Title: Pennsylvania Assembly Committee: Report on the Governor’s Instructions, 23 September 1756
From: Pennsylvania Assembly Committee
To:

Though the chief executive officer in colonial Pennsylvania was commonly called governor and is so designated in these volumes, he was in fact a deputy of the Proprietors in England who were themselves legally the governors of the province. He was obliged by law and by personal bond (£5000 in Denny’s case) to obey detailed instructions from the Proprietors which up to now had been regarded as private documents not subject to public scrutiny in spite of their obvious bearing on legislation in the province. Their “secret” character had been an irritant to the Assembly. Denny and his superiors apparently hoped that letting them be known to that suspicious body would increase the obligation to obey. Hence, when the Assembly asked to see Denny’s instructions on money bills, Aug. 31, 1756, he complied immediately. The Assembly, of course, did not seek to know in order to obey; they sought ammunition for their campaign to restrain or abolish proprietary control of the province. After two weeks of discussion BF and others were appointed “to consider the said Instructions, and report their Opinion thereon to the House.” The report printed here, brought in on September 23, was approved unanimously the next day, followed by a resolve that “it is the Opinion of this House, that it is highly necessary a Remonstrance be drawn up, and sent Home to England, setting forth the true State of Pennsylvania, and representing the pernicious Consequences to the British Interest, and to the Inhabitants of this Province, if we are, contrary to our Charters and Laws, to be governed by Proprietary Instructions. And as this House have not sufficient Time to go through a Matter of such Importance, it is therefore earnestly recommended to the next succeeding Assembly.”

  [September 23, 1756]
  In Obedience to the Order of the House, we have considered the Proprietaries Eleventh, Twelfth, and Twenty-first Instructions, relating to Money Bills, and now offer such Remarks thereon as occur to us.

The Preamble to the Eleventh Instruction sets forth, “That the Interest Money arising from the Loan of Bills of Credit in this Province, was intended by the Proprietaries, and the House of Representatives, to be applied for the Publick Service of the Province, and of the Inhabitants thereof, and should therefore, under the Direction of the same Power that raises it, be most carefully applied to those Purposes, as a greater Security to the People against Misapplications, than if it was intrusted only to one Branch of the Legislature; and such was the ancient Practice in their said Province.” That the Interest Money was intended to be applied for the Publick Service of the Province, and of the Inhabitants thereof, is undoubtedly right; but that it was ever the “Practice,” or that there was ever even a single Instance of the Proprietaries or their Deputies having a Vote in the Application of the Interest Money, we must absolutely deny. Their Consent to the Disposition is not required in any of our Loan Acts from the Beginning to this Day, the constant Tenor of those Laws being, that the “Interest Money shall be disposed of as the Assembly of this Province shall from Time to Time order and direct.” Their Consent was never asked, unless in the Acceptance of Presents made them out of that Interest, which could not be forced on them without their Consent; and that Kind of Application they have indeed been graciously pleased to consent to from Time to Time, to the Amount of above Thirty Thousand Pounds given to themselves out of that Fund and the Excise. If this was a “Misapplication,” and we know of no other, the Power they contend for would not have prevented it; for ’tis scarce probable they should ever disapprove or refuse to sign Acts, Votes or Resolves, which they thought so just and reasonable.
And indeed, had these Presents been always as regular as the Seasons, and never intermitted, be the Conduct of the Governor ever so inconsistent with the Publick Good, your Committee have Reason to believe, this new Instruction had never been formed or thought of. But since the Representatives of the People have dared to signify their Disapprobation of a Governor’s Measures, by withholding those Tokens of their Esteem, Affection and Gratitude, which were constantly given when they found themselves well governed; this Instruction is thought necessary to be inforced. Not “for the greater Security of the People against Misapplication;” for they never complained of any; but to compel your Continuance of those Presents; to compel an Addition to them, for they are thought too small; and to compel the Payment of what they are pleased to call the Arrears of such Presents to any Governors from whom they have at any time been withheld. For if the People’s Money cannot be disposed of for their own Benefit, without the Proprietary or his Deputy’s Consent, the Passage of the Bill, or the Approbation of the Resolve, must be “facilitated,” as the Proprietaries were pleased to tell us on a former Occasion, “by a Regard to their Interest,” that is, by putting at the same Time into their private Pockets whatever Share of the Publick Money they shall be pleased to insist on, under the specious Name of Salary or Support; tho’ by the Quit-rents, and even by their other Fees and Perquisites, established by Law or taken by Custom, they have already a Support much more than sufficient.
The Money arising by the Interest of the Bills of Credit, as well as that arising by the Excise, is paid wholly by the People. To dispose of their own Money, by themselves or their Representatives, is, in our Opinion, a natural Right, inherent in every Man, or Body of Men, antecedent to all Laws. The Proprietaries pay no Part of this Money, and therefore can have no Right to a Share in the Power of disposing of it. They might as reasonably claim a Right to a Negative in the Disposition of every Man’s private Fortune, and for the same Reasons, to wit, “the Man’s greater Security, and to prevent Misapplication;” nay, the Reasons would be stronger, Bodies of Men not being generally so apt to misapply their Money, as single Prodigals. The People have never complained that any such Misapplication has been made by their Representatives: On the contrary, they have shewn their Approbation of the Conduct of the Assembly in this tender Point, by long repeated annual Elections of the same Men to the same Trust in the same Office. They have always seen their Money disposed of, from time to time, for the Advantage and Honour of the Publick, or for the King’s immediate Service, and they had Reason to be contented with the Disposition. The Publick Credit has been constantly preserved, and every Man who served the Government, has been always duly and readily paid: But if this new-claimed Negative in the Proprietaries takes Place, the People will not have it in their Power to reward the Man that serves them, or even to pay the Hire of the Labourer that works for them, without the Governor’s Leave first purchased; much less will they be allowed to support an Agent in England to defend their Rights, or be able to pay the Expence of prosecuting their Complaints when oppressed. And to prevent their doing this, is, we conceive, another main View of this Instruction.
In short, it does not appear to your Committee that this extraordinary Instance of the Proprietary’s Care of the People’s Money, to prevent its being wasted by their own Representatives, was for the People at all necessary. Those Representatives themselves are a Part of the People, and must bear a Share of their Burdens. For their own Sakes, therefore, as well as to recommend themselves to the Esteem and Regard of their Constituents, it is highly probable they will execute that Trust, as they always have done, with Justice, Prudence and Frugality; with Freedom to the King’s Service, and grateful Generosity to Governors that sincerely seek their Welfare, and do not join with the Proprietaries to oppress them. But this Instruction might perhaps be necessary to extort those Grants to Governors which they have been pleased to stile Salary, and render That certain, which before depended on the Good Will of the People: For how else can the Proprietaries be sure of that Share of those Grants, which, by their private Contracts sometimes made with their Governors, is (if Report says true) to be paid to themselves?
The Proprietaries are however willing to permit the Renewal of the Eighty Thousand Pounds, which is now to sink in a few Years, and even to add Forty Thousand Pounds more, the whole to be emitted on Loan, “provided, that the Eleventh Instruction be complied with, and half the Power of applying the Interest reserved to them; and provided, that all Rents and Quitrents due, or to be due or payable to them, be always paid according to the Rate of Exchange at the Times of Payment between Philadelphia and London, or some other sufficient Provision enacted in Lieu thereof, as was done by a former Act.” Your Committee cannot help observing here, that the Proprietaries Tenderness for their own Interest appears in this Instruction much stronger than their Care for That of the People. Very great Emoluments arise to them by Emissions of Paper Money on Loan, and the Interest Money is a Tax they are clear of. They are therefore willing the Quantity should be encreased; but whatever Advantages they receive from it, they are resolved to suffer no Disadvantage from any occasional Depreciation: For they will always be paid their Rents and Quitrents, according to the Rate of Exchange between Philadelphia and London. By the original Agreements, those Rents and Quitrents were to be paid in Sterling Money (or the Value in Coin current) to the Proprietary Receivers in the Province. A Bill of Exchange, besides the Sterling Sum convey’d, includes all the Freight, Risk and Expence of conveying that Sum in Specie to London. Now we conceive the People are not, nor can in Justice or Reason be, obliged to transmit their Rents to London, and pay them there to the Proprietaries. If the Proprietaries should think fit to remove to China, they might as justly add to their Demand the Rate of Exchange between London and Canton: This therefore is Extortion, and ought never to be allowed in any future Act, nor any Equivalent made for it. For had that Equivalent been really given as a Matter of Justice, and not extorted as Purchase-Money for the Law, it would have been extended to the Rents of private Landlords, as well as those of the Proprietaries. Besides, the great Sums to be yearly remitted to them in London, for which no Returns come back to the Country, naturally tend to raise the Exchange; and even put it in the Power of their Agents to raise it occasionally, just before the periodical Times of Payment (to the great Injury of the People) and to lower it again at their Pleasure; a dangerous Power this, if no Inconvenience can arise to themselves by the Rise of Exchange! The Depreciation of Money in every Country where it happens, is a common Calamity. The Proprietary Estate, ought not to be exempt from it, at the Expence of all other Estates. There are many fixed Ground Rents, and other Rents arising in the Province belonging to the People, and due to private Estates. These Rents have as much Right to be considered, and their Deficiency, in case of Depreciation, provided for out of the Publick Funds, as those of the Proprietaries. But of these they take no Care, so their own are secured. It appears however to your Committee, that all Rents in the Country ought to be on the same Footing, with regard to any Loss by the Depreciation of its Currency, since that is less likely ever to happen which it is the Interest of all to prevent.
Your Committee now come to the Twenty-first Instruction, by the Preamble of which it is insinuated, as if Acts for Provincial Taxes had been common in this Province, and that the Proprietary’s Estate had been always exempted in such Acts; whereas the Truth is, that there never were but two or three, and those in the early Times of the Province, when the Proprietary’s Circumstances were low, his Affairs encumbered, and the Quit-rents so small, as to be insufficient for his Support, and therefore they were not only exempted from any Part of such Tax, but Duties and Licence Fees were granted to help them out. For more than Forty Years, as the Excise and Interest Money have been sufficient for Support of Government, no Provincial Taxes have been levied (in this very Instruction, a little lower, they themselves acknowledge none have been raised in their Time) and the Proprietary Estate has vastly encreased: Those Licence Fees are also vastly increased, and yet they still receive them. But that their Estate should now be exempt from Provincial Taxes, raised for the Defence of that very Estate, appears to us extreamly unreasonable. During the Distress of the Family, there was likewise a voluntary Subscription among the People to pay the Proprietary’s Passage to England: They may from thence as justly claim a Right of having their Expences borne by the Publick whenever they cross the Seas. But when those Aids were granted to the old Proprietary, he had a much better Claim to them than his Sons; for he undertook to act as an Agent and Advocate for his People, in England; to defend and secure their Rights and Privileges; not, like his Successors, to abolish and destroy them.
   *This he faithfully executed in many instances, and particularly in his Answer to the Lords of Trade’s Objections to the Act of Privileges to a Freeman, in the Year 1705; in which he informed their Lordships, that the Act was agreeable to the great Charter which all Englishmen were entitled to; and that “we went not so far (i. e. from England to America) to lose a Tittle of it.”

The Instruction farther says, That “since the Expiration of those former Laws, no Aid hath ever been granted by the Assembly to them as Proprietaries.” As Proprietaries, what Right have they to Aids? Are they not hereditary Governors of the Province? and while they have indulged themselves with an almost constant Residence in England, remote from their Country, and greatly to its Inconvenience and Prejudice, have not the Assemblies constantly supported their Deputy, sent by the Proprietaries to do what they ought themselves to have done in Person; though he was often an imperfect Deputy, restrained in those Powers which should always subsist and be present in every Government for the common Welfare? But they are pleased to say, “they have voluntarily and chearfully expended several considerable Sums of their own Money for the Advancement of the Province.” This they said likewise to a former Assembly, and the Answer was, “We are unacquainted with these Expences; let the Accounts be laid before us, and whatever Expence appears to have been made for the Service of the Province shall be allowed, and repaid with Thanks.” Those Accounts have never yet appeared; and till they do, we think they ought not to be made the Foundation of any Claim whatever.
They say farther, “That they had no Reason to suspect that the Assembly would deviate so much from the former Usage, as to pretend, by any Act of theirs, to charge the Proprietary Estate in the Province with the Burden of any Taxes.” Amazing! If the Assembly deviated from the former Usage, by taxing their own Estates, and those of their Constituents (their usual Funds failing) why should they not deviate in the same Manner in taxing the Proprietary Estate? And what are the particular Merits of this Family, that when the whole British Nation, when every Estate in the Kingdom, as well as in this Province, is taxed, towards the Recovery and Defence of their Estate in Pennsylvania, that very Estate alone should be exempted, and they so confident of its Right to an Exemption, as to have no Reason to suspect the Assembly would attempt to tax it?
But it seems “the Assembly have represented them in an untrue Light, as if unwilling to assist the Publick, by contributing towards the Defence of the Country, tho’ no Application had ever once been made to them for that Purpose.” How far they are placed in an untrue Light on this Account, will, we presume, appear before we finish this Report. It appears too, by a Report of a former Committee. They likewise say, “no Application was ever once made to them for their Assistance towards the Defence of the Country.” Heretofore it was thought the Country was best defended by maintaining Peace and a good Understanding with the Indians. This was done from Year to Year by expensive and repeated Presents. The Proprietary reaped great Advantages from this good Understanding and these Presents, in his Bargains with the Indians for Lands. The Expences grew yearly more and more heavy, and repeated humble Applications were made to the Proprietaries, that they would be pleased to bear a Part, but without Success. They vouchsafed indeed an Answer to the last Application, but it was to reject it with the utmost Pride and Scorn, claiming an inherent Right of Exemption of their Estate from all publick Charges whatsoever, in virtue of their being Governors as well as Proprietaries. And the Sixty Thousand Pound Bill is called an Attempt of the Assembly by “an Act of theirs,” to charge the Proprietary Estate, as if they had presumed to do it alone by their own Authority. The Assembly could not possibly think of taxing the Proprietary Estate, without the Consent of the Proprietaries by their Deputy; the Bill was therefore another humble Application to the Proprietaries for their Consent to a Thing so reasonable; and the very Stile of it was, “we pray that it may be enacted.” But that Prayer could not be granted, though the Province was on the Brink of Ruin. And yet, it seems the Proprietaries were not “unwilling;” though their Deputy declared they had expresly restrained him even by the Words of his Commission! The Bill however is stigmatized with the Character of “most unjust and extraordinary.” Thus it is, when Men judge in their own Cases. These Gentlemen think it unjust to tax their Estates, though all the World thinks otherwise. As Provincial Taxes had not been usual, it might be so far extraordinary; but the Mode of Taxation was by no Means extraordinary, being the same with that of raising our County Rates and Levies, long used and approved by the Province. And the Taxing of Proprietary Lands is used both in New-Jersey and Maryland; and located unimproved Lands have formerly been taxed in this Province. Had such been taxed every where from the first Settlement of America, we conceive it would have tended to the Increase of the Inhabitants, and the greater Strength of the Colonies; for then such immense Quantities of Land would not have been monopolized and lain dormant, but People would more easily have obtained Settlements, and been seated closer together.

But the Proprietaries would have it understood, that it is not for their own Sake only, that they object to the Fifty Thousand Pound Bill which was refused, or the Sixty Thousand Pound Act that passed. They are tenderly concerned for the Estates of others. No Part of the Lands of a Delinquent, who refuses or neglects to pay his Tax, ought, in their Opinion, to be sold for Payment; though Lands in America are by Act of Parliament made liable to be sold for Discharge of Debts, and were almost always so here by the Laws of this Province. If Lands, or Parts of Land, may be sold to satisfy private, why not publick Debts? And though it be unusual in England, it has long been the Practice, as we are informed, in several of the Colonies, particularly in New-England. But they say, “a Tax of One Shilling in the Pound on the whole Value, is what never was laid, nor can possibly be paid, in any Country.” Strange! May not a Country in imminent Danger give a Twentieth Part of their Estates to save the other Nineteen? Is it impossible even to give a Half, or three Fourths, to save the other Half or Quarter? May they not even give Nineteen Parts to save the Twentieth? The Proprietary’s Gift of Five Thousand Pounds, they afterwards say, is twenty times more than their Tax, if fairly and equally assessed, could by that Bill have amounted to. If so, it is possible to give the whole twenty Parts. But it has always been understood, that Estates are not to be taxed to the full Value they might singly sell for. In the same Bill it was provided, that located unimproved Lands should not be valued in the Rates at more than Fifteen Pounds per Hundred Acres; when ’tis well known, that the Proprietary’s lowest Price for wild Land on the Frontiers is Fifteen Pounds Ten Shillings, per Hundred; and that the located unimproved Lands in their Manors, are, some of them, valued at Three or Four Hundred Pounds per Hundred; they may therefore well say, that “if that Tax had been FULLY assessed, it must have amounted to many times the Sum;” but then their next Assertion is somewhat inconsistent, viz. That the Bill laying this Tax was “most unjustly calculated for the Purpose of putting it in the Power of the Assessors to tax the Proprietary Estates up to the full Value, and to ease other Persons, by taxing them so lightly as only to make up the Residue of the Fifty Thousand Pounds, in which Case, much the greatest Part of the Burden might have been laid on the  Proprietary Estates alone.” The Value of the Proprietary Estate has long, for prudential Reasons, been kept a profound Secret; and the Proprietaries have lately given Five Thousand Pounds rather than submit it to the Enquiry of the Assessors. But your Committee conceive some Light may be obtained on that Head, from this Part of the Instruction compared with the Fifty Thousand Pound Bill. By that Bill their wild unsurveyed, or unlocated Lands, which are many Millions of Acres, were not to be taxed at all, though they never sell any of them for less than Fifteen Pounds Ten Shillings, per Hundred Acres. Their taxable Estate consists chiefly in located (though uncultivated) Tracts and Manors, and in the reserv’d Quitrents arising from the Lands they have sold. These Manors and Tracts are generally choice, being of the best Lands, pick’d out of every new Purchase from the Indians, by their Surveyors, before the Office is opened, and laid by for a Market, not to be disposed of till all the surrounding Lands are sold and settled. This has increased their Value prodigiously, so that they are now, one with another, valued at more than Three Hundred Pounds per Hundred: Yet by the Bill, they were not to be taxed as worth more than Fifteen Pounds per Hundred. And they own, that by the same Bill, “their Quitrents were to be taxed in the same Manner as other Estates,” consequently as great an Abatement to be made in the Valuation. And yet by this same Bill, under this very moderate Valuation of their Estate, they say it would have been in the Power of the Assessors to have laid much the greatest Part of the Burden on their Estates alone. Now, much the greatest Part of Fifty Thousand Pounds may be Forty Thousand Pounds, but we will say (for Moderation’s Sake) it is only Thirty Thousand Pounds, and that Sum might have been raised by that Bill, on the Proprietary Estates, in two Years, by a Tax of One Shilling in the Pound, i. e. Fifteen Thousand Pounds per Annum. The Shillings in Fifteen Thousand Pounds are Three Hundred Thousand, consequently their Estates at that low Valuation are worth Three Hundred Thousand Pounds. But if you multiply that Valuation by 20, to bring it nearer the Truth, those Estates must amount to Six Millions, exclusive of their wild Lands as aforesaid. If this Computation be too high, they may be able hereafter to shew its Mistakes. At present, we conceive the Consequences fairly drawn from Facts and their own Premises. And yet this their enormous Estate is, by their Instructions, to be exempted, while all their Fellow Subjects groan under the Weight of Taxes for its Defence! it being the first attacked in the present War, and Part of it on the Ohio, the Prize contended for by the Enemy. For though they, towards the End of this Instruction, pretend to be “most ready and willing to bear a just Proportion along with their Tenants in any necessary Tax for the Defence of the Province,” yet this appears clearly to be a mere Pretence, since they absolutely except their Quitrents, and their located unimproved Lands, their Fines, and the Purchase-Monies they have at Interest; that is, in a Manner, their whole Estate, as your Committee know of little they have left to be taxed, but a Ferry-house or two, a Kitchen, and a Dog Kennel.
But unimproved Lands should not, in our Proprietaries Opinion, pay any Taxes, because “they yield no annual Profit.” This may deceive People in England (where the Value of Land is much at a Stay) as they are unacquainted with the Nature of Landed Estates in growing Plantations. Here new Lands, without Cultivation, without Fencing, or so much as cutting down a Tree, being reserved and laid by for a Market till the surrounding Lands are settled, improve much more in yearly Value even than Money at Interest upon Interest. Thirty Years ago, the best and richest Lands near the Proprietary’s Conestogoe Manor, were worth and sold for about Forty Pounds per Hundred Acres. That Manor was then laid out and reserved, containing near Seventeen Thousand Acres: And now the Lands of that very Manor, which, though so long located, have never yet been cultivated, will sell for Three Hundred and Fifty Pounds per Hundred Acres; which is near Nine for One, or Eight Hundred per Cent. Advance! Can an Estate thus producing Twenty-five per Cent. per Annum on the prime Cost, be, with any Propriety, called “an Estate yielding no annual Profit?” Is it not a well known Practice in the Colonies, to lay out great Sums of ready Money for Lands, without the least Intent of Cultivation, but merely to sell them again hereafter? Would People follow this Practice if they could not make more Profit of their Money in that Way than by employing it in Improvement of Land, in Trade, or in putting it to Interest, though Interest in the Plantations is from Six to Ten per Centum? Does not such Land, though otherwise unimproved, improve continually in its Value? How mean and unjust is it then, in these Gentlemen, to attempt to conceal the Advantages of this Kind of Estate, and screen it from Taxes, by lurking under the ambiguous and deceitful Terms, of unimproved Lands, and Lands yielding no annual Profit?
Meanly unjust indeed, in this Instance, do they appear to your Committee; who cannot but observe, that the Proprietaries, knowing their own Inclinations to screen their own Estates, and load those of the People, from thence suspected the People might be equally unjust, and intend, by the Fifty Thousand Pound Bill, to ease their Estates, and load those of the Proprietaries. “The Bill, say they, appears to us to be most unjustly calculated, for the Purpose of putting it in the Power of Persons, wholly chosen by the People, to tax our Estates up to the full Value therein mentioned, and to ease other Persons by taxing them so lightly, as only to make up the Residue that might be wanted to complete the Fifty Thousand Pounds. In which Case the Persons chosen by the People might have laid by much the greatest Part of the Burden upon our Estates alone.” Had they intended to raise much the greatest Part of the Tax of Fifty Thousand Pounds on the Proprietaries Estate, would the House so readily have accepted of Five Thousand Pounds in Lieu of their Share of that Tax? But why this Suspicion of the Assembly? What Instance of Injustice can the Proprietaries charge them with, that could give Ground for such a Supposition? If they were capable of such an Intention, and an Endeavour to get Iniquity established by a Law, must they not be the most unjust and dishonest of Men? The Assessors, it is true, are chosen by the People; they always were so by our Laws; and let a Man’s Estate be ever so great, he has but one Vote in the Choice of them: But have the Proprietaries no Friends in their Province? What is become of all their Dependants and Expectants; those in Place, or hoping for Places; the Thousands in their Debt; the Mortgagors at their Mercy? Will none of these, out of Love, or Hope, or Fear, vote for honest Assessors, that may take Care the Proprietary is not oppressed by the Weight of an unjust Tax? Could the Assembly be certain, that the whole People were so wicked, as to join in chusing and trusting Setts of dishonest Assessors, merely to wrong the Proprietary? Are there no Laws in the Province against Perjury? Are not the Assessors by Law to be sworn or affirmed to assess themselves and all others impartially; and have they not always been chosen as Men of Note for Probity and Justice? What a dark Prospect must a Man’s own Heart afford him, when he can from thence form such Ideas of the Hearts of a whole People! A People famous throughout the World, for the Justice and Equity of their Laws, the Purity of their Manners, their Humanity and Hospitality to Strangers, their Affection to their late honoured Proprietary, their Faithfulness in their Manufactures and Produce, and Uprightness in all their Dealings! and to whose Virtue and Industry these very Gentlemen owe all their present Greatness!
The Proprietaries are pleased farther to say, “That the Laying Taxes on the real Value of the Fee-simple, and the Sale of Land for the Payment of Taxes, are contrary to the Laws and Statutes of Great-Britain.” Your Committee cannot find that any Laws or Statutes were ever made in Great-Britain to regulate the Mode of laying Taxes in the Plantations; and if there are none such, our Bill could not be contrary to what never existed. In Virginia the Taxes are laid on Slaves, and paid in Tobacco; and every Colony has its own Mode of Taxation, suited to its own Circumstances, almost all different from each other as well as from that used in England. But different from, and contrary to, we conceive to be distinct and different Things; otherwise many of our Laws, even those which have been approved at Home, and received the Royal Assent, are contrary to the Laws of England. But as we said before, the Laws of England themselves, make Lands liable to pay Debts in the Colonies, and therefore to sell them, or a Part of them, to pay publick Debts, is not contrary to, but conformable with, the Laws of England.
But the Proprietaries “cannot find that the Quitrents reserved to the Crown—in any of the other American Colonies, have ever been taxed towards the Raising any Supplies granted in those Colonies; and indeed those Quitrents are generally so small (meaning the King’s Quitrents, we suppose, for their own surely are large enough) that little or no Land Tax would be due or payable on them, if arising in Great-Britain, &c.” If your Committee are rightly informed, the King’s Quitrents in the other Colonies, are applied to publick Purposes, generally for the Service of the Colony that raises them. When our Proprietaries shall think fit to apply those arising here in the same Manner, we believe no Assembly will attempt to tax them. The Smallness of the Parts, we cannot conceive to be a good Reason for not taxing the Whole. Where every Man worth less than Twenty Shillings a Year is exempt from Taxes, he who enjoys a Thousand a Year might, as well as our Proprietaries, plead to be excused, for that his Income is only Twenty Thousand Shillings, each of which Shillings is far within the Sum exempted by Law. In the whole, tho’ what arises from each Estate be no great Sum, their Quitrents must amount to a very great Revenue; and their speaking of them in the diminutive Terms of very small Quitrents or Acknowledgments, is only to amuse and deceive. They are Property; and Property should pay for its own Preservation. They ought therefore to be taxed to the Defence of the Country. The Proprietaries indeed say, a Land Tax was unnecessary, as there are many other Ways of raising Money. They would doubtless chuse any Way in which their Estate could not be included. But what are those many other Ways? Britain, an independent State, can lay infinite Duties, on all foreign Wares, and imported Luxuries. We are suffered little foreign Trade, and almost all our Superfluities are sent us from Britain itself. Will she permit us to discourage their Importation by heavy Imposts? or to raise Funds by taxing her Manufactures? A Variety of Excises and Duties serve only to multiply Offices and Officers, and to make a Part of the People pay for another Part who do not chuse to pay. No Excise or Duty, was ever a fair and equal Tax on Property. The fairest, as the Proprietaries themselves have acknowledged, is a Poundage on all real and personal Estate, according to its Value.
We are now to hear of the Generosity of the Proprietaries, who, as they say, “were so far from desiring not to contribute to the Defence and Support of His Majesty’s Rights and Dominions, that immediately on the first Notice of the Defeat of General Braddock, they had sent over an Order upon their Receiver-General, to pay Five Thousand Pounds as a free Gift towards the Defence of the said Province.” We may presume to ask, why, when they knew the Assemblies were continually worried to give Money, and the Bills in which it was offered as constantly rejected; why did they not unmanacle their Governor, and at the same Time set an Example of Zeal for the common Cause by a generous Gift on their Part, before they heard of that Defeat? why not as soon as they knew he was sent to America? Why not on Washington’s Defeat, or before his first Expedition, as soon as ever their Province was attacked, and they learnt that the Enemy had built a Fort in it? But the Truth is, the Order was sent, not immediately on the News of Braddock’s Defeat; the Date of the Order will show that it was a Month after that News arrived in England. But it was immediately after they had Advice, that the Governor had refused a Grant of Fifty Thousand Pounds to the Crown for the Defence of the Proprietaries Province, because their Estate was taxed in the Bill, alledging Restrictions from them on that Head; against which all the World exclaimed, and an universal Odium was falling on their Heads, and the King’s Wrath justly dreaded; then it was, that the boasted Order issued. And yet, as soon as their Fears subsided, it was sincerely repented, and every underhand Step taken to get the Act, in which their Gift was fixed, disapproved at Home; tho’ if they had succeeded, when the Bills emitted were abroad, and in the Hands of the Publick, many of the poor Soldiers, who had received them in Pay for their Services, would have been ruined, and Multitudes of others greatly injured. And after all, this Free Gift, to be immediately paid, is not yet paid, though more than a Year is elapsed since the Order was given; and Contracts, entered into by the Commissioners in Confidence of receiving that Money, are yet unsatisfied, to the Loss and Disappointment of many, and great Detriment to the Service.
However, if we will have a Land Tax, they are pleased to form a Bill for us, or at least to direct what Clauses shall be in, and what shall not be in it, thus violating the most essential Right of the Commons in a British Constitution!—and with this particular Injunction, that the Tax shall be laid for no more than one Year; and shall not exceed Four Shillings in the Pound on the Income; which, estimating Estates at twenty Years Purchase, is about a Fifth of a Twentieth, or, in plainer Words, a hundredth Part of the Value. Perhaps this may be well enough in Times of Tranquility; but when a Province is invaded, must it be given up to the Enemy, if a Tax of the hundredth Penny is not sufficient to save it? Yes, that is our present Situation; for the Proprietaries Instructions are, it seems, unalterable. Their Governor is bound to observe and inforce them, and must see the King’s Province perish before his Eyes, rather than deviate from them a single Tittle. This we have experienced within a few Days, when Advantage being cruelly taken of our present unhappy Situation, the prostrate Condition of our bleeding Country, the Knife of the Savages at her Throat, our Soldiers ready to mutiny for want of Pay and Necessaries, our People flying in Despair from the Frontier for want of Protection, the Assembly was compelled (like Solomon’s true Mother) to wave her Right, to alter our Money-Bills, abridge our free Grant to the Crown by one Half, and, in short, to receive and enact a Law not agreeable to our Judgments, but such as was made for us by the Proprietary Instructions, and the Will and Pleasure of the Governor’s Council; whereby our Constitution and the Liberties of our Country are wounded in the most essential Part, and even violated and destroyed. We have Reason to confide, however, in the Justice of our Sovereign and a British Parliament, that this Tyranny shall not long subsist; and we hope no Time will be lost in making the proper Application.
In fine, we must say, in Justice to the House, that the Proprietary’s Charge against the Assembly, as “being inclined by their Authority to tax the Proprietary Estate disproportionately, &c.” is, to our Knowledge, groundless and unjust. They had as little Inclination as Authority to wrong him. They have not, it seems, Authority enough to oblige him to do Justice. As to their Inclination, they bear, every one of them, and maintain, the Character of HONEST Men. When the Proprietaries shall be truly willing to bear an equitable Part of the Publick Burden; when they shall renounce their exorbitant Demand of Rent as the Exchange shall then be; make Restitution of the Money which they have exacted from the Assemblies of this Province, and sincerely repent of their Extortion, they may then, and not till then, have some Claim to the same noble Title.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Peter Collinson, 23 September 1756
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Collinson, Peter

Dear Friend
Philada. Sept. 23. 1756
I enclose three Bills, viz.
A second for £50 Sterling, drawn by Thos. Saul on Wm. Baker.
A first — £20 — — Mary Steevens—Alexr. Grant.
A first — £30 — — Philip Ludwell Wm. Bowden.
When paid, please to Credit my Account with them.
I am Yours most affectionately
B Franklin
P.S. We agree perfectly well with the Governor, but are very angry with the Proprietors and the Council here.


Title: Mutiny Act, [4 November 1756]
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To:

The Mutiny Act passed on April 15, 1756 (see above, VI, 434–7), expired by its own limitation on October 30. Two days before that event Franklin brought in a bill, by leave of the House, to renew the law for a short term. With nearly a minimum of debate in the Assembly and discussion with the governor the bill was enacted on November 4. Except for the substitution of Denny’s name for that of Morris in the enacting clause, the law was identical with the one it succeeded down to the final sentence of the first act, which specified its terminal date. That sentence was omitted and the paragraphs printed below were substituted. The identical portion is not reprinted here.

  [November 4, 1756]
  * * * * *

And in order to prevent all doubts that may arise in relation to punishing of crimes and offenses committed against a former act of assembly of this province, entitled “An act for regulating the officers and soldiers commissionated and raised by the governor for the defense of this province”:
Be it declared and enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all crimes and offenses which have been committed against the said former act shall and may during the continuance of this present act be inquired of, heard, tried, determined, adjudged and punished before and by the like courts, persons, powers, authorities, ways, means and methods as the like crimes and offenses committed against this present act may be inquired of, heard, tried, determined, adjudged and punished.
This act to continue and to be in force until the twenty-fifth day of March next and no longer.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Peter Collinson, 5 November 1756
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Collinson, Peter

Dear Friend
Nov. 5. 1756
The above is a Copy of my last, and I now send the two second Bills of Steevens and Ludwell. I wrote then in great Hurry, being just setting out for the Frontiers, to visit some of the Forts with the Governor; a long Journey. Since our Return, I have scarce had a Moment’s Time to write to my Friends, the Assembly sitting twice a day, and twice a Day the Commissioners for laying out the last given £30,000 besides continually, when at home, hearing People who have Business to lay before the Assembly or Commissioners. And now I am just ordered by the House to attend the Governor at Easton in Northampton County, on a Treaty with the Delaware Indians: We set out immediately, so must entreat your Excuse if I do not write fully.
I have before me your several Favours of May 27. June 3. June 4. and 30. and July 9. The Quakers have now pretty generally declined their Seats in Assembly, very few remaining. We shall soon see if Matters will be better managed by a Majority of different religious Persuasions. The Governor tells me, that you recommended me to him very warmly, for which accept my grateful Acknowledgments. We have, I think, a very good Understanding with each other. He was pleased to offer me any Service in his Power. My Answer was, that I had at present no Favour to ask, that I was nevertheless oblig’d to him for his frank Offers of Friendship; would always be ready to do him any honest Service, requesting only in Return his Good Will and Good Opinion.

Your Information of my being chosen a Member of the Royal Society, was extreamly agreable, and the more, as I had not the least Expectation of ever arriving at that Honour. The Diploma you mention, is not yet come to hand. I must request the Favour of you to present my humble Thanks to the Society, whose truly noble Designs I wish I may be able in any Degree to promote. Please to pay for me the yearly and other Charges that arise on such Occasions, out of any Money of mine in your Hands. Of late I have said nothing to you on Philosophical Subjects, for I fear I overdos’d you with my last Pacquet from Boston. I had lately a Letter from Paullus Frisi of St. Alexander’s College at Milan, who writes to me as if I liv’d in London, and desires me to mention a Matter to Mr. Short, which I can only do, by transcribing that Part of the Letter, and desiring you to show it to that Gentleman, viz. “Optarem etiam, ut Cl. Short reverentiam meam, et gratum animum testeris, quodque occasione data animadversiones meas circa controversum ilium Newtoni errorem judicio ipsius submittam.”
I deliver’d the Letter inclos’d in yours of June 3. to Smith. But your former Letter relating to his Freemason Sermon he never had as I suppose; for I receiv’d it when abroad, and lost it with some other Papers, that I hoped to recover, but have not. And he and I not being on speaking Terms, I have said nothing to him about it. He has scribbled himself into universal Dislike here: The Proprietary Faction alone countenance him a little; but the Academy dwindles, and will come to nothing if he is continued.

I am sorry we have no good News in this Part of the World to ballance your Loss of Minorca. Oswego is taken, and a fine New England Army, collected at Lake George, is, thro’ Inaction, wasted by Sickness and Desertion, so as to be at present of little Strength or Value; and I am afraid those Governments will be unable to produce such another for the next Campaign. These Northern Colonies have a vast Frontier to defend, and the Expence is excessive, much less Money would defray an Expedition by Sea against Quebec: That, in my Opinion, will be our most effectual Defence, and much the cheapest.
Runkin is not yet arriv’d, on board whome you have put the Air Pump, &c. The Invoice I have receiv’d per last Ship.
You write that “you hear I ride about with a Party of Men with drawn Swords, which gives great Offence to some Folks.” I wonder who could think it worth their While to send such trifling News to England, or how it has been represented so as to give Offence. I must tell you the Matter as it was. The People happen to love me. Perhaps that’s my Fault. When I was on the Frontier last Winter, a great Number of the Citizens, as I was told, intended to come out and meet me at my Return, to express their thankful Sense of my (small) Services. To prevent this, I made a forc’d March, and got to Town in the Night, by which they were disappointed, and some a little chagrined. But as I could not fully conceal the Time of my setting out for Virginia, 20 Officers of my Regiment with about 30 Grenadiers, presented themselves on Horseback at my Door just as I was going to mount, to accompany me to the Ferry about 3 Miles from Town. Till we got to the End of the Street, which is about 200 Yards, the Grenadiers took it in their Heads to ride with their Swords drawn, but there they put them up peaceably into their Scabboards, without hurting or even terrifying Man, Woman or Child; and from the Ferry where we took Leave and parted, they all returned as quietly to their Homes. This was the only Instance of the kind: For tho’ a greater Number met me at my Return, they did not ride with drawn Swords, having been told that Ceremony was improper, unless to compliment some Person of great Distinction. I, who am totally ignorant of military Ceremonies, and above all things averse to making Show and Parade, or doing any useless Thing that can serve only to excite Envy or provoke Malice, suffer’d at the Time much more Pain than I enjoy’d Pleasure, and have never since given an Opportunity for anything of the Sort.
The Proprietors, you write me word, are greatly incensed at some Parts of my late Conduct. I am not much concern’d at that, because if I have offended them by acting right, I can, whenever I please, remove their Displeasure, by acting wrong. Tho’ at present I have not the least Inclination to be in their good Graces on those Terms. I have some natural Dislike to Persons who so far Love Money, as to be unjust for its sake: I despise their Meanness, (as it appears to me) in several late Instances, most cordially, and am thankful that I never had any Connection with them, or Occasion to ask or receive a Favour at their hands. For now I am persuaded that I do not oppose their Views from Pique, Disappointment, or personal Resentment, but, as I think, from a Regard to the Publick Good. I may be mistaken in what is that Publick Good; but at least I mean well. And whenever they appear to me to have the Publick Good in View, I think I would as readily serve them as if they were my best Friends. I am sometimes asham’d for them, when I see them differing with their People for Trifles, and instead of being ador’d, as they might be, like Demi Gods, become the Objects of universal Hatred and Contempt. How must they have managed, when, with all the Power their Charter, the Laws and their Wealth give them, a private Person (forgive your Friend a little Vanity, as it’s only between ourselves) can do more Good in their Country than they, because he has the Affections and Confidence of their People, and of course some Command of the Peoples Purses. You are ready now to tell me, that Popular Favour is a most uncertain Thing. You are right. I blush at having valued myself so much upon it. I have done. Adieu, my dear Friend, and enjoy forever the Esteem of all the Good and Worthy, as well as the sincere Affection of Your obliged humble Servant
B Franklin

Inclos’d is a little Memorandum for some Musick and Harpsicord Wire, which I want for a Friend. If not too much out of your Way please to send it.
I did not think I should write so long a Letter. There is too much in it about my self. I must mend that Fault in my next, for I cannot now correct it in this.
[In the margin in Collinson’s hand:] Mr Jacksons Bank sent Him Coldens papers
Peter Collinson Esq


Title: Draft of a Speech for William Denny, [12 November 1756]
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To:

At the Council meeting following receipt of the Assembly message urging him to meet the Indians in spite of Lord Loudoun’s orders not to, Denny was distressed to learn that the Indians insisted the conference be held in Easton. He agreed unwillingly to go, declaring it “rediculous” to leave the comforts of Philadelphia “to humour the Indians,” and asked the Assembly to appoint some members to go with him. On November 4, Speaker Isaac Norris, Joseph Fox, John Hughes, Franklin, and William Masters, all provincial commissioners, were duly appointed, and they all, except Norris, left the 5th. Stopping overnight at Samuel Dean’s inn on Tohicon Creek, Bucks Co., they reached Bethlehem the next day where they heard alarming reports of Indians in the woods. They arrived in Easton the afternoon of the 7th.
During the first two days of the conference, November 8 and 9, the participants exchanged the usual expressions of good will and elaborate invocations to open their “Eyes and Ears.” After a Council meeting on the 10th, Denny and the commissioners discussed their approach to the central question: did the Indians have any grievances “in Land Affairs” for which retribution might now be made? The governor agreed to add to his next speech “a Paragraph putting the Question in plain Terms.” The speech printed below from the draft in Franklin’s hand, perhaps prepared with the help of the other commissioners and probably submitted to Denny at this meeting, is, with the additions indicated, substantially the same as Denny’s speech of November 12 printed in the official record of the conference.

Brother Tediuskung
[November 12, 1756]
What I am now going to say to you should have been mentiond sometime ago I now desire your strict attention [?] to it.
You was pleased to tell me the other Day that the League of Friendship made by our Forefathers was as yet fresh in your Memory. You said it was made so strong that a small Thing could not easily break it. As we are now met together at our Council Fire, kindled by us both, and have promised on both Sides to be free and open to one another, I must ask you how that League of Friendship came to be broken? Have we, the Governor or People of Pensilvania done you any kind of Injury? If you think we have, you should be honest and tell us your Hearts; you should have made Complaint before you struck us; for so it was agreed in our ancient League: However, now the Great Spirit has thus happily brought us once more together, speak your Mind plainly on this Head, and tell us if you have any just Cause of Complaint, what it is? That I may obtain a full Answer to this Point, I give this Belt.
Give a Belt.


Title: Draft of a Speech for William Denny, [15 November 1756]
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To:

Teedyuscung, responding to Denny’s “Question in plain Terms” about land fraud on November 13, said that French influence with the young braves was the principal cause of the Indian attacks in Pennsylvania. Then, being pressed on the land question, he made the dramatic accusation the anti-proprietary interest, and especially the Quakers, had so long sought to publicize: “This very Ground, that is under me (striking it with his Foot) was my Land and Inheritance, and it is taken from me, by Fraud.” When urged to say what he meant by fraud, he charged that “when I had agreed to sell the Land, to the old Proprietary, by the Course of the River, the young Proprietaries came, and got it run, by a straight Course, by the Compass, and, by that Means, took in double the Quantity intended to be sold.” At a Council meeting the next day, Secretary Richard Peters and Conrad Weiser, the interpreter, both long charged with negotiations for proprietary land purchases, denied that any injustice had been done and proposed that the matter be looked into upon the governor’s return to Philadelphia, where the records were. Denny decided to promise the Indians a full investigation but first called on Franklin and the other commissioners for advice. They pointed out that promised investigations had so often been used as excuses for inaction that the Indians would have no faith in another such promise. They urged, therefore, that the presents provided by the government and the Quakers be distributed to the Indians regardless of the justice of the charges, since only thus could they be persuaded to cease their attacks. Denny concurred, and an “Answer to their [the Indians] Complaints was framed accordingly.” The portions of Denny’s speech printed below, probably agreed upon at this time though perhaps drawn up by Franklin and the commissioners earlier, were delivered on the 15th following some brief, friendly comments on other matters Teedyuscung had mentioned two days before.

Brethren
[November 15, 1756]
You have opened your Heart and shown us the Reasons you thought you had for differing with us. You have done well in speaking so plainly on that Head. But you should have made your Complaint to us before you lifted your Hand to strike, and that might have prevented the Mischief. When the great Creator made Man, he gave him a Tongue to complain of Wrongs, two Ears to hear a Brother’s Complaints, and two Hands to do him Justice by removing the Cause; all these were made before the Hatchet, and should be first used. Had the Man, in your Comparison, whose Pipe was taken from him, said, Brother, you took my Pipe from me at such a Time, and I must have Satisfaction; his Brother might have answered, I did not think you valued a Pipe so much; don’t let us differ about a small Matter; here Brother, take two of mine. That this Method, agreable to our ancient Treaties, may be remembred, and Complaints always made by you to us, or by us to you, in a publick Manner, and Justice demanded before we strike, I give you this Belt [String].

Give a Belt [String]

Brethren
I am but lately come among you; the Grievances you mention are of old Date. If former Indian Kings have, as you say, sometimes sold more Land than they had a right to sell, in so doing they injured us, and we, as well as you, have Cause to complain of them. But sometimes, tho’ they sold no more than their own, sold it fairly, and it was honestly paid for by the English, yet, when the Indian Children grow up, they may forget that their Fathers sold the Lands and divided the Goods; and some evil Spirit or bad Man that loves to make Mischief, may tell them, The Land is still yours, your Fathers never sold it, the Writings are false. Moreover, many People both English and Indians concern’d in former Purchases of Lands are now dead; and as you do not understand Writings and Records it may be hard for me to satisfy you of the Truth, tho’ my Predecessors dealt ever so uprightly; Therefore, to show our sincere Desire to heal the present Differences, and live in eternal Peace with you our Brethren, tell me what will satisfy you for the Injustice you suppose has been done you in the Purchase of Lands in this Province; and, if it be in my Power, you shall have immediate Satisfaction, whether it be justly due to you or not. The good People of this Province are willing and ready to open their Hands and help me by contributing freely to this good Work. Or, if you are not impowered to receive such Satisfaction at this Time, or have not Convenience to carry away the Goods that may be given you on that Account; then I will lodge the Goods in such Hands as you shall appoint, till you bring to our next Meeting your old Men of the several Nations who may have a Right to a Share in the Division of those Goods, where they shall be ready to be delivered to them and you. This may be done at a Council Fire to be rekindled at Philadelphia for you and us, or here, as you shall chuse; when we expect and insist that you bring down all the Captives that still remain in your Country.
And as you mention Grievances from the neighbouring Governments, I make no doubt but on proper Application you will have the utmost Justice done you; and if I can be of any Service to you in making the Application, it will give me great Pleasure. In Testimony whereof, I give you this Belt.
A Belt

 Endorsed [in Richard Peters’ hand]: Mr. Franklin Minute at Easton Novr. 1756


Title: Draft for a Speech by William Denny, [17 November 1756]
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To:

On November 16, Teedyuscung replied to Denny’s speech of the day before, emphasizing again that the delusion of the young braves by the French was “the first and principal Cause” of the Indian attacks in Pennsylvania, though the land frauds he had mentioned reluctantly made “the Blow fall quicker and heavier.” He then explained that he could not specify what would satisfy the Indians since the question had not been fully explored nor were all the persons concerned present at the conference. The next day the commissioners advised Denny to “fix … the Sum to be given in full Satisfaction of all Injuries done to the Indians, and offer it to them now.” Franklin probably submitted the draft printed below for the governor to use in informing Teedyuscung of his decision. But when the Indian again told Weiser that he could not settle the matter then, it was dropped and the speech was never delivered. After brief closing remarks by Denny and Teedyuscung the latter “shewed great Pleasure in his Countenance, and took a kind Leave of the Governor and all present.”

Brother
[November 17, 1757]
I desired you to mention the Value of the Damages you complained that the Delawares had suffered in the Purchases of Lands; you have declin’d to make any Valuation, but left it to me, and now I tell you I have considered the Matter and find that the People of this Province have suffered greatly by the late unhappy bad stormy Weather. The Clouds were black and dark, spread over the Country and prevented the Sun’s shining on their Lands, so that they did not bring forth so much Fruit; besides the Lightning came out of the Clouds, struck down and burnt their Houses and Barns, and kill’d their Servants and Cattle; so that they have suffered much more than you have done in the Purchases of Lands you mention, and therefore are not so able to give much as they were in former times when the Weather was good [and] all things prospered with them. However, they are willing to give you Goods to the Value of Pounds in full Satisfaction of all Damages you complain of. They will lodge it in my hands. When you come down in the Spring, bring all the Delaware People that sprang out of this Ground to receive and divide the Goods, and I will deliver them to you and those People; provided the Prisoners are all faithfully delivered up to me on or before that Time.


Title: From Benjamin Franklin to Peter Collinson, 22 November 1756
From: Franklin, Benjamin
To: Collinson, Peter

Dear Friend
Philada. Nov. 22. 1756
Since mine of the 5th Instant, a long one, per Capt. Snead, I have receiv’d the Air Pump and Apparatus per Rankin. There is some Breakage, of which shall send an Account per next Ship, to have the Glasses renew’d. We are exceedingly oblig’d to you for your Care in the Affair, and return you cordial Thanks.
I am just return’d from the Forks of Delaware, where I with some others attended the Governor, at a Conference with the Indians. They complain of Injuries from the Proprietors. I hope he will give timely Orders to redress them when they come down next Spring. It is said by many here, that the Delawares were grosly abus’d in the Walking Purchase; that they have frequently complain’d, and their Complaints were suppress’d or conceal’d, and the 6 Nations set on their Backs to make them quiet. That they have remember’d these Things, and now, by the Connivance of the 6 Nations, as ’tis thought, and supported by the French, they have taken Revenge. Much has the Province suffer’d by this War; some Hundreds of Lives lost, many Farms destroy’d, and near £100,000 spent, yet the Proprietor refuses to be taxed, except for a trifling Part of his Estate; the Quit Rents, located unimprov’d Lands, Money at Interest, &c. &c. being exempted by Instructions to the Governor: Which is the harder, if by his Ill-Treatment of the Indians the War has in any Degree been occasioned.
The 49th Vol. of the Transactions and other Books for the Library, sent in the Care of Neate and Neave, are come to hand in good Order. In my Paper of Experiments in the Transactions are the following Errata, viz.
Page 301 line 12. for, elastic, read electric.
  line 18. for, but nigh enough, read, but not nigh enough.
as they hurt the Sense, I mention them; some smaller of little moment I omit. I should be glad to know if the very ingenious Mr. Canton has repeated those Experiments, and what are his Observations.
I thank Dr. Wright for his Piece on Thunder.
Mr. Eeles’s Experiments do not succeed with me.

I wish you had sent me Dr. Hoadly’s and Mr. Wilson’s Experiments on the Leyden Bottle. I see such a Piece advertis’d, but it is not come over. I am, my dear Friend, Yours affectionately
BF.
Mr. Collinson


Title: Provincial Commissioners: Orders for Payment [November 23–December 29, 1756]
From: Provincial Commissioners
To:

After the return of the provincial commissioners from the Easton Indian conference they resumed their regular sessions and began again to issue orders for money payments on November 23. By December 28 the end of their available funds was once more in sight and on that day and the next they authorized a few large payments, including one which turned over to Charles Norris the remaining balance. Although commissioners under later acts issued hundreds of orders for payments, Franklin dropped from the group because of his impending journey to England as agent for the Assembly, and he did not resume this sort of activity until after his return to Philadelphia in 1762. The seventy-four orders issued during the last five weeks of his responsibility in 1756 are listed below in the same form as those signed earlier (see above, VI, 392–5). The orders which he did not sign are indicated by an asterisk (*).

Date
Payee
Purpose
Amount

November
£
s.
d.

23
 William Bramson
Hand grenades, grape shot, cannon balls
48
0
3

  23
 James Hamilton
Cash advanced to Edward Croston
150
0
0

  23
 John Hughes
Payment to John Van Etten, Sept. 24
150
0
0

23*
 Capt. Frederick Smith
Pay for self and co. per Sgt. Peter Shaver
150
0
0

24*
 Jacob Cantzon
Medicines and attendance on soldiers at Ft. Hunter
9
1
0

24*
 Stephen Carpenter
Board, shoes, stockings for 2 Indian boys
17
9
0

24*
 Nathaniel Grubb
Maintenance of French Neutrals, Chester Co.
5
14
2½

24*
 Abraham Kintzey
Part pay, hiring team to province
75
0
0

24*
 Jesse Maris
Maintenance of French Neutrals, Springfield, Chester Co.
11
12
6½

24*
 Samuel Neave
Goods for Easton Indian treaty
404
6
11½

24*
 Thomas Nuzen [?]
Maintenance of French Neutrals, Ridley and Providence Twps., Chester Co.
3
4
11

24*
 Christopher Sower, Jr.
Maintenance of French Neutrals, Germantown
20
7
4

24*
 Francis Smedley
Maintenance of French Neutrals, Wells and Goshen Twps., Chester Co.
12
4
6¼

24*
 Samuel Smith
Executor of William Grant: tin kettles, flints, nails, certified justly due
10
19
11

24*
 Thomas Wharton
2 casks nails, for use at Ft. at Shamokin
13
8
0

  26
 Capt. Christian Busse
Part pay of co.
400
0
0

  26
 William Edmonds
Brethren’s account for maintaining Indians
144
15
5¼

  26
 Timothy Horsfield
Sundries for Indians and Geo. Claus’s account
21
4
0

  26
 Samuel Neave
For order of John Harris, Oct. 24
20
0
0

27*
 Jeremiah Warder
Sundries and victualling Wetterhold’s co.
409
13
3

29*
 Joseph Armstrong
Keeping guard, Hamilton Twp., Cumberland Co.
74
16
0

29*
 Dr. William Chancellor
Medicine for forces in Carlisle
4
9
0

29*
 Doughty Jones
Lodging, dieting and nursing Capt. Newcastle and wife
8
1
6

29*
 Jacob Levan
Provisions for Capt. Reynolds’s co.
203
8
9

29*
 Jacob Orndt
Pay for self and co. to Dec. 4
801
1
6

29*
 John Pumpshire
Service as Indian interpreter
20
0
0

29*
 Capt. George Reynolds
Pay for self and co. to Dec. 1
722
7
0

29*
 Capt. Edward Ward
Part pay for co.
100
0
0

29*
 Conrad Weiser
Part pay of his co. at Reading
400
0
0

  30
 Joseph Fox
Balance for accounts examined and settled
234
2
11½

December

  1
 John Baldwin
50 pr. shoes for forces
18
15
0

2*
 Robert Owen
Book-keeper for Commissioners
20
0
0

  3
 Anthony Benezet
Maintenance of Neutral French to Nov. 29
27
19
9

  3
 William Galbreath
Pay as commissary of stores at Hunter’s Mills
98
16
5

  3
 William Moore of Lancaster
Carrying 10 bbls. rum, 18 spades, 19 shovels, 50 hatchets for Clapham’s use to Ft. Hunter
7
0
0

  4
 William Clinton
6 spades and 2 shovels
3
4
0

  4
 John Abraham Denormandie
In part, maintenance of Neutral French in Bucks Co.
100
0
0

  4
 Ens. William Johnston
To pay men absent when mustermaster paid
84
5
6

  4
 Ens. William Johnston
Pay for garrison at Hunter’s Fort
388
8
6

  4
 Matthew Rea
Maintenance of Neutral French and purchase of wool “to employ said French in working”
12
1
5½

  4
 Capt. Elisha Salter
Part pay for self and co.
100
0
0

  5
 William Henry of Lancaster Co.
Work done at Harris’s and Shamokin
43
17
6

  5
 Capt. Thomas McKee
Expense of journeys; service as interpreter; allowance for trouble and time; paid in full
61
8
6

  6
 Joseph Fox
Disbursements for gov. and commrs. at Easton
112
9
2

  6
 Lynford Lardner
Sundry small accounts
100
0
0

  6
 Capt. Frederick Smith
Part pay for self and co.
569
17
6

  6
 Moses Tattamay
Attending Indians to Fort Allen, and other services
10
0
0

13*
 Hughes & Jones
Sundries furnished province
240
6
9

  13
 Philip Syng
Work and materials to alter workhouse to guardhouse for King’s troops
95
11
3

  16
 Robert Armstrong
Timer and boards delivered to Clapham
25
6
6¼

  16
 Rev. Charles Beatty
Chaplain to Col. Clapham’s regt., 111 days at 6s. 8d.
37
0
0

16*
 Benjamin Franklin
For David Barclay of London, for arms
1365
11
2¼

  16
 Johan Leidig
Medicines and attendance on Esther Clear
17
8
0

  16
 Capt. James Patterson
Advance pay for his co. of rangers
20
0
0

  16
 Richard Peters
Express to Col. Clapham; expenses of Denny and Logan at Easton
12
5
0

17*
 John Baker and Abraham Wayne
Shipwrights; work for province
47
2
6

17*
 Capt. Thomas Lloyd
James Young drafts on Michael Teass and Lloyd
250
0
0

17*
 Capt. John Van Etten
Pay and subsistence of his co., per James Hyndshaw
308
2
6

  18
 Capt. Edward Croston
Advance, victualling Shamokin forces
200
0
0

  18
 Joseph Fox
Avance, to pay sundry small accounts
100
0
0

  22
 Samuel Hunter
Pasturage, victuals and rum furnished forces at Shamokin
28
13
6½

  24
 Charles Coyle
For mare lost on Kittanning expedition
9
0
0

  24
 Nathaniel Miles
Diet furnished sundry soldiers
7
0
6

  24
 Charles Osborne
Medicines for Armstrong’s battalion
19
14
7½

27*
 David Edwards
Maintenance of Indians at State House
134
14
19½

  27
 Michael McGuire
Carpenter’s work at Shamokin
17
14
6

  28
 Hannah Boyte (Boyd)
Maintenance of sundry Indians, Dec. 3
25
8
0

  28
 Thomas James
Services on Indian affairs
2
15
2

28*
 Henry Keppele
Maintaining Hambright’s men before May 30
40
1
0

  28
 Capt. George Noarth or Benjamin Loxley
Disbursements for use of city artillery
39
6
5

  28
 Charles Norris
Residue of £30,000 funds
1420
19
5¾

  29
 William Buchanan
Contract to supply troops west of Susquehanna
1500
0
0

  29
 John Hughes
Rugs, blankets, bedding, pots, kettles, utensils used by King’s troops in city
500
0
0

  29
 Conrad Weiser
Pay, self and co.; victualling Capt. Busse’s co., 25 pr. shoes for Geo. Gabriel; saddle, bridle, and rifle for Indian; and in full Wolfganhager the gunsmith’s account
457
17
3


Title: Pennsylvania Assembly: Message to the Governor, 24 November 1756
From: Pennsylvania Assembly
To: Denny, William

After renewing the Mutiny Act and appointing members to attend the Easton conference on November 4, the Assembly had adjourned to the 22nd. On November 23, Franklin and Joseph Galloway were appointed to draft a message requesting copies of such proprietary instructions “as relate to Matters of Legislation” and of the minutes of the recent Easton Indian conference. The message printed here was brought in, agreed to, and sent to Denny the next day.

May it please your Honour,
[November 24, 1756]
You were pleased by your Message, at the Beginning of this Session, to represent to us the Expediency of framing sundry Laws that are necessary for the Defence and Utility of the Province; and we think many others, not recommended to us by your Honour, may likewise be for the Benefit of the People, which we are determined at this Time to take into our serious Consideration, and pay that Regard and Attention to them that their Importance deserves: But as many Bills, prepared at a burthensome Expence to the Publick by antecedent Assemblies for the Defence of the Province, in Compliance with His Majesty’s Orders, and other salutary Purposes, after much Time, and great Pains had been spent in framing them, have been rejected by your Honour’s Predecessors, because not consistent with certain Instructions that they had received from the Proprietaries, as directory to them in Matters of Legislation; which Instructions, notwithstanding, were unreasonably concealed from the Representatives of the People; we are, in Justice to ourselves, and in Duty to those we represent, obliged humbly to request that your Honour would be pleased to lay before us full Copies of all such of your Instructions that are of a publick Nature, and in anywise relate to Matters of Legislation, that we may, as we are sincerely inclined, avoid all unnecessary Delays at this critical Juncture, in Matters of real Importance, and yield a chearful Obedience to His Majesty’s most gracious Orders for our Defence.
When we reflect on a late Instance of your Honour’s Candour on the like Occasion, and the evident Proof you gave a former Assembly, of a sincere Inclination to facilitate and expedite Matters, in which the publick Welfare was concerned, we have no Room to doubt your Honour will favour us in complying with this reasonable and necessary Request.
We also further request, that your Honour would be pleased to lay before us the Minutes taken at the last Conference held at Easton with Teedyuscung and other Indian Chiefs, that the Representatives of the People may be acquainted with Matters which so intimately relate to the publick Weal and the Peace of the Province.


Title: Timothy Horsfield to the Provincial Commissioners, 29 November 1756
From: Horsfield, Timothy
To: Provincial Commissioners

Gentlemen
Bethm. Novr. 29. 56
I Received the Cash £21 4s. for the Account per Mr. Edmonds for which I Return my harty thanks. Would now Inform you that when the Indians returnd from the Treaty they came thro Bethlehem and One of them Named John Smaling Was taken Sick. We Lodgd him and Wife in a Shed Made of Boards &cr. having no Better place to put them. I Visited him and found he was Broke Out with the Small Pox, I then Went to one of Our Neighbours G. Clows and prevaild on him to take him and Wife into his House where he could Lay Near a fire and Desired Clows to provide him With Fire wood &cr. and one of the Brethren goes Every day to carrey him Such Necessary’s as is Needfull. Since he has been there another Indian and Wife Relations to Smaling are come to them with 2 Horses which makes Much trouble and Charge. Clows has been with me Makeing heavy Complaint and has Since Wrote me a Letter In German Which I here Inclose with an Inglish Translation. The Indians over the Watter Namly Nickodames, and Nathaniel’s Familey’s with Some others Amounts to 16 in Number and I hear More Intends to come and if They do I Dont Know What we Shall do with them, for the House Where they are is Small and they are now Much Crouded. I have Endavourd all I cou’d to perswaid these to Go to Easton Philadelphia or to the Proprietors Tract Near Bristoll. But Invain. They Answer No We Will Stay in Bethlehem. They have 4 Horses amongst them which makes Much trouble. I went over to Spoke with them and tould they could Not Expect the Goverment would pay for their Horses Keeping and urged them to Sell them, But I Much Question there doing it. In Short they Behave as if they thought the White People was now obligd to do Every thing for them they require, and Indeed it is too Much so. I do assure you, Gentlemen, I cannot Explain to you the trouble and Vexation the Brethren and My Self have with these Savage Wretches and if more Comes I dont Know what we Shall do.
I Shall be Exceedingly obliged to you and very thankfull if you could send some Discreet Person who understands to manage Indians, for I must own my Inability to reside here or At Some Other plase where you could provide for the Indians. I had almost forgot to Mention that a Boy and Guirl Children of the Indians that Fled from Gnadenhutten Broke out with the Small Pox Some time Since and are Near recovered. As very few of them has had it, and they was very much in fear of the Distemper, the Brethren Was obliged to Send a Man and [h]is Wife to a House ½ a Mile of[f] to take care of them. I hope Gentlemen you will take these things into consideration, and Grant us Such Advice and Releif as you, in your Wisdome think Best Which Will be thankfully Acknowledged by the Brethren and My self Who am Gentlemen your Most Obedient Humble Servant
T H
Messrs. Franklin Fox &cr.


Title: To Benjamin Franklin from Augustus Gottlieb Spangenberg, 29 November 1756
From: Spangenberg, Augustus Gottlieb
To: Franklin, Benjamin

Sir,
Bethl. 29. Nov. 56.
To wait on you at Bethlehem, on your Return from Easton to Philadelphia, would have been a great Satisfaction to many of us, who have the Honour of your Acquaintance. I flatter myself with the Opinion, that you would not have pass’d by, had your Affairs permitted any longer stay in the Country. And now I take this Opportunity of letting you Know by some Lines, how it goes with us here; believing, that you have a particular Care for this part of our Province, which you have seen yourself in the greatest Distress by the Injury of Times, and which has been an Object of your tender Concern. We do live at present, Thanks to God, pretty quiet; but We are careful, how to trust people, who have no God but the Devil. We are on our Guard, as much as We can; tho’ We must own, it is the Lord, and He alone, that Keeps us.
Some people at allmangel, Neighbours of that unhappy Family, which fell but lately into the cruel Hands of the Sauvages, have brought their Wives and Children to Bethlehem, to be shelterd there; and we have about Fourty of them received into our Houses here and at Nazareth, whose resp[ective] Husbands and parents are returnd to their resp[ective] Habitations, viz. to Allmangel.
Our Indians, who just a year ago came to Bethlehem from Gnadenhütten, when they could not exspect any Thing else, but what they would be destroyed with us, have hitherto behaved quiet and inoffensive to every One, thankful for the good protection, which they have had hitherto in this Government. But I am sorry that I must mention to you, that a white Man, but last Week, fired at One of the said Indians of Bethlehem, when he was a Mile or Two of[f] in the Woods; and I do fear, that such a Thing as that, may create great Confusion among all the Indians, if not prevented.
The greatest Hardship We meet with now, is the coming of the Sauvages from the Susquehanna to Bethlehem, and their Obstinacy, to stay here with us. We have no Houses nor no Room for them and must needs build Winter-Houses for them, if more should come; as We hear they intend to do, by those that are come. I fear also, we shall be oblig’d to keep watching about them Day and Night, not so much to prevent Mischief, which they might be doing, but to hinder others from hurting them, which very likely might be the Case, as people are very bitter against them. Pray, be so Kind, to consider of these Things. For us there is no Proclamation gone out, (as far as I Know) to prevent such evil Things: it may prove very bad to this province, if such a Thing should happen.
To have your Advice or Ordres, and to Know what to do, will oblige very much Sir your humble Servant
Spgbg
 Endorsed: Indian. Wandern beym Wildenkriege


Title: Pennsylvania Assembly Committee: Report on Precedents in the House of Commons, 3 December 1756
From: Pennsylvania Assembly Committee
To:

In its zeal to present strong candidates for the October 1756 Assembly election, the proprietary party nominated and elected Chief Justice William Allen in both Cumberland and Northampton Counties. When Allen chose to represent Cumberland, a new election was ordered for October 25 to fill the vacated Northampton seat. The sheriff’s certification that proprietary stalwart William Plumsted had defeated Moravian William Edmonds, presented to the House on the 30th, was accompanied by a petition alleging that multiple balloting frauds had voided the election. The next day Plumsted was denied his seat, and on November 4 the hearings on the case were postponed until the 23d, when the dispute was referred to the Committee of Grievances, of which Franklin was a member. The whole Assembly resumed consideration of the case on December 1, and the next day a motion to “determine how the Costs arising upon the Hearing of the Merits of the late Election of a Representative for the County of Northampton, and the Charges of the Evidences who are summoned to attend the same are to be paid,” was followed by appointment of a committee “to inspect the Journals of the House of Commons for Precedents relating to the Payment of such Costs and Charges as attend controverted Elections.”

December 3. 1756.
In Obedience to the Order of the House, we have examined the Votes of the House of Commons, and do find the following Precedents relating to the Charges and Expences arising in Cases of Complaint enquired into by the House.
In the Parliament of the Twenty-first of James I. the Mayor of Arundel having misbehaved himself in the Election of a Burgess for that Town, was sent for, and ordered to pay the Charges of the Witnesses, to be assessed by three Members.
In the Eighteenth and Nineteenth of the same Reign, a Constable of York was sent for up, and accused of Misdemeanors; but being acquitted, he had Five Pounds ordered him for his Charges. Also one Napper being committed to the Serjeant for serving a Subpoena on Mr. Brereton, was dismissed, after paying Costs to Mr. Brereton, and due Fees to the Officers of the House.
In the Fourth of Charles I. the Sheriff and one of the Aldermen of York, having conducted an Election illegally, to the Prejudice of Alderman Hoy, a Candidate, were ordered to pay all the Charges of the Witnesses of the said Hoy, to be assessed by four of the Committee.
In 1699, March 9. Thomas Hawksly, and Roger Hunt, Overseers of the Poor for Nottingham, being summoned to attend the Committee of Privileges and Elections, by George Gregory, Esq; Petitioner against Robert Sacheverell, Esq; prayed that they might be relieved for their Charges in coming to Town, Expences in Town, and returning home. And it was ordered, that the said Gregory do pay the Petitioners their reasonable Charges, to be assessed by the Chairman of the Committee.
In 1711, the 22d of March, a Complaint being made to the House, that John Cunningham was summoned in Behalf of Major General Hamilton, to attend the Committee of Privileges and Elections, to testify his Knowledge touching the late Election of a Member to serve in Parliament; and that Major General Hamilton refuses to pay him his reasonable Charges for his Journey and Attendance; it was ordered that the said John Cunningham have his reasonable Charges for his Journey and Attendance on the Committee, to be ascertained by the Chairman.
In 1715, September 8. Ann Cater, John Burton, James Coot, and Stephen Norman, praying that they may be relieved for their Charges in coming up and staying in Town, being summoned as Witnesses by John Hervey, Esq; to attend the Hearing of the Merits of the Election for the County of Bedford; and the said Hervey having refused to give them reasonable Satisfaction, it was ordered that the said Mr. Hervey do pay the Petitioners their reasonable Charges, to be settled by Mr. Speaker.
In 1717, June 18. Thomas Prowse, Steward of the Manor of Minehead, complained, that he was required, by a Warrant from Mr. Speaker, to permit George Speke, Esq; or his Agents, to inspect the Rolls of the said Manor, and to take Notes or Copies therefrom, and to attend the House with the said Rolls; and that he did appear accordingly, and was examined; but that Mr. Speke’s Agent refused him reasonable Satisfaction for the same; and praying Relief, it was ordered, that the said Prowse be paid his reasonable Charges, to be settled by Mr. Speaker.
In 1695, December 21. It was resolved, that Sir George Meggot, having preferred to the House a groundless and vexatious Petition, relating to the Election of Members to serve in Parliament for Southwark, do make Satisfaction to the Members he petitioned against for the Costs and Expences they have been put to by Reason of such Petitions.

In the same Year, March 4. It was resolved, that Sir Richard Gipps, having preferred to the House a frivolous, vexatious and groundless Petition, relating to the Election of Members for Totness, be taken into Custody of the Serjeant, and make Satisfaction to the Members he petitioned against, for the Costs and Expences they have been put unto by reason of such Petition.
The Votes of Parliament being voluminous, and mostly without Indexes, these are all the Precedents that the Committee, in so short a Time, have been able to find relating to the Payment of Witnesses Charges. Many there are in which no Application appears for the Payment of such Charges, nor any Determination who should pay them; but whether there are any Determinations different or contrary in like Cases, we cannot say. These, without presuming to make any Remarks upon them, are humbly submitted to the Consideration of the House, by

John Baynton,
   James Wright,

   Benjamin Franklin,
   John Wright,

   John Abraham Denormandie,
   William Allen,

   George Ashbridge,
   Thomas Yorke.


Title: Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, 8 December 1756
From: Pennsylvania Assembly
To:

Franklin and John Baynton were appointed on Dec. 8, 1756, to reply to Governor Denny’s message of that date on quartering the British troops momentarily expected in Philadelphia. Submitted the same morning, the reply was approved and sent to Denny at once. Since it is quoted in full in the message of December 19 (below, p. 43), it is not separately printed here.


Title: Pennsylvania Assembly: Message to the Governor, 19 December 1756
From: Pennsylvania Assembly
To:

After Pennsylvania became a theater of war in 1755, it was apparent that the province would soon have to provide quarters for British troops. When the remnants of Braddock’s army passed through Philadelphia that summer, the Assembly hastily extended what it considered were the relevant portions of the British quartering act to Pennsylvania. Since the troops were not billeted on the city, the law had little effect, but its disallowance, July 7, 1756, foreshadowed difficulties to come. Attorney General William Murray (later Lord Mansfield) advised its rejection because the act wrongly assumed that “propositions true in the mother country and rightly asserted in the reigns of Charles the 1st and Charles the 2nd in times of peace and when soldiers were kept up without consent of Parliament” were applicable “to a colony in time of war in the case of troops raised for their protection.” That is, the Pennsylvanians were not to be granted the sweeping immunities from forced quartering of soldiers in private homes which had been part of English law since Stuart days. Moreover, the matter was confused by one law for England under which troops were to be quartered on the numerous, large public houses, and another law for Scotland permitting soldiers to be quartered on private houses. Further, it was uncertain how war and invasion altered these privileges and obligations. When Parliament failed to pass clarifying legislation, the Duke of Cumberland dumped the confusion into Lord Loudoun’s lap by ordering that “Quarters must be taken in the plantations as they are in Britain in time of war.” Obviously, Loudoun was expected to requisition such quarters as he needed, but he had nothing beyond general military authority upon which to base his actions. Thus, the scene was set for a contest which led eventually to a clause in the Declaration of Independence and to the third amendment to the Constitution: could soldiers be forced upon private homes, even to the expulsion of their inhabitants, without the sanction of law? In December 1756, the passage of another quartering law, several exchanges between Governor Denny and the Assembly, and the arrival of over 500 troops in Philadelphia, produced a crisis, and the Assembly summarized its case in the following message, reported by Franklin and others on the 18th and ordered to be sent to Denny on Sunday morning, the 19th.

May it please your Honour,
[December 19, 1756]
To prevent, if possible, any Misunderstanding between your Honour and this House, we beg Leave to recapitulate what has passed on the Article of Quarters, during the present Session.
On the 19th of October last, your Honour was pleased to communicate to us a Letter from Lord Loudoun to yourself, dated September 22, 1756, in which Quarters, and the Necessaries allowed in Quarters by Act of Parliament, were demanded of this Province: The Building of Barracks came first under our Consideration, but if the House had been disposed to build them, the Season was too far advanced, and the Dimensions could not be judged of, as the Number of Forces to be quartered here was not expressed.
The House then endeavoured to procure the last Act of Parliament that was made for the Quartering of Soldiers in England, to be their Guide in making the necessary Provision here; your Honour was applied to for a Sight of that Act, which you were so kind as to promise to procure for us, but some Time passed before we obtained it.
On the 24th of November your Honour was pleased to lay before us another Letter from Lord Loudoun, dated October 28, 1756, in which the Demand for Quarters was repeated, and one Battalion of the Royal Americans was mentioned to be provided for in Philadelphia, but the Number of which that Battalion should consist was not mentioned. His Lordship is not particular as to Quartering, or the Necessaries to be furnished in Quarters, as he is pleased to say, “he is writing to one who is so thoroughly acquainted with the Quartering in England in Time of Peace, and what Things are furnished in Quarters for the Officers and Soldiers, and how much further Quartering extends in Time of War, and even must do so from the Nature of Things.”

Your Honour has never been explicit on these Points with the Assembly. We know nothing of them but what is to be learnt from the Act of Parliament you were so good as to furnish us with. We presented to your Honour a Bill so exactly conformable to that Act, that it brings over the very Clauses, by which Troops are quartered in England. After this Bill had lain four Days in your Honour’s Hands, the House hearing the Soldiers were expected in Town the next Day, sent up to know your Result upon it. You were then pleased in a Message to object to the Preamble of one of those Clauses; we immediately agreed to strike it out, and had no Reason to expect any farther Objections.
However, before the Bill passed, and after the Amendment was agreed to, your Honour did indeed send us down the following written Message, viz.

“Gentlemen,
December 8. 1756.
“Since your Message of Yesterday Evening, I am well informed, from the strictest Enquiry, that the Quarters demanded by my Lord Loudoun for the Officers and Soldiers that are every Moment expected here, cannot be had in the Publick-houses of this City. The Bill now before me therefore being insufficient to answer the End proposed by it, and the great Inconveniences that may arise if proper Quarters are not provided for the Reception of His Majesty’s Troops being evident, I must, in the warmest Terms, recommend it to you, to make immediate Provision for that Service.
William Denny.”

With the above written Message your Honour was pleased farther to send us a verbal One in these Words, viz.
“Sir,
“The Governor commands me to acquaint the House, that if they do not think proper to make any further Provision than what is expressed in the Bill, the Governor agrees to the Alteration, and is ready to pass it as it now stands.”
As the House had been informed that the Number for which Quarters were demanded, did not exceed 600 Men, Officers included, and were of Opinion that the Publick-houses of Philadelphia were sufficient to provide Quarters for that Number, they acquainted your Honour with their Sentiments in the following respectful Message.

“May it please your Honour,
December 8. 1756.
“On examining the Lists of recommended and licenced Publick-houses, we find there are no less than One Hundred and Seventeen in this City only, exclusive of the Suburbs. We hope therefore your Honour will be of Opinion with us, that the Number of Soldiers for which Quarters are required may very well be disposed of among them in the Manner directed by the Act of Parliament now to be extended hither; especially as it is not necessary the Soldiers should all be lodged in the Publick-houses, but those who keep such Houses may provide lodging for the Men in other Houses, if they find it more convenient so to do. Signed, by Order of the House,
Isaac Norris, Speaker.”

Your Honour made no Reply to this Message, but passed the Bill the same Day; and therefore we had Reason to believe you were satisfied with it.
The Bill passed on the Eighth Instant: On the 13th, the Mayor and Aldermen of Philadelphia presented to the House the following Remonstrance, and withal laid before us the annexed Paper, expressing the Number for which Quarters were demanded.

“City of Philadelphia, Dec. 11. 1756.
“To the Honourable the Representatives of the Freemen of the Province of Pennsylvania, now sitting in Assembly, The Remonstrance of the Mayor, Recorder, and Aldermen of the City of Philadelphia, sheweth,
“That your Remonstrants have prepared Billets on the Publick-houses of this City, according to the Directions of a late Act in such Case made and provided, for such of His Majesty’s Forces as Lord Loudoun hath been pleased to order into Winter Quarters here; but we find, on the strictest Enquiry into the Circumstances of the Keepers of such Publick-houses, that many of them are so poor and indigent, that they are neither of Ability to support the Burden of providing for so great a Number of Troops, or have proper Houses and Accommodations suitable for their comfortable Reception. We further beg Leave to remonstrate, that the Commanding-Officer hath demanded a Hospital, with Bedding, Fire, and other Necessaries, to be provided for a Number of Sick; but as no publick Building hath been erected in this City for that Purpose, your Remonstrants, though willing and desirous to do every Thing in their Power to demonstrate their Loyalty to His Majesty, and to promote the Good of his Service, are sorry to find themselves incapable of complying with this Demand, without the Aid and Assistance of the Legislature of this Province: We therefore thought it our Duty to lay the Premises before you our Representatives, that such Regulations and Provision may be made therein as you in your Wisdom shall judge most expedient.

Attwood Shute, Mayor,
John Mifflin,

Benjamin Chew, Recorder,
John Stamper,

William Plumsted,
Thomas Lawrence,

Robert Strettell,
Alexander Stedman.”

“Captain Tulleken’s Demand of Quarters, &c.
“December 13. 1756.
“In Obedience to Orders received from his Excellency the Earl of Loudoun, Colonel Stanwix has thought proper to send Captain Tulleken to Philadelphia to demand Quarters for the First Battalion of His Majesty’s Sixty-second, or Royal American, Regiment.
“Captain Tulleken demands Quarters as follows.
“Quarters for 500 Men; and Hospital for the Sick; a Storehouse; a Guard-room for an Officer, and Men.
“Billetts for the Officers.
“Colonel one; Lieutenant-Colonel one; Majors one; Captains eight; Subalterns thirty; Staff-Officers six. Total Forty-seven.
“N. B. There must be Fire and Candles for the Guard-room, and for the Hospital.
“Besides the above, Captain Gate’s Company of Independents, Forty-seven Men, four Officers.
“The whole have Billets delivered them on the Publick-houses.
Attwood Shute, Mayor.”

The House, how desirous soever that the King’s Troops might have good and suitable Quarters, could not proceed to make further Provision by a Supplementary Act, without being well informed of the present State of the Quartering, that they might know what was deficient, and what was necessary to be supplied; they therefore immediately required the Mayor to lay before the House a List of the Names of the Publick House-keepers, with the Number of Officers and Soldiers billeted on each House (which he accordingly undertook to do by the next Morning) that we might be able to judge whether they could, or could not, be comfortably quartered by those Publick House-keepers.
This Order of the House, though of some Days standing, not being complied with, and the House being sincerely desirous that the King’s Troops should be well provided for, took Occasion, from the Report that your Honour had issued Orders for Quartering on private Houses, to send up their Message of Yesterday, in the following Words, viz.

“May it please your Honour,
December 17. 1756.
“A Report having Yesterday prevailed in Town, that your Honour had given Orders to the Sheriff to quarter the Soldiers on private Houses, which greatly surprized the Inhabitants, the House (though they do not believe it possible your Honour could be prevailed with to issue Orders so diametrically opposite to an express Law passed by yourself but a few Days before) think it necessary on this Occasion humbly to request, that your Honour would be pleased to direct the Magistrates and Officers of the City and Liberties, who have billeted the Soldiers on Publick-houses, according to Law, to visit those Houses, inspect the Accommodations provided for the Men, see that they are good and sufficient, and oblige every publick House-keeper to receive and provide for the Officers and Soldiers that are or may be billeted on each House, in Proportion to the Number for which Quarters are required, either in the Publick-houses, or such others as the Keepers of them may procure; so that the Minds of the People may be quieted, and no just Cause of Complaint may arise, that Quarters, and the Necessaries in Quarters, are not duly provided, according to the Intention of the Legislature in passing that Act.
“The House have recommended it to the Provincial Commissioners to provide an Hospital for the Soldiers, which we make no Doubt will be done accordingly.
   A Very convenient Guard-house was before provided at the Expence of the Province.
 Signed, by Order of the House,
Isaac Norris, Speaker.”

To this your Honour is pleased to answer as follows, viz.

“Gentlemen,
December 18. 1756.
“The King’s Troops must be quartered. With respect to the Insufficiency of the late Act, I refer you to my Message of the Eighth Instant, delivered immediately before the Passing of it; and I see no Reason, from any Thing that has occurred since, to alter my Opinion.
William Denny.”

On the whole we beg Leave to remark, That if any Thing more than the Act of Parliament requires be expected of us, we have never been explicitly informed what it is: That though your Honour is referred to by Lord Loudoun, as well acquainted with those Matters, you have never explained them to us: That when the Bill for extending the Act of Parliament hither was presented for your Concurrence, you made no Objection as to its Insufficiency, but that the Publick-houses could not accommodate the whole; which Objection we had afterwards Reason to think we had obviated to your Satisfaction. And lastly, That in your Message of Yesterday, you are not pleased to say that you will or will not favour us in our Request, that the Magistrates may be directed to see the Act duly executed, and good Quarters effectually provided; nor to point out any other or further Deficiency in the Act; but only tell us, as we think, somewhat abrubtly, that the King’s Troops must be quartered.
May it please the Governor, we know that the King’s Troops must be quartered, and are desirous they should have good Quarters. The Assemblies of this Province have in very late Instances shewn their Regard for the Soldiery, by voluntarily presenting Conveniencies and Refreshments to the Officers, and furnishing Provisions and warm Cloathing for the Soldiers of the King’s Forces, to the Amount of many Thousand Pounds. We thought we had by the late Law provided well for their Quartering in this Province; especially as we had exactly followed the Act of Parliament made for the same Purpose. We cannot conceive it will, when well considered, be thought adviseable, to quarter the Soldiers by Force on private Houses rather than by Law on Publick-houses; and we apprehend, that if the bought Servants, which have been so lately taken from the King’s good Subjects here, and no Satisfaction made their Owners, notwithstanding the Act of Parliament so expresly requires it, are now to be thrust into their Houses, and made their Masters, some Commotions may arise, dangerous to the King’s Peace. On these Considerations, and being desirous to preserve a good Understanding with your Honour, we beg you would be pleased to favour us with a Conference, that this Matter may, as soon as possible, be fully understood, and finally settled.”