The Pennsylvania packet, or, The general advertiser — Lancaster, Pa.;Philadelphia, Pa., 1782-01-12 00:00:00, page 2

Mr. CLAVPOOLE,
TDARE fay you quill, oblige and inform many of your cu
-4 flowers, by publijbtng in your Gazette the following Froteft
made in Assembly, on occasion of pacing the bill for the better
support of government, inserted in your Gazette of the 28th
of November las. As feme alterations have face been made
in it, I Jhall mention the mos considerable of them.
The salary of the Chief fuflice is raised to 900/. per annum,
but thoje of the Second, -Third and Fourth sand as in the pub
lifoed copy, the Second at yool. the others at 300/. The blank
for the commencement of them all, both those of the executive
and judicial branches, are, by arrange management, put back
to th zzd oj June las ; this obliges such as remain in office to
account Jor the fams received by them upon former allowances
as part of the years salary due and ending next summer.
The fubjebl is too serious to dwell upon.
I am your's, &c. A. B.
Extra& from the Minutes of the General Assembly.
Thurfcay, December 27, 1781. P. M.
': "' '?'" ""-!'" '"PP O '! °f government and admini
fb atim of justice being brought in engrossed, was
read and compared at the table: Whereupon the question
was put, shall the fame ^e enabled into a law ? and the
Yeas ?nd Nays being required by Mr. W. Montgomery
and Mr. Wilkmfon, flood as follows Yeas. Sharp De
lany, John Steinmetz, Sa nuel Meredith, Matthew Hol
gate, Thomas Rees, Henry Hill, George Campbell, Ge
ra dus Wynkoop, Thomas Long, Evan Evans, John Han
nom. James Moore, Christopher Kucher, Jacob Cooke,
Jac 1) Carpenter, Abraham Scott, James Jacks, Matthias
Youth, William Bown, J cob Kiug, Robert M'Pherfon,
M les M'Ckan, Michael Schmyfer, Thomas Lilly, Mi
chael Hahn, Joseph Magoffin, Robert ' Magaw, Jo k
tim fujlice.
Sect. r. ^'^^HEREAS those who dedicate their time
V ¥ and abilities to tlie service of the pub
lic, ought to receive,i rertmaule compenlation:
dhCT.2. Be it therefore enacted, andit is hereby cnaaed,
k> the -Cprefiutativts of the Freemen of the Commbnwealtb
°J r•nnh?t- mi'a, „i Central rifemb!y met, and by the Autbo
n !y "J ; b' j,me, That the folioung annual falaiies ihail be
allowed to the feverai officers of Rate, here nafter men
tioned, to c inmer.ee on roe twenty fecund day of June
lent part, and to continue tor the space or one vear, and
untipthe fame th ill be afterwards altered by the iegilla
ture, to be saidtoth # m federally on them iece;pt>, or on
thei; draughts quarterly, on the Treasurer of the state;
that is tojuy,
To the President o ; the Suprein ' Executive Council, or
Commander in ti^ef of the Forces <t this State, tot the
time being, the ,um of twelve Hundred and h/ty rounds.
Toe Vice Preiident, the >mu 6i Five Hundred Pounds.
Sect. 4. Lid be it further enabled by the authority afore
faid, That every Delegate in Congress and Member of
Council shall be further allowed, towards his travelling
charges, after the rate of Six pence per mile, once in every
three months, in coming tc and going from the places
where the Congress and Council sh ill respectively fit, pro
vided he shall so often actually visit his family; and that
every Memb r of Alterably shall be further allowed, to
wards his travelling charges, after the fame rate, once in
each fi ting of the House; which laid wages and travelling
expeiices ihah be paid by the Treasurer of this State to
the Delegates representing this State in Congress, and to
the Members 0; the Council, and their Door-keeper, on
the draughts of the President or Vice-President in Coun
cil; and to the Speaker and other Members of Aliembly,
to the Clerk of the Assembly, Sergeant at Arms and
Door-keeper, on the draughts of the Speaker of the
Houle, signed in Assembly.
Sect. 5 And be it further enabled by'tbe authority afore
faid, That so much of any adt'of Assembly heretofore
made, ^ declares what fal ries shall b- paid to the leveral
Officers of Government, and what w ^es shall be allowed
to the Speaker and other Members of Allembly, to the
Delegates representing this State in Congiels, to the Mem
bers of Council and others herein Specially mentioned,
shall be and is hereby repealed.
Signed, by Order of the House.
FREDERICK A. MUHLENBERG, Speaker.
Enabled into a Law at Philadelphia, on Thursday, the
twenty-seventh day of December, in the year of our
Lord one tboufand seven hundred and eighty one.
Peter Z. Lloyd, Clerk of the
General Aflembly.
P'H 1 LA D E L»HI A.
An ACTJor the fu+port of Government, and the Adminiflra-
Sect. 3. And be it jurtber enabled t, the authority afore
faid, firn the following wages shall be allowed and paid
to the persons herein ifter mentioned, to wit,
To the Delegates or Depuds of this Commonwealth,
in the Congress of the United states ufAmei tea, to: every
das attendance in the public service, each the Sum of
One Pound Ten Shillings.
The Members of the Supreme Executive Council, other
than tiie President and Vie: PE fident, for every day's at
tendance, each the sum of Seventeen shillings and Six
fence.•
The Sergeant at Arms, for every day's attendance, the
Sum of den Shillings.
The Door-keeper of the Council, and the Door-keeper
of tin- House of Assembly, each the Sum of Ten Shillings
for every day's attendance.
Ihe Second Justice of the Supreme Cout, the-Sum of
Four Hundred Pounds.'
The third and Footh Justices of the Sup erne Couit,
the Sum of Three Hundred Pounds each.
rhe Attorney General, the Sum oj One Hundred and
Fifty "cumls.
i he Secretary of the Supreme Executive Council, being
Remitter of Forfeited Elate , including toe Expence of
Clerks, tire Sum of rive Hundred Pounds. Provided al
ways, Fbat all Fees appert.im.mg t > the Office of laid Se
cretary of the Supreme Exccu.ive Council shall be paid
quarterly, by the Secretary, mio the Hands of the Stare
Tre dint,, for the Lit of the State.
The Speaker of the House of Aflembly, for each day's
attendance, the Sum of One Pound Two Shillings and Six-
pence. ,
The othe/ Members of the House of Assembly, for
every day's attendance, each the him of Fi tern Sbi lings.
The Clerk ot the Houle of Aflembly, for ev*y clay's
attendance, the Sum of One Pound.
The Chief Judice, th Sum in Nine hundred Pounds,
Montgomery, Stephen Duncan, Benjamin Weifer, John
Bishop, Jonas Hartzel, Robert Lattimer, Jacob Stroud,
Bernard Dougherty, Charles Ceffne, Isaac Meafon, John
Pro&or, John Canon. Nays. Joseph M'Clean, George
Sraiih, James Wilkin fort, James Tate, John Culbertson,
Thomas Moffatt, Patrick Anderson, John Lindsey, John
Whitehill, J mes Mercer, James Porter, James M'Clene,
William MTarran, William Montgomery, James Edgar.
So it was determined in the affirmative, and the Speaker
was directed to sign the fame.
f Wednesday, March 19, 1777, P. M. Mr. Hubley and
Mr. Taylor, two Members of the Executive Council, came in
and informed the House, that they were sent by the Council to
defre that the Assembly would now fix the salaries of the Chief
Jufiice and other Judges of the Supreme Court of this Com
monwealth, previous to their appointment: Whereupon the
House, taking the fame into confderation,
Resolved unanimously, That the Chief Jufice be allowed
-salary of £. 1000 per annum, and the Assistant fudges a
%r ? °f 5 0 ° p er annum each.
Because this bill pretends, so far as the authority of the
Legislature will go, to set aside a regular and constitutional
proceeding of the firft Assembly of this Commonwealth,
of the 19th of March, 1777, P. M. f whereby, upon an
application of the President and Council to the Legiflatuie
for tha purpose, previous to the nomination of any of the
Judges of the Supreme Court (and before any idea of the
late unhappy depreciation of the bills ,of credit, then in
circulation, was allowed of by authority, or en eitined
by the people in general) the fal mies of those Judges were
so fixed and established, at the rate of One Thousand
Pounds per annum to the Chief, and Five Hundred Pounds
per annwn for the Assistant Justices, as to plac- the dirni
nifhing of their annual salaries a< much beyond the reach
of the Le^iflature, as the commissions since granted to
them, f r seven years, have set them beyond the removal
of Council; and we the rarher insist on this, as the life
liberty and fafety of the citizens f this State, more imme
ditely defend on the full and unquestioned independency
of the Judges of so variable a body, as the Representatives
in Ass mbly mutt be; for if the House oflefs a right to
legislate in this manner, it is not only possible, but likely,
.that men of fitperior estate, having important causes de
pending in the Supreme Court, or having loft such by the
integrity and firmnefs of the Judges, will endeavour to
procure feats in the Assembly, in order to intimidate the
Judges in the firft case, or p inifh them in the latter; thus
annihilating all law and justice.—Further, Because we
look upon the proceeding of the Assembly of March the
19th, 1777, before referred to, as an implied contract be
tween the Commonwealth and the Supreme Judges, which,
however apparently deranged by the late unhappy depre
ciation of the paper money of Congress, and of this Com
monwealth, caused by too large an emifhon thereof (sure
ly without any fault on the part of these Judges) ought to
be considered binding upon the State in every considera
tion of j iftice and policy; for we muff confider the occa
fional v ,tes of salaries for these Judges, whilst paper was
tenderable, as intended merely to make good these firft
sums, though, from the still varying state of the currency,
they have proved inadequate to their firft eftabliihment;
and we confider it the duty of this House, instead of un
dermining this contrast, to give it every possible validity,
at this time when silver and gold are again recurred to, as
the medium of the public taxes and tranfa^ions, and as
the standard of private property; more especially as the
salaries fixed in March, 1777 are, if compared with the
present prices of the necessaries of life, very moderate.
Dissentient,
BECAUSE this bill contains provifoes and regulations,
diametrically contradictory to the spirit and letter of
the Constitution of this State; regulations, which mani
festly tend to confound and bring into one, the Legillative,
Executive and Judicial branches of the government, which
hive be n so carefully and distinctly marked out and se
parated by the convention, and upon the reciprocal inde
pendence„of which the life, liberty and property of every
citizen doth efleritially depend; and we are so decided in
this Sentiment that we declare, in the words of Judge
Blackstone, when speaking of the three benches of the
British Legislature, “ That if ever it Should happen, that
" the independence of any of three branches of govern
" ment th mid he loft, or that it Should become fubTervient
" to the views of the other two, there would soon be an
" end of the Constitution, and that such a change, how
" ever effected, would be at once a dissolution of the bands
" of government."
Becaufeohis bill, by giving annual salaries to the prin
cipal officers of the Executive and Judicial branches of go
vernment for on 1 year, to be altered afterwards by the
Leg; figure from time to time, in fa&, abolishes the inde
pendence ot those departments, and by evading the checks
of the Conffituti n, indirectly reduces them into mere
Shadows if the Aflembly for the time being; thus threa -
ening a complex tyranny in the hands of a few men;
01 rather, as the ( Lit of the people is too big for such an
event, and as the confederation in which we are linked
with the United States would prevent it, contriving a
feene of an irchy fufficient to oblige the people to consent
to the abolition of the present form of government, tin
rightemfle charged with infufficiency and mifehi f.
Bec nfe, from a most extraordinary particularity, and
by a retrofpe&ive wording of this bill, the salaries which
it provides for the officers therein named, for one year,
are to Tgin from the zzd day of June last, the day on
which the tender of the paper money was taken away;
thus calling on persons, some of whom are now out of of
fice, and who have received the sums then lawfully < ue to
to them, to refund a part of the fame, or rather Obliging
the State to institute o iious and unreasonable suits in the
law for monies, to which, till this bill was passed, they
had as legal a right as any part of their estates, and thus
committing the authority of this House, in a case which
will be thought a hard one, to the judgment of a common
jury ; and we are the more avetfe to this part of thy bill,
as this ex post facto clause, which will form a dange
rous precedent, is introduced with a very ill grace, consi
dering that the bills of credit in which the salaries of these
officers were payable/ dining the fix months preceding
the said zzd of June, were twenty, five per cent, worse than
specie at their commencement in December last, and that
they depreciated within the firft quarter to two for one,
and soon after to fix for one.
Because the Judges of the Supreme Court ought, by the
Constitution, to have fixed salaries; whereas this bill in
words as contrary as words can be, declares them to be
mutable, and aims to destroy the eftablifliment of these
salaries made by the firft Assembly, by lessening them at
present, and holding out exprefly further alterations
Because by passing this bill, replete, as we believe,' with
fundamental deviations from the Constitution, and highly
threatening its deftru^ion, the eighth fe&ion thereof has
been violated, which forbids us to add to, alter, abolish
or infringe any part of it.
Because, if we gave our assent to this bill, we are per
suaded we Should violate the Solemn attestation which we
made on taking our feats in this House, a tye by which
no other officer or person in trust is bound, that we would
not assent to any bill, vote or proceeding, that shall have
a tendency to lessen or abridge the rights of the people as
declared in the Constitution; and we are equally convin
ced, that the independent and unbiaffed exercifeof the
constitutional authority of the Executive and Judicial
branches of our government are as essential to the well
being and fafety of the people, as the power and privi
leges of this Hc,ufe ; and we with it to be known to our
constituents and to the world, that we are persuaded in
our consciences, if we had concurred in passing this bill
(which we confider an attempt not only to lessen and a
bridge, but indirectly to destroy these authorities under
the pretence of oeconomy) we Should have been guilty of
as flagrant a breach of trust and of perjury, ,as if we had
contented to a bill for removing, or even abolishing the
President and Council, and the Judges of the Supreme
Court, in the most direct and explicit terms.
Finally, Because f> far from agreeing to establish this
bill, the principles and tendency of which we abhor and
dread, we declare on the contrary, that we confider it our
deareSt interest as citizens, and our duty as members of'
this House, to frame a bill, and to promote a solemn aft
of this Legislature without delay (now that gold and silver,
the most Stable monies of any, are become the standard of
value) which Shall fix adequate, yet moderate salaries and
allowances for the p incipal executive officers, without li
mitation of time, in order that the Executive branch may
become fulb independent of the Legislative, according to
the manifeft spirit and whole scope of the Constitution,
especially as our Legislature honfifts of but one branch on
ly; and which Shall recognize and provide in the most
certain manner, for the payment of the proper and Sti
pulated salaries of the Justices of the Supreme Court of
Judicature, as the fame were ascertained and established,
in literal obedience to the 23d article of the Constitution,
by the firft Assembly of this Commonwealth, being fully
convinced that neither this House nor our facceffors can
lessen or diminish the provision thus made, upon constitu
tional principles, for the Executive and Tudicial branches,
without abridging the rights and privileges of their con.-
ftituents, as declared in the Constitution, and infringing
the fame in the molt essential manner; inasmuch as such
a proceeding would reduce the government of Pennsylva
nia from being a government of laws, toa government of
men.
A Negro Man, who can
drive a carriage, take care of horses, wait on table,
&c. &c. would be glad of Employ. Enquire of the
Printer.
Just IMPORTED and r o be SOLD, By
Robert Bridges,
At Thomas W llinp, esquire's wharf,
Best Porc-au Prince Sugars in
Kogfheancs and Barrels,
COCOA in Bags,
TAFFIA in Hoifheads: ALSO,
A few WOOLLENS and LINENS. Jan. 11,1782.
Port of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ff.
To A LL whom it may concern,
hJOTICE is hereby given, That a court of admiralty
will he held before the honourable Francis Hop
kinfon, esquire, judge of 'h' hid court for this state,
at hit chambers in the city of Philadelphia, on Wed
nesday the 16th of January, inft^nt, at 10 o'clock in the
forenoon, for he trial of certain Goods, Wares and
M rchandizes, taken out of the Snow called the CON
TENT, a -out ieo tons burthen, lately commanded by
John Wilkinson, and bound from Jamaica to Lancaster,
in England; whr.h Goods, Wares, and Merchandizes
are brought into this port and libelled against as prize
by John Burrows and William Campbell, (qui tam,
&c.) To the end that all persons concerned, may ap
pear and fliew cause, if any there be, wherefore a de
cree should not pals pursuant to the prayer of the libel,
& By order of the Judge,
Jan. 11, 1782. JAMES READ, Register.
THIS DA Y,
At TEN o'clock in the Forenoon, at the Marfhal't
Front Store, in Water-street, between Arch and
Racist e<ts.
Will be Sold by Public Audion,
A QUANTITY OF
DRY GOODS,
Saved out of the Ship DELAWARE, Captain PROLa
lately stranded on this Coast;
Among which are,
Superfine, middling and coarse
Cloths, Ratteens, Shalloons, Linens, Chintzes, &c. &c.
By Order of the Court of Admiralty,
Jan. 12. CLEMENT BIDDLE, Marshal.
^^^^N^)^^^
James Wilkinson, fohn Whitehill, fames Porter,
fames MClene, Patrick Anderson, fames Tate,
fohn Culbertson, fames Edgar, W. Montgomery,
fames Mercer, Thomas Moffit, George Smith,
fohn Lindsay.