Belief, that no Service from the Proprietaries to the Province, will ever be fuffered to pats without grateful Acknowledgments and proper Returns,

lo Of the proprietary Right to a Monopoly of Land, whether from the Crown or Affembly, they, in Anfwer to the Eleventh Article, wave all Difpute; it being every Way conclufive alike, That thofe in whofe Favour fuch Monopoly was created, ought, at leaft, to bear a Part of the Expence neceffary to • fecure them the full Benefit of it.'

Laftly, having already given the concluding five Articles of the Proprietary Paper in the Intire, it is but reasonable to fubjoin the intire Anfwers, which were as follow. To wit.

12. In the twelfth Paragraph, three Things appear fomewhat extraordinary to your Committee. 1. That the Proprietaries fhould deny that Treaties for Land are made at lefs Expence on Account of ' provincial Prefents accompanying them; which we think any difinterefted Judge would at least allow to be probable. 2. That they fhould fay the laft Purchafe was made on no other Account, but purely to fave the Province the Expence of a Prefent; as if they had no Occafion to purchafe more Land of the Indians, or found no Advantage in it. 3. That to prove prove fuch Purchases were not the cheaper on Account of provincial Prefents accompanying them, they fhould give an Inftance in which, they themfelves fay, the Purchase was the dearer for Want of 'fuch Prefents. If Purchafes are dearer to the Proprietaries when no provincial Prefents accompany them, does not this clearly confirm the Affertion of the Affembly, that they are the cheaper when there are fuch Prefents? And does it not prove what the Proprietaries deny ?*

13. It appears by their thirteenth Paragraph that the Proprietaries think the Part they voluntarily fub

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mit to bear, and expect always to bear, of public Expences, is greater than their Proportion, equitably laid, would amount to. If this be fog and they are, as they fay, far from defiring to avoid contributing to any public Expence which it is rea"fonable they fhould bear a Part of, altho" their Eftate is not by Laro liable to be taxed;" your Committee are at a Lofs to conceive, why they fhould refufe, “To "enter into any Agreement for the Payment of any par-' "ticular Proportion of Indian or other public Expen

ces," when fuch Agreement might fave them Money, and is propofed to prevent Diffatisfactions, and to preferve Union and Harmony between them and the People; unless it be to fhew their utter Contempt of fuch Union and Harmony, and how much they are above valuing the People's Regard.

The Charge on former Affemblies, that they neglected the Defence of the Proprietaries City, your • Committee cannot but think unkind, when it is • known to the World, that they gave many thousand • Pounds during the War to the King's Ufe, befides paying near three thousand Pounds at one Time, to make good the Damages done to the Masters of Servants, by the irregular and oppreffive Proceed ings of the Proprietaries Lieutenant; and that their not providing Cannon to defend the City was not from Neglect, but other Confiderations fet forth at large in the printed Proceedings of thofe Times, • needlefs now to be repeated. At the fame Time it · may be remembered, that tho' the Defence of the Proprietaries City, as they are pleafed to term it, by Batteries of Cannon, was more their Intereft (we will not fay Duty) than any other Perfons whatfoever, and they now reprefent it as a: Things foneceffary, yet they themselves really neglected, and even difcouraged it; while fome private Gentlemen gave Sums nearly equal to that they mention, and many contributed vaftly more, confidering their

< Circumstances, by which means thofe Batteries were not only compleated in Seafon, but the Defence of both Town and Country in that Way provided for ; whereas this boafted Affiftance of four hundred Pounds worth of Cannon, was fent, like Venetian Succours, after the Wars were over. Yet we doubt not, but the Proprietary who fent them has long fince had the Thanks of thofe who received them, tho' we cannot learn that they ever were favoured with any from him, for what they did and expended in Defence of his Share of the Province Pro•perty.'

14. The fourteenth Paragraph of the Proprietaries Answer feems calculated merely for the fame Defign with which they charge the Reprefentation, viz. to amufe the weaker Part of the People.-If they are really difpofed to favour the Drinkers of • fpirituous Liquors, they may do it without a Law, by inftructing their Lieutenants to abate Half the • Licence Fees, which would enable the Retailers to ⚫ fell proportionably cheaper; or to refufe Licences to more than half the prefent Number of public Houses, which might prevent the Ruin of many Families, and the great Increafe of Idlenefs, Drun• kenness, and other Immoralities among us.

15.

In Return to the good Refolutions expreffed by the Proprietaries in their fifteenth Section, your • Committee hope that future, as well as paft Affemblies, with likewife endeavour to make the public Good the Rule of their Actions, and upon all Occafions confult the true Intereft and Honour of the proprietary Family, whatever may be the Sentioments or Conduct of any of its particular Branches. To this End, we think the honeft and free Remarks contained in this Report, may be more conducive than a thousand flattering Addreffes. And we hope, that when the Proprietaries fhall think fit to reconfider this Matter, they will be perfuaded,

• that

that agreeing to an equitable Proportion of Expence will be a good Means of taking away one • Handle of Diffention from " Men of warm uneafy "Spirits, if fuch fhould ever unhappily procure them"felves to be elected."

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16. Yet if the Proprietaries are really defirous of preferving an Union and Harmony between themselves and this People, we cannot but be furprized at their laft Paragraph, whereby they endeavour to cut off the Affemblies Accefs to them, in • Cafes where the Anfwers received from their Deputies may not be thought agreeable to the public• Good. No King of England, as we can remember, has ever taken on himself fuch State, as to refufe perfonal Applications from the meaneft of his Subjects, where the Redrefs of a Grievance could not be obtained of his Officers. Even Sultans, Sophies, and other Eaftern abfolute Monarchs will, it is faid, fometimes fit whole Days to hear the Complaints and Petitions of their very Slaves; and are the Proprietaries of Penfylvania, become too great to be addreffed by the Keprefentatives of the • Freemen of their Province? If they muft not be reafoned with,, becaufe they have given Inftructions, nor their Deputy because he has received them; our Meetings and Deliberations are henceforth ufelefs; we have only to know their Will, and to obey."

To conclude; if this Province muft be at more than two thousand Pounds a Year Expence, to fupport a Proprietary's Deputy, who fhall not be at Liberty to use his own Judgment in paffing Laws [as is intimated to us in the fourteenth Section of the Answer we have been confidering] but the Affent must be obtain'd from chief Governors, at three thousand Miles diftance, often ignorant or mitinformed in our Affairs, and who will not be applyed to or reafoned with when they have given Inftruc⚫tions, we cannot but efteem thofe Colonies that are under the immediate Care of the Crown in a much

more

more eligible Situation: And our fincere, Regard for the Memory of our firft Proprietary, must make us apprehend for his Children, that if they follow the Advice of Rehoboam's Counsellors, they will, like him, abfolutely lofeat least the Affections of their People. A Lofs, which however they affect to defpife, will be found of more Confequence to them than they feem at prefent to be aware of." The Affembly returned in October, for the Remainder of the Year 1753 and to laft till October 1754, being compofed of nearly the fame Perfons as the laft, met with the fame Difpofition, and proceeded on the fame Principles..

To have a fufficient Currency was, as we have seen, the great provincial Point; and from the Facts already ftated, it is fufficiently clear, that the ProprietaryConcurrence therewith was not to be obtained, but upon fuch Terms as even Silver and Gold could never be worth. The Loan-Office, which was in the Hands of the Affembly, was ftill confider'd as an over-Ballance for the Land-Office, in the Hands of the Proprietary, tho' they never came into Competition, and no Benefit could any Way refult to the Province, but the Proprietaries were fure to have their Share of it. What Encouragement the near Prospect of a War furnished to either; and what Ufe was made of it; and at whofe Door the Obstructions given to the public Service are to be laid, will beft be deduced from the Sequel.

TO

With the Confideration of the State of their Commerce and the accumulated Proofs refulting therefrom, that with the Increase of their Currency, the Trade of the Province, as well by Importations from England as the Exportations of their own Product, had amazingly increased, the Affembly opened their Seffions in February 1754; and, taking in alfo the Confideration of their Currency with it, came to the following unanimous Refolutions. To wit.

That it is neceffary that the Paper-Money of this Province fhould be re-emitted for a farther Time. • That

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