws here, not being declared or adjudged by the king under his privy seal to be void, do remain and stand in full force, according to the true intent and meaning thereof.

"As for the charge of animosities and dissensions amongst us before thy coming here, it is so general, that we can make no other answer than that in matters of government, our apprehensions were otherwise, the end of good government being answered, in that power was supported in reverence with the people, and the people were secured from the abuse of power; but for what thou mentions to have been renewed since amongst the members of council, we leave them to an

swer.

"As to the expedient proposed, of thy governing this province and territories, by such of the laws as were made before our proprietary and governor went hence, which thou shalt judge not contrary to the laws of England, we conceive no such expedient can be consistent with our constitution, without the concurrence of the council, according to such methods as have been heretofore used in legislature, and what course of government is otherwise, will be ungrateful and uncertain to us, for how far the laws of England are to be our rules, is declared by the king's letters patent.

"As to thy assuring us, thy just compliance with us, in what we may reasonably desire, we take it kindly, and do desire that our members of council may be permitted to sit, accord. ing to our former request."

The governor finding himself thus steadily opposed, had recourse to another piece of practice, which was to prevail on certain members to withdraw themselves from the house: the house, on the other hand, voted this to be a treachery, and farther prepared and presented the following request to the governor: viz.

"To the governor and council, sitting at Philadelphia, the twentieth day of the third month, 1689.

"We the representatives of the freemen of Pennsylvania, and territories thereof, in assembly met, being much disappointed in our expectation in not finding any bills prepared and promulgated by you for a further concurrence; and perceiving three members duly elected to serve in council (in whose wisdom and faithfulness we much confide) too long kept out; and that a member of our own, is treated with great rigor and severity in the time of assembly, and not allowed to be with us, though most of us have known him to have been serviceable therein these several vears: we (being under a strait in these considerations) do request your tender regard of our grievances already presented, and of our answer presented to the governor in council, to his speech delivered to us there; and we

do desire, you do not go to dismiss us unti. we are received, and righted in our just complaints: and that we be not discouraged in charging before the provincial council, such persons or members whom we can with great probability make appear to be ill ministers and chief authors of the present arbitrariness in government; and who are men unworthy as we conceive, to be much consulted with, and unfit to be chief magistrates.-What we purpose to do herein, shall be orderly, speedily, and within bounds."

It does not appear that this request met with any regard, or that the proprietary interest gained any ground in the assemblies held the two subsequent years: and in the year 1693, the king and queen assumed the government of the colony into their own hands; under what pretext, in virtue of what management, whether to gratify any displeasure conceived against Mr. Penn, or in concert with him, is not specified.

Colonel Fletcher was appointed governor of New York and Pennsylvania by one and the same commission, with equal powers and prerogatives in both provinces: as if there was no such thing as a charter extant.

This commission of his was, also, accompanied with a letter from the queen, countersigned Nottingham, requiring him, as governor of Pennsylvania, to send such aid or assistance in men or otherwise, for the security of the province of New York against the at-. tempts of the French and Indians, as the condition of the said colony would permit, as if the good will of the freemen was no longer worth mentioning.

To the assembly, however, this royal visiter thought fit to communicate both his commission and her majesty's said letter. But then it was an assembly widely different from that appointed by their charter. Instead of six members for each of the six counties, those of Philadelphia and New Castle were reduced to four each, and the rest to three; difference sixteen and, as an act of grace, his excellency dispensed with the oaths of such as made it a point of conscience not to swear; and accepted a written profession and declaration of allegiance, before established in their stead.Whether so strange an innovation was openly and specially complained of or not, the assembly had nevertheless the spirit to open their session with the following resolution, which passed nem. con. "That the laws of this province that were in force and practice before the arrrival of this present governor, are still in force: and that the assembly have a right humbly to move the governor for a continuation or confirmation of the same.'

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They also interwove this vote of theirs in their address to him, and not unartfully introduced it under the umbrage of an insinuation that the king and queen had thought fit to

appoint him to be their governor, because of the absence of their proprietary; but derived no benefit from it: for the governor bluntly told them, "he was sorry to find their desires grounded upon so great mistakes:" adding these emphatical expressions, "the absence of the proprietary is the least cause mentioned in their majesties' letters patent, for their majesties asserting their undoubted right of governing their subjects in this province. There are reasons of greater moment: as the neglects and miscarriages in the late administration; the want of necessary defence against the enemy; the danger of [the province must be understood] being lost from the crown. The constitution of their majesties' government and that of Mr. Penn's are in direct opposition one to the other: if you will be tenacious in stickling for this, it is a plain demonstration, use what words you please, that indeed you decline the other."

The assembly again, not to be wanting in duty to the king and queen, nor consistency to themselves, admitted their majesties' right of government to be indubitable; but would not allow themselves to be under any mistake in relation to the proprietary's absence. "And to the other reasons rendered, (said they in their remonstrances) for the superceding our proprietary's governancy, we apprehend [they] are founded on misinformations; for the courts of justice were open in all counties in this government, and justice duly executed from the highest crimes of treason and murder to the determining the lowest difference about property, before the date or arrival of the governor's commission. Neither do we apprehend, that the province was in danger of being lost from the crown, although the government was in the hands of some whose principles are not for war and we conceive, that the present governancy hath no direct opposition (with respect to the king's government here in general) to our proprietary's William Penn, though the exercise of thy authority at present supersedes that of our said proprietary: nevertheless we readily own thee for our lawful governor, saving to ourselves and those whom we represent, our and their just rights and privileges."

Proceeding then to business, they voted a. supply; but inclined to have their laws confirmed and their grievances redressed first: accordingly, they sent up a committee of ten, with the book of their laws to the governor for his acceptance and ratification: and, after a long debate between him, assisted by five of his council, and them, which was terminated on his side somewhat equivocally, he sent two of the said council to assure the house, in his name, of his confirmation of all the said laws (excepting one relating to shipwrecks) during the king's pleasure: for

which they thought proper to return him a vote of thanks.

Nor is it much to be wondered at, that men taken by surprise, out of the hands of their friend the proprietary, and exposed at once to a wrestling-match with the crown, which they had never had any immediate transactions with before, should submit to hold their liberties by courtesy, rather than incur the least risk of not holding them at all.

There was, however, a party among them, who having drawn up a petition of right, claiming and desiring the use and benefit of two hundred and three laws therein specified, as in all respects consonant to their charter, and none of them annulled by the crown in consequence of the power reserved to the sovereign; would hear of no abatement; and who had credit enough with the assembly to obtain the sending a message to the governor, signifying, "that it was the sense and expectation of the assembly, that aggrievances ought to be redressed before any bill of supply ought to pass."

And here their hearts failed them: for the governor having returned the bill sent up with the message which he had proposed amendments to, without any specifications of what those amendments were to be, with the following answer, "that the assembly should have no account of the amendments of the bill, till they came in a full house before him to give the last sanction to the laws;" and farther, "that he saw nothing would do but an annexion to New York." The menace carried the supply.

When the bill for granting it was however sent up, they not only sent up the roll of their laws with it, but also gave that part of their order the first place in their books.

They further "Resolved, nem. con. that all bills sent to the governor and council in order to be amended, ought to be returned to this house, to have their farther approbation upon such amendments, before they can have their final assent to pass into laws."

And though they did not join with their committee of ten in the following paper, they suffered it to be entered in their books, by way of protest on their behalf: to wit,

"We whose names are hereunto subscribed, representatives of the freemen of this province in assembly, do declare, it is the undoubted right of this house to receive back from the governor and council all such bills as are sent up for their approbation or amendments: and that it is as necessary to know the amendments, and debate the same, as the body of the bills: and that the denial of that right is destructive to the freedom of making laws. And we also declare, it is the right of the assembly, that, before any bill for sup plies be presented for the last sanction of a

law, aggrievances ought to be redressed. fore; urging the necessity of a sudden jourTherefore, we, with protestation (saving our ney to Albany, to endeavour at reclaiming the just rights in assembly) do declare, that the five nations of Indians, hitherto the allies of assent of such of us, as were for sending up England, but now confederated with the gothe bill this morning, was merely in considera- vernor of Canada against us; said he had tion of the governor's speedy departure, but brought the papers which passed at the conthat it should not be drawn into example or ference along with him, for their satisfaction; precedent for the future. DAVID LLOYD," &c. that their Indians would be next forced into the And concerning this whole period, we find same fatal confederacy; that he had seen with the freemen in assembly met for the year his eyes, a large tract of cultivated land about 1704, thus farther expostulating with their Albany, which had been abandoned by the inproprietary, in the remonstrance already more habitants, rather through the unkindness of than once referred to: to wit, "But what thou their neighbours in refusing them assistance, and they (the five commissioners of state) could than by the force of the enemy prayed, that not effect in that behalf, was performed by those who shut their eyes against a distant colonel Fletcher in the year 1693, and then danger, might not find it at their own doors; we were brought under the immediate direc- extolled the two provinces of Jersey for the aids tion of the crown, but with commands for him they had sent; and concluded thus, "Gentleto govern us by the laws of the country: and men, I consider your principles, that you will although both the laws and charter had been not carry arms, nor levy money to make war, long before transmitted to thee, in order to though for your own defence; yet I hope you get the late king's (James) approbation there- will not refuse to feed the hungry and clothe of, which we insisted upon, and urged that the naked: my meaning is to supply those Inthey were laws till disapproved, yet thou hav-dian nations with such necessaries as may ining sent no account whether they were approved or not, we were forced to comply with him, and accept of such as he pleased: but the charter he totally rejected."

Before he set out for New York, he did however give a written sanction to the laws required; and the next year's assembly proved notwithstanding to be of the same leaven with the last.

This assembly had been summoned by the writs of the lieutenant-governor (Markham) and when met in a humour to state and redress the grievances of the colony, found themselves precluded from acting by an order from Fletcher for their adjournment.

That, therefore, they might make the most of two days, they appointed a committee of grievances; and having received their report, agreed upon a remonstrance to the governor thereon, containing a complaint of their being sent for only to be dismissed; asserting the right of the house to adjourn themselves; and among several other particulars, calling upon the governor so to exert his power and authority, that cases determined by juries might not be unduly avoided by determinations in equity; that to prevent arbitrary assessments and the dissatisfaction they gave rise to, the Justices of the peace might consult with, and be directed by the approbation of the several grand juries; and that the money raised by The last assembly might be properly applied and properly accounted for to the present at their next sitting.

Their right of adjourning themselves having been admitted, they met accordingly towards the end of the next month.-Governor Fletcher was by this time returned to them in person; and in the opening of his speech, made them a handsome apology for not meeting them beVOL. II.... B

fluence them to a continuance of their friendship to these provinces. And now, gentlemen, if you will consider wherein I may be useful to you, according to the tenor of my commission, in redressing your grievances, if you have any, you shall find me ready to act by the rules of loyalty, with a true regard to liberty and property.'

What appears to have been most remark able in this session, was a dispute between the governor and the house about a money bill: he alleging it was inconsistent with his trust to pass the bill, because they had named collectors therein, which seemed to derogate from the confidence reposed in the king's officer appointed to collect the last tax; and insisting upon some answer to the queen's letter, before he came to a final resolution concerning it; and they at once adhering to their bill, and desiring it might not be rejected on the first of those accounts; since they could not but assert their undoubted right to appropriate as well as raise money, agreeable to the privileges heretofore granted them, the practice in England, as well as in that and also in some of the neighbouring colonies; and that as to the receiver, when their appropriations had been answered, he was to dispose of the remainder as the governor and council should order.

The governor still pressed for their answer to her majesty, instead of giving them the satisfaction desired; and the said answer proving to be a remonstrance, he dissolved them.

Of the next sessions the accounts are extremely imperfect. We find, indeed, by a course of minutes, that a joint committee of the council, at the requisition of the govern or, had several meetings, to consider of the queen's letter, the governor's demands there

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