Indians, and are glad to find, that he is at length prevailed on to declare himself ready and desirous to do any thing, consistent with his duty to the crown, for the protection and assistance, as well of our allies, as of the inhabitants of this province in general." We never have, and we hope never shall, desire him to do any thing inconsistent with that duty. He has it now in his power to do what he may think the exigence requires, for the service of the crown, the protection of our allies, and of the inhabitants of the province. As captain-general, he has, by the royal charter, full authority to raise men; and the bill now in his hands, granting sixty thousand pounds, will enable him to pay the expences. We grant the money cheerfully, though the tax to sink it will be a heavy one; and we hope the bill will receive his assent immediately.'

With both, a bill was sent up, for supplying the western and northern Indians, friends and allies of Great Britain, with goods at more easy rates, supporting an agent, or agents among them, and preventing abuses in the Indian trade, to which the governor's assent was desired.

The governor's answer was, 'that he would take the same into consideration, and give it all the dispatch in his power.' But whatever he was pleased to say, both his head and his heart were at this time, taken up with other purposes; how just in themselves, how agreeable to his commission, and how salutary to the province, the sequel will most properly explain.

In the cause of this long and manifold controversy, the proceedings of parliament had been frequently referred to; and the rights of the house of commons as frequently urged by way of sanction for the claims of the assembly. And now the proprietary-party or governor's-men, (for wherever there is influence, there such creatures will always be found) being desirous also in their turn, to avail themselves of their reading, had recourse, it may be presumed, to the famous Kentish petition in the year 1701, as a proper precedent for them to proceed upon, in hectoring the assembly into such

measures, as they could not be prevailed upon to adopt, by other means.

any

Willing, however, to give their copy the air of an original, they chose to represent to their representatives, rather than to petition; and whereas the Kentish petition humbly implored, these came with a positive and immediate demand.

The mayor of Philadelphia took the lead in this turbulent transaction, and found one hundred and thirty-three inconsiderates, to follow him, under the name of several of the principal inhabitants of that city.

To the assembly it was presented, the very day after the two messages, just recited, were left with the governor, 'at a time when a bold and barbarous enemy has advanced within about one hundred miles of this metropolis, [the governor had said eighty] carrying murder and desolation along with them;' (thus pompously it began), 'we should think ourselves greatly wanting, &c. if we did not thus publicly join our names to the number of those who are requesting you to pass a law in order to put the province into a posture of defence,' &c.

A militia by law is the measure they afterwards contend for; and to shew how men differ from themselves according to circumstances and situations, the government-doctrine here was, 'that the proper and natural force of every country was its militia; without which no government could ever subsist itself, that no sums of money however great could answer the purposes of defence without such a law,' &c.

And it was in these very words, they had the temerity to inforce their point.

"We hope we shall always be enabled to preserve that respect to you, which we would willingly pay to those who are the faithful representatives of the freemen of this province. But, on the present occasion, you will forgive us, gentlemen, if we assume characters something higher than that of humble suitors, praying for the defence of our lives and properties, as a matter of grace and favor on your side; you will permit us to make a positive and immediate demand of it,

as a matter of perfect and unalienable right on our own parts, both by the laws of God and man.'

'Upon the whole, gentlemen, we must be permitted to repeat our demand, that you will immediately frame and offer a law for the defence of the province, in such a manner as the present exigency requires. The time does not permit many hands to be put to this representation; but if numbers are necessary, we trust we shall neither want a sufficient number of hands nor hearts, to support and second us, we finally obtain such a reasonable demand,'

till

To a committee it was referred, together with the address from certain of the people called Quakers, (recommending peaceable measures, and insinuating, that otherwise many as well as themselves would be under a necessity to suffer rather than to pay) and that concerning unnecessary disputes with the governor, as containing sundry matters of an extraordinary nature, for consideration; and in the mean time, the house plyed the governor with message after message, concerning the bill for regulating their Indian trade, and that for the supply. Both parties apparently wanted to gain time. It was equally dangerous for the assembly to provoke or parley with a multitude; and nothing but new matter from the frontier could give the governor any new advantage over them.

His answer to the assembly on the 14th of November was, 'That he had given the bill relating to the Indian trade to his clerk to transcribe;' and that, as to the other, 'He was then reconsidering it according to the request of the house; and when he came to any resolution upon it, the house might expect his final-answer; but he did not know when that would be.'

At last, on the 17th, that is to say, after having been again quickened by another message, he sent down the latter with a paper of amendments, and a written message different both in matter and manner from, but altogether as illusory as the former. For, having maintained, as before, that he was not authorised by his commission to pass such a bill,

and yet agreed with the assembly, that their dispute must, in the end, be determined by his majesty, he changed his objection from the thing to the mode, which he argued was unprecedented, and, in effect, impracticable; for, he said, 'The king could not properly give his assent to some parts of an act and reject others; and he then suggested another expedient, namely, for the house to adopt his own amendments sent down with the bill, by which the proprietary estate was entirely exempted; and to prepare and pass another bill, whereby the said estate was to be taxed in the same proportion with every other estate, only not by assessors chosen by the people, but by commissioners reciprocally chosen by himself and the assembly, and also named in the bill; together with a suspending clause, that the same should not take effect till it had received his majesty's approbation. All was closed with a sort of protestation, that nothing but an implicit confidence in his majesty's goodness and justice, that he would disapprove it if it was wrong, and his own most sincere and ardent desire of doing every thing in his power for the good and security of the people committed to his care, could have induced him to pass a law in any shape for taxing the said estate; and a predecision, that if they were equally sincere and equally affected with the distresses and miseries of their bleeding country, they could have no objection to this method of affording immediate succour and relief.’

What the doctrine was, established in the province, concerning suspending clauses, is already before the reader, and consequently the inference, in case the assembly had been weak enough to swallow the bait thus hung out for them.But they were neither to be so amused by him, nor so terrified by his allies without doors, as either to forego the use of their understandings, or to act with their eyes open as if they had no eyes at all.

Having, therefore, sufficiently canvassed the matter, they first resolved, that they would adhere to their bill without admitting any of the governor's proposed amendments; and then, to make him sensible, that they also had some artillery to ply, as well as he, they farther resolved, "That, in case

the governor should persist in refusing his assent to their bill, which was so just and equitable in its nature, and so absolutely necessary at that time for the welfare of the British interest in America, after he should receive the answer of the house to his message then under consideration, they would make their appeal to the throne by remonstrance, humbly beseeching his majesty to cause their present governor to be removed, or take such other measures as might prevent the fatal consequences likely to ensue from his

conduct.'

This vote was unanimous: and they farther took notice in their minutes of some dissatisfaction expressed at an Indian treaty held in the year 1753, by one of the chiefs of the Shawanese, and some promise made to him on the behalf of the proprietaries, which had not been complied with.

The governor, on the other hand, sent down the secretary with intelligence of another massacre committed by the Indians at a place called Tulpehocken; and in a written message farther observed on the supply bill, he had returned, 'that no money could be issued in virtue of it till the next January; before which the greatest part of the province. might be laid waste, and the people destroyed or driven from their habitations; thence proceeded to demand an immediate supply of money; and concluded with a signification, that, should they enable him to raise money on the present occasion, a law founded on the act of parliament for punishing mutiny and desertion, would be absolutely necessary for the government of them, when not joined with his majesty's regular troops.

This was no sooner read than the house adjusted their answer to his former message, in which 'They maintained the propriety of their bill in point of mode as well as matter: that conditional or alternative clauses were far from being unprecedented; that the act was so constructed as to be complete either way; that, on the contrary, in pursuing the other method recommended, of passing two bills diame trically contradictory to each other, in the same breath, they