one; and if we may judge by events, his sophistry has given the law ever since.

From what has been thus far recited, it is obvious, that the proprietary of Pennsylvania was of too little consideration here at home, to be of much use to the province either as a protector or advocate; and yet, that he was there so much above the level of his freemen and tenants, that, even in their legislative capacity confederated with the governor, they could hardly maintain their rights they were so many ways intitled to, against the artifices and encroachments of his emissaries.

As lord of the soil, is the light he is next to be considered in. The charter Mr. Penn obtained of the crown, comprehended a far greater extent of territory, than he thought fit to take up of the Indians at his first purchase.

And even in the very infancy of his colony, it was by act of assembly inconsiderately, because unconditionally, provided, that in case any person should presume to buy land of the natives, within the limits of the province, &c. without leave first obtained from the proprietary, the bargain and purchase so made should be void.

Rendered thus the only purchaser, he reckoned he might always accommodate himself at the Indian market, on the same terms, with what quantity of land he pleased; and till the stock in hand, or such parts of it as he thought fit to dispose of, were in a fair way of being sold off, he did not think it for his interest to incumber himself with more.

This happened sooner than he foresaw; though it must be acknowleged the founders of few cities appear to have had more foresight than he. The growth of his colony exceeded his most sanguine expectations; and, when successive new purchases came to be made, an inconvenience by degrees became manifest, which, perhaps, had not been thought of before, or if thought of, had not been guarded against.

Men who want a present convenience must not be oversolicitous about future contingencies; and, in general, we

chuse to be blind to such objects as we fear we have not strength enough to remove: he that is too much of a huckster often loses a bargain; as he that is too little so, often purchases a law-suit.

It was no hard matter to induce a belief, that occasional treaties with the Indians, under the pretence of keeping up the same brotherly correspondence which had been at first established with them, was a necessary measure of government; nor to prevail with the province, while this was understood to be the sole consideration, to bear the expense of them.

But when it appeared, as in the course of time was unavoidable, that a treaty and a purchase went on together; that the former was a shoeing-horn for the latter, that the governor only made the compliments, and the assembly the presents, &c. it could not but appear also, that there must be somewhat unfair in a procedure where one paid all the cost, and the other ingrossed all the profit; and that it was high time to put some stop to a practice so injurious to their understandings.

It is not indeed necessary in private life to bargain, that those who purchase for their own use and advantage, should pay the price out of their own pockets; but in public it is.

Persons who stand on the same ground will insist on the same rights; and it is matter of wonder, when any one party discovers folly or insolence enough to demand or expect any pre-eminence over the other.

Whereas prerogative admits of no equality; and pre-supposes, that difference of place alters the use of language, and even the very nature of things.

Hence, though protection is the reason, and, consequently, should be the end of government, we ought to be as much upon our guard against our protectors as against our enemies.

Power, like water, is ever working its own way; and wherever it can find or make an opening, is altogether as prone to overflow whatever is subject to it.

And though matter of right overlooked, may be reclaimed and re-assumed at any time, it cannot be too soon reclaimed and re-assumed.

That assembly then, which first discovered this lapse, or which, at the requisition of their constituents, first endeavoured to retrieve it, did no more than their duty; and the precedent they set cannot be too closely followed.

Again: the distinction made by Mr. Penn in the case of the quit-rents, between his two capacities of governor and proprietary, had an use, which even he, with all his shrewdness, did not perhaps advert to, when it was made; or at least expect it would be adverted to by any body else.

For the support of the governor and government, it must be recollected they were submitted to; for the support of the proprietary, when absent from his government, and when the government charge was otherwise supported, they were paid and as he and his agents went on, not only to reserve such rents out of all the parcels of lands they disposed of, but even to rise in their demands, as the value of lands rose; so it could not but follow, that in process of time these quit-rents would of themselves become an im

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mense estate.

When, therefore, the proprietary no longer acted as governor, nor even resided in the province, nor expended a fifth of his income there, could it be supposed, that this estate, thus obtained and thus perverted from its original purpose, should not be liable, in common with all other estates, to contribute to those charges it was first in the intire allotted for, and the whole amount of which it so many fold exceeds? No property in England is tax-free: no difference in the amount, or value of property, makes any difference in the duty of subjects: and nothing is more consonant to reason, than that he who possesses most, should contribute most to the public service.

And yet, for want of a specific clause to declare their property taxable, the present proprietaries insist on having it exempted from every public obligation, and upon charging the difference on the public, who, it cannot be too often re

membered, gave it in the first instance as the price of an exemption from all other taxes.

Clear, however, it will be made to every unprejudiced mind, that such a specific clause neither is nor ever was necessary; and, that in virtue of the inherent right, as well as the power and authority reposed in the freemen to tax themselves by ways and means of their own providing, all the property of the province lies indiscriminately at their discretion, subject to an equal taxation.

The paper currency of the province is next to be mentioned, and as that was out of prospect while the several frames of government were under consideration, it could not be comprehended in any of them.

The currency then was, and so continued to be, for many years after, gold and silver of any species by weight; at first in so irregular a manner, and at such uncertain rates, as gave the crafty many opportunities to prey upon the ignorant and necessitous; consequently was productive of much contention, embarrassment, and confusion.

By royal proclamation, in the fourth of queen Anne, the rates and values of all foreign coins current in the English colonies were limited and ascertained; and, in her sixth, the contents of the said proclamation were enacted into a law, which is still in force.

But the annual influx of these foreign coins, through what channel soever, or from whatsoever source, by no means answered the demands of an annual issue.

From England came all the manufactures consumed in the plantations; and all the returns they could make by their commodities sent thither directly, or the product of them at other markets, fell far short of the balance growing against them.

The defect, therefore, was to be made good in gold and silver, and was so as long and as often as any could be found. Every colony, in its turn, was, consequently, drained of its specie; and, as it is an impossibility known and avowed, for any trading community to subsist without some medium of circulation, every colony in its turn was obliged to have re

course to the same expedient of uttering provincial bills of credit, and making them answer, as far as possible, all the topical purposes of gold and silver; by which their several capitals were enlarged; the gold and silver became commodities that could be spared for exportation; and the merchants at home were paid in that gold and silver, without any provincial detriment.

Pennsylvania, however, if not the very last, was one of the last, which gave into it. It was not till the year 1722 (Keith, governor) that they made their first experiment; and even then they proceeded with the utmost caution and circumspection, in every step they took.

Knowing, for example, that the danger of depreciation was the only danger they had to guard against, and that nothing but an over quantity, defect of solid security, and of proper provision to recall and cancel them, could create that danger, they issued at first but fifteen thousand pounds: they made no loans but on land-security or plate deposited in the loan-office: they obliged the borrowers to pay five per cent. for the sums they took up: they made their bills a tender in all payments of all kinds, on pain of vacating the debt, or forfeiting the commodity: to keep them as near as possible on a par with gold and silver, they imposed sufficient penalties on all those who presumed to make any bargain or sale upon cheaper terms, in case of being paid in the one preferable to the other: they provided for the gradual reduction of them, by enacting, that one eighth of the principal, as well as the whole interest money should be annually paid. And it was not till they were convinced by experience of the utility of the measure, and the insufficiency of the sum, that they adventured to issue thirty thousand pounds more,

Such, moreover, was the benefit apparently resulting from it; such the inconveniency apprehended by every body from the scarcity of money sure to follow a too precipitate discharge of the loans; and such the apparent growth of the province during this interval, that, in the year 1729 (Patrick Gordon, governor) it was thought adviseable to encrease the provincial capital by a new emission of bills, to the amount