the Honour to reprefent, that it will be duly applied to the Purposes for which it was granteds.

The Governor, however, diffatisfied ftill, becaufe disappointed and defeated, firft evaded the Affembly's Demand of the Reftitution of their Bill according to Cuftom, and then refused it, faying, "That it was a Bill of fo extraordinary a Nature, that he thought it his Duty to lay it before his Majefty, and fhould keep it for that Purpose."

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t. He also informed them by Meffage of Intelligence he had received, That the French had fitted out Fifteen Sail of the Line, with which they were fending out 6000 Land Forces, and that the King's Minifters were not in the Secret of their Destination; yet as they were bound for America, and could not be ignorant that Penfylvania was both a plentiful and defenceless Country, he thought it his Duty to call upon them to enable him to put it into a Pofture of Defence, by establishing a regular Militia, and providing the neceffary Stores of War.

This Meffage was dated April 3d; and yet on the 8th following he advised them to make a fhort Adjournment, because he was to receive the Governors Shirley and De Lancey, that Evening, and was to accompany them to Annapolis, there to confer with General Braddock, and the Governors, Sharpe of Maryland, and Dinwiddie of Virginia after which, it was probable, he should have feveral Matters to lay before the Affembly: But, as a parting Stroke, he called upon them to make fome Provifion for Scarroyady betore mentioned, and his young Men: Which they did

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not without some wholfome Hints, That they had been long enough already a Charge to the Province; That there were proper Lands where, and it was a proper Seafon when, they might both hunt, and plant their Corn, by which they might provide for themselves; and that as to the Indian Treaty they had been réquired to make Provifion for, the Governor could not expect they could come to any immediate Rofolusion,

till they had received the neceffary Information concerning it.

StuIt was in this Manner they parted. The Adjournment they made was only to the 12th of May and yet the Governor both complained of that Term as too long, and faid he fhould call them fooner if there was Occafion.-When they met, they gave the Governor Notice as ufual, and that they were ready to receive whatever he had to lay before them. The Governor's Anfwer was, That he had nothing to lay before them at prefent but the German Billa Bill, that is to fay, recommended by the Governor himfelf, from the notorious Neceffity of it, for preventing the Importation of German or other Paffengers or Servants in too great Numbers in one Veffel, and for preventing the Spreading of contagious Diftempers, imported by or together with them, &c.-This had been prepared by the Houfe at their laft Sitting, and fent up to the Governor; had been returned with Amendments by him; some of these Amendments had been adopted; and then the Bill had been again fent up, with a Defire from the Houfe, That the Governor would be pleased to pafs the fame as it then flood. This he had not been pleafed to do, but on the contrary had referred it to the Confideration of his Council, by whofe Advice he had been determined to adbere to his Amendments; under which Declaration it was now again fent down to the Houfe; who having appointed a Committee to draw up a Meffage to the Governor, representing the Inconveniencies to be apprehended from the faid Amendments, and agreed to chat Meffage, on the Report of the fame, came to `a Refolution of adjourning on the Morrow to the first of September. be. stav

*

Today this Meffage was of the most pathetic, ra¿tional and interesting Kind, is to say the leaft that can be faid of it: It explained the Evil to be remedied, and the Confequences to be apprehended from a Continuance of it, in the most affecting Terms: It de

monftrated, That the Amendments infifted upon by the Governor were calculated to deprive it of all its Vigour and Utility: That in Effect the Province was to be as much expofed to the fame Nufances and Dangers as ever; and what gave the moft Offence of all, by the following Paragraph the Inhabitants were led to the very Source of fo crying a Grievance. Grievance.gator

"

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By our Charters, and the Laws of this Province, the whole legislative Power is vefted in the Governor and the Reprefentatives of the People; and as we ⚫ know of no other Negative upon our Bills but what the Governor himself has, we could wish he had 'been pleased to have exercised his own Judgment upon this our Bill, without referring the Confideration of it to a Committee of his Council, most of them fuch, as we are informed, who are, or have ⚫ lately been, concerned in the Importations, the Abuses of which this Bill was defigned to regulate and re• drefs.'

Now, which ever Party was in the Right, can it be faid, that the King, or the Supply for his Service, or any one of the Points in the preceding Seffion agitated, had any Concern in the, Rife, Progrefs, or Iffue of this Controverfy? Has it not been already observed, to the Honour of the Affembly, how cautiously and prudently they had avoided whatever could tend to widen the Breach on any of thefe Heads Is it not fresh before us, that, even for Want of Provocation, the Governor himfelf was forced both to part with them, and meet them again in Peace, And yet having declared as we have feen, That he had nothing to communicate to them, confequently nothing to afk of them, other than what related to this German Bill; did he take the Hint from hence to treat them by Meffage in the following extraordinary Manner, viz. last to someqxd ads

' Gentlemen, When I fummoned you together on the 17th of March laft, I was in Hopes you would bring with

you

you Inclinations to promote the public Service, by granting the Supplies expected by the Crown, and by putting this Province into a Pofture of Defence; but I am forry to find, that neither the Danger to which this Country ftands expofed, nor his Majefty's repeated and affectionate Calls, have had any Weight with you.

The Bill you fent me for ftriking Twenty-five thoufand Pounds, was of a more extraordinary Nature than that I refufed my Affent to in the winter Seffions, as it gave General Braddock a Power over no ⚫ more than Five thousand Pounds, and fubjected the remaining Twenty Thousand, and all the Surplus of <the Excife, for eleven Years to come, to the Dif pofition of fome of the Members of your Houfe, and to the Affembly for the Time being.

The offering Money in a Way, and upon Terms that you very well knew I could not, confiftent with 'my Duty to the Crown, confent to, is, in my Opinion, trifling with the King's Commands, and amounts to a Refufal to give at all; and I am fatisfied will be seen in this Light by my Superiors; ✩ who, by your Bill abovementioned, which I fhall lay before them, and by the Whole of your Conduct fince you have been made acquainted with the Defigns of the French, will be convinced, that your Refolutions are, and have been, to take Advantage of your Country's Danger, to aggrandize and render permanent your own Power and Authority, and to deftroy that of the Crown. That it is for this Purpofe, and to promote your Scheme of future Inde pendency, you are grafping at the Difpofition of all public Money, and at the Power of filling all the Offices of Government, especially thofe of the ReAvenue; and when his Majefty and the Nation are at 'the Expence of fending Troops for the Protection of thefe Colonies, you refufe to furnish them with Provifions and neceffary Carriages, tho' your Country is full of both, unless you can, at the fame ¿ Time, encroach upon the Rights of the Crown, and

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increase your own Power, already too great for a Branch of a fubordinate dependant Government, fo remote from the principal Seat of Power.

You have, Gentlemen, by a Vote of your own Houfe, without the Confent of the Government, empowered a Committee of your Members to borrow Money upon the Credit of the Affembly, and to difpofe of the fame to certain Ufes in that Vote mentioned. You have alfo, by Votes and Refolves of your own Houfe, created Bills or Notes of Credit, made payable to the Bearers thereof, to the Amount of Fifteen thousand Pounds, which you have iffued in Lieu of Money, and they are now circulating in this Province, without the Approbation of the Government. You have denied me Accefs to your Journals, and refufed me Copies of your Minutes.And you have printed and publifhed the Secretary of State's Letters to me fignifying his Majefty's Commands, not only without my Confent, but contrary to an Order I had iffued to the Printers, exprefly forbidding the Publication of thofe Let

ters.

Whether you have a Right to the Exercife of fuch extraordinary Powers, his Majefty and his Minif ters will judge, before whom it is my Duty to lay your Proceedings as foon as I can come at them, and to whom they will appear the more dangerous, as neither they nor you can know but a future Af fembly may use thofe Powers against the Government by which they are protected.

While I had any the moft diftant Hopes of your coming into Meafures that might promote the public Service at this critical Conjuncture, I fuffered fome Parts of your Conduct to remain unobferved upon, but as I am now convinced, from the whole Tenor of your Behaviour, and from your Meffage of Yefterday, notifying your Intentions to adjourn till September next, without granting the neceffary Supplies, that you have no Defign to contribute any 'Thing towards the Defence of this Country, I

6

thought