he is very much pleased to hear that they have made so considerable a Progress in a Bill for raising Money for the use of the Crown; but he thinks no Private Business ought to interfere with a Bill so necessary, and so much for the Honour of the Province. "The Governor would be greatly rejoiced to hear, with any Certainty, of a Peace concluded between Great Britain & Spain; but he is surprized a bare Report of this Kind, in Contradiction to His Majesty's own Letters, should have any weight in the Consul-. tations of a publick Body, or be made use of to delay what is so pressingly recommended by His Majesty. "The Governor is acquainted with the Speaker's Obligations to go to Lewes-Town, but hoped this Bill might be finished with Ease before he set out. "The Governor says, The new Levies are in want of all Necessaries; but that if the House is resolved to adjourn, as they have a Privilege to do, he hopes, that in Duty to His Majesty they will meet again in Twelve or fourteen Days, otherwise he is apprehensive that he shall be under a Necessity of calling them again. "Extract of so much of His Majesty's Instructions, under His Royal Sign Manual, as concerns the Assembly of Pennsylvania. "Instructions for Our Trusty and Well-beloved George Thomas, Esq Deputy Governor of Our Province of Pennsylvania, in America, or the Deputy Governor or Commander-in-Chief of Our said Province, for the time being. Given at Our Court at St James' the second Day of April, 1740, in the Thirteenth year of Our Reign. "Having been called upon by repeated Provocations to declare War against War, We are determined, by God's assistance, in so just a Cause, to vindicate the Honour of our Imperial Crown, to revenge the Injurys done to our Subjects, to assert their undoubted Rights of Commerce & Navigation, and by all possible means to attack, annoy, and distress a Nation that has treated our People with such Insolence and Barbarity. "We have therefore given Orders for the equipping and setting forth of an Expedition against the Territories of the Catholick King in the West Indies, which will consist of a large Squadron of Our Ships of War, and of a considerable Body of our Land Forces, with a suitable Train of Artillery, Storeships, and Transports, The Fleet to be commanded by our trusty and well-beloved Edward Vernon, Esq Vice Admiral of the Blue Squadron of Our Fleet, and Commander-in-Chief of Our Ships employed, or to be employed, in the West Indies, and the Land Forces by our Right Trusty and wellbehaved Charles Lord Cathcart, Major General of Our Forces, whom we have appointed Our General and Commander-in-Chief of the said Expedition. "We have also determined to raise a Body of Troops in Our Colonies on the Continent of North America, to join those to be sent from hence at a particular Rendezvous, which will be appointed for that Purpose, and to act in Conjunction with them under the Command of Our said General, in such Dispositions as shall be made for our Service; And altho' we have not thought fitt to fix any particular Quota for Our Province of Pennsylvania, under your Government, because We would not set Bounds to their Zeal for Our Service; yet considering the great Number of Inhabitants in Our said Province, and that they have of late years been much encreased, We doubt not in the least but they will exert themselves upon this Occasion as far as the Circumstances of the Colony will allow, being assured they cannot render a more acceptable Service to us and to their Mother Country, or do any Thing more essential for their own Interest. "But we trust and expect That Our Assembly of the Province of Pennsylvania will provide Victuals, Transports, and all other Necessarys for the Troops to be raised in our said Province, except Cloath's, Tents, Arms, Amunition, and Pay, till their arrival at their general Rendezvous in the West Indies, from which Time the said Transports shall enter into our Pay; and you are hereby directed, without Loss of Time, to recommend to the said Assembly, in Our Name, to make such Provision that the Expedition may not be retarded for Want thereof. "We depend upon your punctual Complyance with These Our Instructions. We recommend the several Matters therein contain'd to you, Our Deputy Governor, to Our Council, to our Assembly, and to all other Our good Subjects in Pennsylvania, so far as may concern them respectively. And that we do expect that you should, by the first and every other Occasion that may Offer, send us a full and clear Account of your Proceedings herein by Letter directed to one of Our Secretaries of State. "By His Honour's Command. "A true Copy. Thomas Lawrie, Sec'ry. "Philada., July 2d, 1740.” Extract of his Grace the Duke of Newcastle's Letter, one of His Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, to the Deputy Governor of Pennsylvania, Dated Whitehall, April 5, 1740. "And if you should find Difficulty in Raising the Men within your Government by the Methods that may occur to you for that Purpose, it is His Majesty's Pleasure that you should, in that Case, permit Major General Spotswood, Col Blakeney, or any Persons appointed by them, to beat up for Volunteers, and that you should, to the Utmost of your Power, assist them in it. "By His Honour's Command. "A true Copy. Thomas Lawrie, Sec'ry. "Philada., July 2, 1740." At a Council held at Philada., July 3d, 1740. PRESENT: The Honourable GEORGE THOMAS, Esqr., Lieutenant Gov ernor. Samuel Preston, Thomas Laurence, Samuel Hasell, Thomas Griffitts, Esqrs. The Council having been called on an Affair of the greatest Consequence to the Government, viz", On a Discovery made in England at the Secretary of State's Office, and communicated to the Governor by Mr. Paris, Agent for this Province, of one Robert Jenkins, of Salem, in New Jersey, having imployed a Printer in London to Counterfeit the Bills of Credit of the Countys of Newcastle, Kent, & Sussex, upon Delaware, to a considerable value, The Agent's Letter, & the Papers relating to the said Discovery, were laid before the Board, and Andrew Hamilton, Esqr., Recorder of this City, was called in & desired to assist in the Examination of the said Jenkins. The Sherif then being commanded by the Governor to bring thg said Jenkins from Jail before him & the Council, & it appearing upon the Examination that the said Jenkins was guilty of the Forgery charged upon him, he was remanded to Jail, to be kept there till the Governor should issue a writt for removing him to Newcastle, to be try'd there, as the Crime was committed against the Laws of that Government; and it was ordered that the examination this day taken, and the several Papers transmitted from England, should be sent down to be produced at the time of his Tryal. At a Council held at Philadelphia, July 21st, 1740. PRESENT: The Honourable GEORGE THOMAS, Esqr., Lieutenant Gov ernor. Samuel Preston, Thomas Laurence, Ralph Assheton, Anthony Palmer, Esqrs. The Governor acquainted the Board that Mr. Lawrie having enter'd into his Majesty's Service as an Officer in the Troops raised here, he had Ordered Patrick Baird to attend the Council this Day, and recommended him as a fit Person to succeed Mr. Lawrie in the Secretary's Office. Whereof the Board unanimously approved. Then the Governor laid before the Board the Proceedings of the Assembly at their last Meeting, containing their Address & his Messages, &c., which were read (and are the same which are here before improperly inserted in the Minutes of Council as of July 2d. Which see.) His Honour then observed that the Assembly had actually made an abrupt adjournment to the 18th of August, without having concluded any thing for his Majesty's Service, in obedience to the Instructions laid before them. His Hon' likewise again laid before the Board the Duke of Newcastle's Letter of the 5th of April, and more especially the follow- ing Paragraph thereof, viz": "I now send you, inclosed, His Majesty's Instructions, under his Royal Sign Manual, containing particular Directions for your Conduct in every thing relating to the Performance of this Service, which are so full that they leave me nothing to add but to recommend to you the utmost Care & Diligence in the execution of his Majesty's Orders, and particularly in procuring as great a number of Men as you possibly can to inlist, which, by the great Encouragement which (you will see by your Instructions) his Majesty hath thought fit to give to such Persons as shall enter into his Service on this Occasion, it is hoped may be easily done. You will see that Coll Blakeney carries with him from hence only three Thousand Arms; you will not, however, limit the number of Men to be raised within your Governm' in proportion to that number of Arms, since my Lord Cathcart will carry with him a Quantity of spare Arms & Cloathing, in case it should be practicable to raise a greater number than the Three Thousand for which Coll Blakeney carries with him Arms and Money for their Subsistence," &c. His Hon" also laid before the Board Coll" Blakeney's Letter, impowering him to draw for the Subsistence of Eight Companys, and concluded that the Forces raised here must be Ship't by the 1st of September, in order to be at the Rendezvous in Virginia by the middle of this Month, agreeable to a Letter he had received from the Honble. Coll" Gooch, which was likewise read at the Board. On Consideration of all which, It is the Opinion of the Board, That the Governor, without delay, take up or Engage the necessary Transports for the Eight Companys raised in this Province, and that it is necessary for his Majestie's Service That his Hon' call the Assembly together again in a Weeks' time. And writs for that purpose being prepared, the same were read & approved. At a Council held at Philadelphia, July 29th, 1740. PRESENT: The Honourable GEORGE THOMAS, Esqr., Lieu' Governor. Thomas Laurence, Ralph Assheton, Thomas Griffitts, Esqrs. The Minutes of the preceeding Council being read & approved, His Hon" the Governor, laid before the Board A Message he had prepared to be sent to the Assembly; which was read at the Board & approved. Ordered that the Secretary carry the same, with the Extract therein mentioned, to the House of Assembly, forthwith. The Message is in these Words: "Gentlemen: "Two of your Members attended me yesterday in the evening, & informed me that the House was met pursuant to the Writts issued by me, and were ready to receive what I had to lay before them. To this I answered that his Majestie's Instructions were communicated to your last Meeting, and that I hoped you would with all possible Diligence proceed to make a Provision of victuals, Transports, and all other Necessaries agreeable to his Majestie's just Expectations for the Troops to be raised in this Province. "These his Majestie's Instructions, & the Instances of the Honble Coll Gooch, who is appointed by his Majesty to Command the Troops to be raised in North America, & to conduct them to the place of Rendezvous in the West Indies, obliged me to call you together again before the Time to which you adjourned your selves. Coll Gooch presses me earnestly to provide Transports, and put the Troops on Board in such Convenient Season that he may depend upon their being at the Capes of Virginia before the middle of September, that no disappointment may hereafter attend the Service. But how is this to be done if you do not speedily make the necessary Preperation for it? Should any Disappointment attend the Service, it must lye at your Door, since I have already performed my Part. The Troops are not, indeed, so Numerous as might be expected from a Province so populous, & on an Expedition which his Majesty and the whole British Nation have so much at heart, yet considering that no Encouragement hath been given here by the Legislature, I hope what is done will be accepted by his Majesty as an Instance of my Zeal for his Honour. "As seven Companies are already compleated in this Government, you will be able to make an Estimate of the Expence which will attend the Services expected by his Majesty. "The Honble Coll. Blakeney, his Majestie's Adjutant General, hath already remitted to me the Pay of as many of those Companies as were compleated when I wrote to him for it, and hath given |