fuch uncertain Rates, as gave the Crafty many Opportunities to prey upon the ignorant and neceffitous; confequently was productive of much Contention, Embarraffment and Confufion.

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 afcertained; and, in her Sixth, the Contents of the faid Proclamation were enacted into a Law, which is still in Force.

But the annual Influx of thefe foreign Coins, through what Channel foever, or from what foever Source, by no Means answered the Demands of annual Iffue.

From England came all the Manufactures confumed in the Plantations; and all the Returns they could make by their Commodities fent thither directly, or the Product of them at other Markets, fell far fhort of the Ballance growing against them.

The Defect, therefore, was to be made good in -Gold and Silver, and was fo as long and as often as any could be found. Every Colony, in its Turn, was, confequently, drained of its Specie: And, as it is an Impoffibility known and avowed, for any trading Community to fubfift without fome Medium of Circulation, every Colony in its Turn was obliged to have Recourfe to the fame Expedient of uttering Provincial Bills of Credit, and making them anfwer, as far as poffible, all the topical Purposes of Gold and Silver By which their feveral Capitals were enlarged; the Gold and Silver became Commodities that could be fpared for Exportation; and the Merchants at Home were paid in that Gold and Silver, without any Provincial Detriment.

-་་ ་

Penfylvania, however, if not the very last, was one of the laft, which gave into it. It was not till the Year 1722 (Keith Governor) that they made their firft Experiment; and even then they proceeded with the utmoft Caution and Circumfpection, in every Step they took.

G 3

Knowing,

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 folid Security, and of proper Provifion, to recall and cancel them, could create that Danger, they iffued at firft but 15,000 pounds: They made no Loans but on Land-fecurity or Plate depofited in

the 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 poffible on a Par with Gold and Silver, They imposed sufficient Penalties on all thofe who prefumed to make any Bargain or Sale upon cheaper Terms, in cafe of being paid in the one preferably 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 fhould be annually paid-And it was not till they were convinced by Experience of the Utility of the Measure, and the Infufficiency of the Sum, that they adventured to iffue 30,000 Pounds

more.

་རཔ་་

Such, moreover, was the Benefit apparently refulting from it; fuch the Inconveniency apprehended by every Body from the Scarcity of Money fure to follow a too precipitate Difcharge of the Loans; and fuch the apparent Growth of the Province during this Interval, that, in the Year 1729 (Patrick Gordon Governor) it was thought advifeable to encrease the Provincial Capital by a new Emiffion of Bills, to the Amount of 30,000 Pounds, and to render the Reཔ་བབསཔ payments ftill eafier to the Borrowers by reducing them to one Sixteenth a Year..

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Again: In the Year 1739 (George Thomas Governor) Occafion was taken from the Difcoveries repeatedly made, That thefe Provincial-Bills had been counterfeited, not only to call them all in, in order to their being replaced with others of a new Impreffion, &c. but also for the Reasons before given, to

iffue the further Sums bf 11,110 Pounds, five Shillings (which, added to the Sums already in Circulation, made their whole Capital amount to 80,000 Pounds) to be current for fixteen Years.

Laftly: Finding, That the like, or a greater Sum, in Cafe the Province fhould grow ftill greater, would in all Probability be always neceffary, the Affembly moreover provided, That fo faft as any of the former Borrowers fhould repay their Principal-Money, the Trustees of the Loan-Office might re-emit the fame Sums during the faid Term of fixteen Years, on the fame Conditions, either to them or others, without any new Authority for that Purpose."

And, upon the Whole, it is to be obferved, That the Affembly, in establishing this Paper-Currency; in taking upon themfelves, as Reprefentatives of the Province, to appoint the Truftees and other Officers charged with the Adminiftration of it; in providing, that the faid Truftees and Officers fhould be refponfible to the Province for their Conduct in it; and in referving to the Affembly, for the Time being, the Difpofition and Application of the annual Product, met not with any fuch Objection from their Governors, or the Proprietaries, or the Miniftry here at Home, as could extite the leaft Apprehenfion of any fuch Conteft, as might either embroil the Province, affect the Intereft, or incommode the Government of Ait. 29005 994

It is true, the Proprietaries and their Agents did, from the Beginning, difcover a Repugnance to this Meafure, till they found themfelves confidered in it: "Like the Snail with his Horns, they had no Senfations for the Province but what reached them through the Nerves of Power and Profit. Profit, though ranked laft, they confulted firft; and when poffeffed of one Point, they thought they might wrangle more fuccefsfully for the other.

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If the Widow Penn acquiefced in the Paper-Money Acts paffed by Keith, the reprimanded him for paffing

4

them i

them; and in a Manner forbid him to pafs any

more..

Gordon (Keith's Succeffor) having over and over again acknowledged his Conviction of the Conveniencies arifing to the Province from a reasonable Increase of their Paper Currency, gave the Affembly to underftand, in fo many Words, That nothing but the Gratification of the Proprietaries in the Affair of their Quit-Rents would prevent the Oppofition they were otherwife to expect to the Act then before them in England,

By fpecial Contract with the feveral Purchasers, thefe Quit-Rents of theirs were to be paid in SterlingMoney And, as it was impoffible, by any Provision whatsoever, to make the Provincial Currency anfwer the univerfal Purposes of Gold and Silver, fo no Provifion could hinder thefe Metals from having the Preference of Paper. To convert Paper into Specie or Bullion could not of Courfe but be attended with fome Coft And hence the Proprietary Remittances could not but come shorter home. When, therefore, by the 80,000 Pounds Act, Paper was to become the Provincial Eftablishment, they would not allow their Share of the Provincial Advantage refulting from it (which was, at leaft, equal to That of the Province, as will hereafter become apparent) to be what it really was, an adequate Confideration, but infifted, not only on having the Difference between Paper and Specie or Bullion made up to them, but that the Difference of Exchange should be made up to them alfo; or, lin other Words, that the Pounds Sterling due to them in: Penfylvania, fhould be paid to them Nett in England. '{

In fhorts the Sum of 1,200 Pounds was in this Manner extorted from the Province, together with an & Annuity of 30 Pounds, to continue during the Cire culation of thofe Bills; which will ferve to fhew, at: leaft, That the Province could not be more ftubborn, upon other Occafions, than the Proprietaries were felfith' on This.

There remains yet another Topic to be touched upon, which will require a more tender Confideration from the Reader than perhaps it may always find.

Mr. Penn and his Followers were of that Sect, who call themselves by the amiable and levelling Name of Friends; and who, having been at firft opprobriously called by that of Quakers, have been forced, by the joint Tyranny of Impofition and Cuftom, to answer to it ever fince.:

Of Thefe, the Majority carried along with them a Scruple better accommodated to the forming of a Society and preferving it in Peace, than to the protecting it from those Infults and Depredations which Pride and Luft of Dominion have at all Periods committed on their weaker Neighbours; and from the Vifitation of which, no System of Politics, Morals, or Religion, hath as yet been able to preferve Man

kind. ››

All their Views, Purpofes and Endeavours were narrowed, therefore, to the Forms and Ufes of Civit Life and to link the feveral Parts of their own little Community in the most expedient Manner together.

Nor, indeed, had They at that Time any other Object before them: Alike to wage Warvagainst any Power in Alliance with England, and to corre-s fpond with any Power at War, with Her, was ex-v prefly forbid both to the Proprietary and the Province by the Fifteenth Section of the Royal Charter. a.

The French were too feeble in America and too remote from: Pensylvania to be then apprehended. The Provinces adjacent were Branches from the fame Root, and refponfible for their Conduct to the fame Laws; and the Indians, from the very Beginning, had been confidered and treated as equally the Sons of one common. Father. 2 god. 16

Land wanted by us wasa. Drug to them. The Province, then to be allotted, peopled and cultivated, had not been wrefted from them by Violence, but purchafed for a fuitable Confideration. In the Contract

between