THE Design of this Paper is by no Means to promote Faction, or to reflect on Mr. Norris, either in his publick or private Capa­city; or to offer the least Disrespect to his Person. But as that Gentleman seems to have appealed to the Publick, by Printing the Speech he pronounced in Court the 11th Day of September last; and as Infal­libility is not to be claimed by the wisest or greatest Man on Earth, (especially in any free Nation) the Author would fain hope at least for Mr. Norris's Pardon, if he cannot merit his Thanks, by this honest Attempt, to convince him and the World, of some very material Mi­stakes, in the two Cases he has there stated, as well as of some severe Reflections on the Characters of Sir William Keith, and his Council, which (it is humbly conceived) their Conduct never deserved, on that, or any other Occasion.

NO Man can be more throughly perswaded of that ready Deference and Submission which is due to all the legal, and regular Powers of Government: At the same Time it is presumed, the odious Name of Faction does not so properly belong to them, who promote the Cause of Liber­ty, by all dutiful and modest Ways, and who, when they complain of Oppressions, are angry with Things, and not Persons; as to those, who pretended to fear Excess of Power, while it was not communicated to themselves, and evidently shew by all their Actions, they think it can never be high enough advanced, when they are in the Administration.

THE two Cases, if I am not entirely mistaken, were really thus.

Sir WILLIAM KEITH was arrested in an Action of the Case, by M. Fitzwilliams, as Attorney to a Gentleman in Virginia. His Lawyer did not plead to a repealed Act, but only read some Parts of it, that by comparing it with the Act in Force, the Sense of the latter (which I am very much misinformed, if it was not made industriously obscure, by the Gentleman intrusted to draw it up) might be more clearly ex­plained and determined.

Mr. BROWNE also arrested Mr. Isaac Miranda, for violently de­taining from him his Commission of Judge of the Admiralty; (which up­on his leaving the Province, in Order to embark for England from Ma­ryland, he had in Confidence committed to his Custody,) but not before he had made many repeated Demands thereof, and at last formally pro­tested against him, by Mr. Ralph A [...]eton, Notary Publick for the City of Philadelphia.

THE Act, as has been already observed, is conceived in very ambi­guous and doubtful Terms; and there are so many Exceptions to the main Design of it, as explained by the Court, in their Determination of the two Cases above mentioned, that it is presumed, the Sense of the Law­makers, by which some Benefit was designed to be conferred on Freehold­ers in general, must have been their chief, if not only Direction in all their Deliberations about it.

THE Quotation from the Act in Mr. Norris's Speech, is allowed to be genuine, to which therefore the Reader is referred; and if he was, or had the Court been of Opinion, that the Exceptions in it are so ma­ny, and so general, as to destroy the precedent enacting Clauses and had accordingly held Miranda as well as Sir William to Bail, it could not reasonably be censured, either as rigorous or partial.

[Page 2] BUT, not to oppose the Sentiments of a Private Person to the le­gal Decision of a Court, it surely will not be thought a Reflection on either the Capacity or Candor of the Bench, to offer with all the Regard and implicite Obedience which this Paper never meant to dispute with it, whether the Prevention of Fraud, the previous Demand, together with the Party's being worth in a Freehold, no Ways mortgaged, more than the Value or Debt demanded, be not the three Points the Act seems principally to regard; neither can it in Justice be any greater Offence to observe that the Reason of Mr. Prothonotary's being so exactly diligent in his Duty in one Case, that it might be supported by the Court, and so entirely remiss in the other, that it might be dismiss'd, (as it was) with Charges against Mr. Browne, remains a Mystery, which is in no Part of Mr. Norris's Speech or Supplement revealed.

THERE was another Case before this Court, which Mr. Norris is pleased to omit, tho' it occasioned as much Speculation, and was gene­rally thought altogether as extraordinary as either of the other two; I mean that of Mr. John Browne of Maryland. He had out of Friendship to his Neighbour, Mr. John Johnson, indorsed a Bill payable to the latter, sold it in Town, and payed Mr. Johnson the Money: This Bill it seems, was afterwards protested, and Mr. Browne coming to Town, by the In­stigation of Mr. John Moore, was arrested for it. He immediately offered to pay it, upon a proper Discharge; but the Bill had been sent into Ma­ryland, and there satisfied some Months before, by Mr. Johnson himself. Mr. Browne then moved in Court for an immediate Trial, and tho' no Cause of Action appeared, he was refused it, and held to special Bail, which rather than be at the Trouble of giving, he deposited the Money in the Prothonotary's Hands, for this very individual Bill, that had been thus already discharged. This is not mentioned with the least View of aspersing the Court, whose Rules might possibly require this strict Procedure, which however will be allowed a Misfortune to Mr. Browne, who must be at the Fatigue, and Expence of a long Journey, to attend another Court, when he was ready to pay what was demanded, to any one that could legally acquit him; as certainly no one could for what had already been complied with.

THE Supplement comes now to be considered; which contains the first Bill that was brought into the House, for the Regulation of Elections, which with the concluding Paragraph, is intended as a Refutation of three Positions, asserted in two Papers, that have incurred Mr. Norris's High Displeasure: And with how little Reason he accuses the Authors with Contradiction, and Inconsistency with themselves, will very soon appear.

THE First Print alledges, The said Bill was only a Politick Scheme, to obstruct the Freedom of Elections, in having the Inspectors nominated by the Justices, and consequently by the Governour and Council.

THE other Print says, That in the Bill two Justices were added to the Sheriff, as Judges of the Elections, to have the sole Nomination of Inspectors, &c. And Thirdly affirms, That the ascertaining the Number of Inspectors, and laying them under a Qualification, was from first to last, unanimously conceded to by the whole House, without one dissenting Voice.

TO shew the two Inferences drawn from the Nature and Design of the First Bill, were solid, proper, and judicious; and could proceed from nothing but a tender Regard for their Country's Welfare, in the Gen­lemen who made them, it will be necessary, to give the Secret, and true History of that Bill, of which I am informed, by a Member of the House, of unquestionable Honour and Veracity, that the Copy printed in the Supplement, is by no means genuine; for the Bill as first brought in, was so very shocking to a great Majority of the House, that the Com­mittee [Page 3] who drew it up, thought fit to suppress it; and tho' many Mem­bers insisted, that it might be lodged with the Clerk of the House, and to have Copies, their Request could never be obtained.

THE Occasion of bringing in the first Bill, and enacting the present, was plainly this;

THE Inspectors of Elections were formerly under no Oath, or Legal Qualifications, which so important a Trust most justly required: Therefore, some great and designing Men, under the Pretence of reforming this Abuse, had calculated this first Bill, to turn the Course of Elections in a new Chan­nel; and it is appealed to the Memory of every individual Member, if the Purport of the first Bill is not truly related, in the two Papers afore­said, and to the whole World, if it is not somewhat surprising, that Mr. Norris should be able to procure without Doors, a Copy of a Bill, that was denied to the Members within.

BUT to take the Bill as Mr. Norris has given it us, does it not evi­dently appear, that whereas the Sheriff was before, sole Judge of Elections; here are Justices and Aldermen added, at least to ASSIST; which being a Word of very dubious Signification, when it came to be explained by Judges, who claim the Authority of expounding all our Laws in the last Resort, their Skill might probably give it such a Meaning, as the House never intended, and such, as would too well admit of the Inferences, so severely censured by Mr. Norris.

AS to the third Assertion; admitting the latter Paper had said, the Bill had passed Nemine Contradicente, as it only does, that the ascertain­ing the Number of Inspectors, and laying them under a Qualification, did not meet with one dissenting Voice: So immaterial and slight a Mistake certainly does not amount to what is termed an astonishing Falshood.

BUT it is plainly Mr. Norris that has mistaken one Proposition for another; and whether this proceeded from Inadvertence or Design, to have the Occasion of accusing his Adversary with Falshood, is not very easie to decide.

THE whole Matter then, concerning the Regulation of Elections, may be reduced to a very narrow Compass, and is really no more than these two Points;

1. The House designed very wisely to lay the Inspectors under a Qua­lification; and to that End, ordered a Committee to bring in a Bill; who very much exceeding their Instructions, it for that Reason miscarried; and tho' the Committee, as is before recited, thought fit to suppress their Ori­ginal Draught, and refuse the Members a Copy; yet some of them after­wards had the Assurance to complain of the Inconveniencies which atten­ded the People's Privilege of choosing Sheriffs annually; and moved for Leave to bring in a Bill to put that Choice under a better Regulation.

2. The laying the Inspectors under a Qualification, was never oppo­sed by one Member from the Beginning to the End; tho' a Clause or two in the present Bill were debated, so that it could not be said to pass Nemine Contradicente.

UPON the whole, to consider the Daring Motion just before menti­oned, and take the Bill as printed in Mr. Norris's Speech to be the same as was first brought in, it will be evident to the meanest Capacity, that the main Scope of this Bill was not agreeable to the first Pretence of it; viz. the laying the Inspectors under a Qualification; but truly, to have them nominated by the Justices, and consequently by the Governour and Council; and that this was a most sure and politick Scheme, to obstruct the Freedom of Elections, shall be clearly demonstrated.

THE Inconvenience of having the Judges dependent on the Court, and liable to be removed at Pleasure, was by long Experience, found so inconsistent with the Freedom of an English Constitution, that some Years since it occasion'd there, an Act of Parliament, whereby all the Judges are constituted for Life, and cannot be removed from their Of­fices, [Page 4] but in Cases of Male Administration. Whether such a Regulation is practicable or expedient, in the Colonies of America, or in this Pro­vince in particular, may possibly become the Wisdom of the respective Legislatures to discuss. At present, it is notorious here, that the whole Magistracy may be modelled, and changed by the Governour's Will alone.

THIS Evil our first Proprietor most prudently foresaw, and the ex­cellent Ballance he contrived against this Excess of Power, by leaving his Governour only the Confirmation of the People's annual Choice of their Sheriffs, an Officer, on whom our Fortunes, Lives and Liberties so immediately depend, is an equal and undeniable Instance, both of his Wisdom and Humanity; and whoever would attempt to deprive us of this invaluable Blessing, stands plainly convicted of the highest Ingrati­tude to the Memory of their great deceased Benefactor, as well as of the blackest Conspiracy against the Liberty and Happiness of their Country. The Influence that is still left the Governour on the Sheriff, has been so very apparent in a late Case, as to make it perfect Madness to remove the Weights into the opposite Scale, which Experience, the best Teacher, shews to be at present sufficiently heavy.

THE Observation is as true, as common, that so much Prejudice and improper Byass is incident to the very best Compositions of human Na­ture, that when the least Way is once given towards it, Men are ever more successful, in imposing on themselves, than others: How other­wise is it possible to imagine, that Mr. Norris, who is very justly di­stinguished for the Exactness and Politeness of his Manners, should be capable of deliberately treating a Gentleman, (who was so lately his Go­vernour, and to whom Clamour and Calumny it self can object no one Action, in an Administration of Nine Years,) with the utmost Contempt in Print; and so openly striking at the Fortune of another, who was ne­ver known to provoke him, either in Court, or out, but has constantly behaved to him on all Occasions, with the greatest Esteem and Respect. It were Injustice to pass by in Silence the many useful Services the lat­ter has already done the Publick, or the very early Progress he has made in his Profession, which leaves no Room to doubt, that when Things shall happen to be under a more equal Management, he will very soon obscure the Tinsel Merit of his only Rival; who, tho' he seems at present to be much followed, yet his real Worth may come hereafter to be better understood.

THE Writer would fain hope, that nothing irritating or imposing, can be imputed to this Paper; and he assures Mr. Norris, that Truth is so absolutely the End of all his Enquiries, that no one can be readier to point out any Er­ror he may have committed, than himself is to acknowledge and atone for it, to the very utmost of his Power. He allows a greater Spirit of Party and Divi­sion has appeared this last Year, than in the whole preceeding Nine; but would by no Means despair of the publick Safety, even in the Hands to which it is at present committed: And as a Cure for that Gentleman's melancholy Apprehen­sions, we shall conclude with a diverting Story, the Application of which is left to the serious, or facetious Reader.

A Mountebank had drawn a huge Assembly about him: Among the rest, a fat unweildy Fellow, half stifled in the Press, would be every Fit crying out, Lord! what a filthy Crowd is here! Pray, good People, give Way a little! Bless me! what a De—l has raked this Rabble together? What a plaguy squeezing is this? Honest Friend, remove your Elbow. At last, a Weaver that stood next him could hold no longer; A Plague confound you (said he) for an over-grown Sloven! and who (in the De—l's Name, I wonder, helps to make up the Crowd half so much as your self? Don't you consider (with a P-x) that you take up more Room with that Carcass than any Five here? Is not the Place as free for us as for you? Bring your own Guts to a reasonable Compass (and be h—g'd) and then I'll engage we shall have Room enough for us all.