how they had neglected following his advice to withdraw themselves from the Assembly, but had rather increased their majority there. He advised that they be refused permission to sit there in the future. A copy of this letter was secured by the Assembly's agent in England, and great was their indignation. The disturbances. culminated in an election riot in Philadelphia in 1742 in which both sides used force, the Quaker party having the best of it and electing Isaac Norris. They re-elected their ticket, with the aid of the Germans, and controlled the Assembly by an overwhelming majority. To show their loyalty they voted a considerable sum for the King's use, but refused Governor Thomas any salary till he had given up his pretentious show of power and signed a number of bills to which he had objected. After this he worked very harmoniously with them till 1746.

In 1744 he used his authority as CaptainGeneral in organizing a voluntary force said by Franklin to amount to 10,000 men. On this the Assembly took no action.

The next year the Governor asked them to aid New England in an attack on Cape Breton. They told him they had no interest in the matter. He called them together again in harvest time to ask them to join in an expedition against Louis

burg. A week later came word that Louisburg had surrendered, and the request was transferred to a call for aid in garrisoning the place, and in supplying provisions and powder. The Assembly replied that the "peaceable principles professed by divers members of the present Assembly do not permit them to join in raising of men or providing arms and ammunition, yet we have ever held it our duty to render tribute to Cæ"They therefore appropriated £4,000 for bread, beef, pork, flour, wheat or other grain." The Governor was advised not to accept the grant, as provisions were not needed. He replied that the "other grain" meant gunpowder. and so expended a large portion of the money,† There is probably no evidence that the Assembly sanctioned this construction, though they never so far as appears made any protest.

"

sar.

Again in 1746 aid was asked of the Assembly towards an expedition against Canada. After forcing the Governor to yield the point as to how the money should be raised, they appropriated £5,000" for the King's use."

This seems to have been the attitude of the Quaker Assembly for the ten years to come.

*"Colonial Records," Vol. IV., page 769.

†This is on the authority of Franklin.

Again and again did the successive Governors call for military appropriations. As often did the Quaker Assembly express a willingness to comply provided the money was obtained by loans to be repaid in a term of years rather than by a tax. The governors said their instructions prevented their sanction to this proceeding, and except when the necessity was urgent refused to permit the bill to be enacted into a law. The Assembly frequently reminded the Governor that they were unable to vote any money for warlike purposes, and personally would contribute nothing in the way of service, but that they were loyal subjects of the King and acknowledged their obligations to aid in his government. Had they granted regular aid, war or no war, their position would have been greatly strengthened, but being given "for the King's use" in direct response to a call for military assistance, knowing perfectly how the money was to be expended, they cannot be excused from the charge of a certain amount of shiftiness. The effect, however, was to save their fellowmembers in the Province from compulsory military service, and from direct war taxes. They thus shielded the consciences of sensitive Friends, preserved their charter from Court attack, broke down the worst evils of proprietary pretensions,

and secured large additions of liberty. Whether or not the partial sacrifice of principle, if so it was, was too high a price for these advantages, was differently decided in those days, and will be to-day. An unbending course would but have hastened the inevitable crisis.

That they paid these taxes unwillingly and were generally recognized as true to their principles is evidenced by many statements of their opponents. In 1748 the Council writes to the Governors of New York and Massachusetts asking for cannon for the voluntary military companies then forming through Benjamin Franklin's influence, and says, "As our Assembly consists for the most part of Quakers principled against defence the inhabitants despair of their doing anything for our protection."* Again later Thomas Penn writes on the same subject: "I observe the Assembly broke up without giving any assistance, which is what you must have expected." This belief that the Quakers in the Assembly would not do anything for the armed defence of the Province was general both in England and America.

The Assembly in this attitude was always sup

* Colonial Records," Vol. V., page 207. +"Colonial Records," Vol. V., page 241.