FOR several years I have been a silent spectator of the political conduct of a particular faction in this province; I have observ'd how they have ruled in most public transactions; have handled the pub­lic money, and disposed of our lives and fortunes at pleasure: I have seen this very faction raise the hue and cry about liberty, while they were stealing the poor remains of liberty from the mi­serable inhabitants of the province: And I have now observ'd, that while the injur'd and distress­ed are crying for redress, they are endeavouring to plunge us into new schemes, in order to amuse us; tho' the wound is still bleeding of which we have complain'd. In such a situation, silence would no longer become a friend of liberty and his country. And as our representatives are gone home to consult with their constituents, what is to be done in this conjuncture, I think we are now in a particular manner call'd upon to speak out, and tell what we take to be the origin of all our troubles, and what is the best way to cure them. For my part, I am clearly persuaded that Quaker politicks, and a Quaker faction, [Page 4] have involv'd this province into almost all the contentions, and all the miseries under which we have so long struggled.

There can never be a greater cause, perhaps no other cause of tumults and complaints in any government, than the people conceiving that un­just laws are imposed on them, and that mea­sures are pursued to which they did not consent. This is the very case with the majority of this pro­vince. They are depriv'd of their share in le­gislation; laws are made and impos'd on them, and measures are taken which they do not ap­prove, and yet cannot prevent, because they are not fairly represented in Assembly. This would be in any view, an intolerable grievance, as it deprives us of liberty; but that grievance is doubled, when we consider that it is contrary to an express stipulation in Charter, for which we left our native country, and came to this. howl­ing wilderness.—This grievance is the founda­tion of all our trouble, and has its origin from Quakers. You, Gentlemen, soon perceiv'd that the majority of your people were come over at first, and that all future increase of this province would be of other denominations. The govern­ment was in your hands, and that you might never loose it, you resolv'd to deprive all new Counties of their rights as Englishmen, and their rights by the Proprietor's charter: And you have so contrived it, that three Quaker counties may give laws to all the province, altho' it should [Page 5] contain fifteen counties. If you had not form'd new counties, the people now in those counties must have voted amongst you, and might have turn'd you out of power; but now you have made blanks of them for ever; and by this scheme they must ever wear such a yoke as a Quaker may please to shape for them. If the province is to be protected, the principal of Non-Resistance takes place, and we must protect your lives; but if money is to be rais'd, a very different principal takes place, and you will take care of our money. In this blessed situation we have jogg'd on, and call'd our selves Freemen. The poor sun-burned African comes to a more desi­rable slavery in this province than we; for his master is at least careful of his life; but ours diligently pursue such practices as bring us to de­struction.

In the beginning of the last French war, you would not grant so much as £. 10,000 for his Majesty's service; you had not started your quarrel with the Proprietor then, but you plead conscience, and that did as well. On account of such conduct the English parliament had like to've turn'd you out of the Assembly for ever; but your Friends in London interceded, and come over to persuade you to resign; and resign you did with great reluctance, just so as to make a sham majority of other denominations in the House: But some of the gentlemen that you chose would not go heartily into your measures, [Page 6] so you turned them out, and have put a great majority of Quakers in the Assembly again.^(a) However tho', with much trouble his Majesty obtained supplies; yet, like good engineers, you found a way to counter-plot him. It may not indeed become us who are slaves, to say this; but we may tell you, that his Majesty's Ge­neral,^(b) his Governor,^(c) and his Agent for Indian affairs,^(d) have said that you invaded the King's prerogative royal, and presume to treat with foreign princes, with whom we are at war; and act as moderators between the government and an independant people. From this conduct have flow'd those streams of innocent blood with which our frontiers have been drench'd for many years. Soon as war was proclaim'd with the Indians,^(e) you opened a correspondence with them, you created a King among them,^(f) and him you supported for several years as your Deputy-Ene­my to the Proprietor, and the poor inhabitants of our frontiers. You taught him to accuse the Proprietor.^(g) The Indians also say, and we have much reason to believe it, that you persuad­ed them to kill the frontier inhabitants.^(h) It is certain, however, that you falsly⁽ⁱ⁾ persuaded [Page 7] them that they were cheated; and that was the proper way to make them kill the people: You attended at public treaties; procured a se­cretary of state^(k) for your Indian King, and furnish'd him with whatever was necessary for his purposes and your's. When the Governor complain'd of this treasonable tampering and treating with Indians, you modestly told him that you would do it whether he was pleas'd with it or not; for you did not chuse to leave the Go­vernor and King's agent to manage the business without you.^(l) We need not tell what blood this has cost our province: The miserable Dutch and Irish on the frontiers have felt your scourge, and the groans of many a thousand widows and fatherless children which daily pierce the hea­vens, will tell it, as far as the Quaker-govern­ment in Pennsylvania shall be known.

In order yet to prove that you have abus'd the province, need I mention how the public money has been squandered away? You rais'd large sums, but always granted them too late, as tho' on purpose that little might be done. Was ever half a million of money so consumed as it has been in this province? It was not with our many troops; for a New-England colony has rais'd three times the number of troops, and yet never spent such sums of money. Does any man ask [Page 8] what is become of this money? Many a thou­sand pounds were spent in debating with the Go­vernor about things that you knew he could not grant; many thousands as bribes to G—r D—, to obtain iniquitous laws, and to pervert justice; many a thousand to support your friends, in order to maintain your faction; many a thou­sand to murtherers, and his Majesty's enemies; and a great many thousands where Quakers alone can tell, tho' it may not suit them to tell: But hardly ever was a farthing given to support the naked and perishing frontier inhabitants; to whom the Indians that you fed, had left nothing but the miserable life. And in this present In­dian war, it is notorious, that great sums of mo­ney were spent last summer, while the most ef­fectual endeavours were used to order matters so as to render no effectual service to the poor and defenceless inhabitants. It is no wonder, as a Prime Minister lately informed us, that ‘His Majesty sees through such artifices.’ ^(m)

In this manner you have tyranniz'd over the good people on the frontiers of this province.— If you might avail your selves of a friendship and trade with the Indians, no matter what mi­series we suffer'd; if you might help the Indians to recover their lands from the Proprietor, no matter what became of the people who lived on those lands: And suffer me to observe, this con­duct [Page 9] of yours, and not the price of lands, was the true cause of thousands leaving this province. The Scots and Irish were rode by main force; and the unhappy Germans, being ignorant of our constitution, have been blindly led into your schemes, and patiently groan'd under the bur­then, while their wives, their children, and all were perishing by fire and hatchet.

But when you find that the province is to be enslav'd no longer; the frontier counties, almost to a man, insist on having justice done them; the Hibernian winches beneath his yoke; the German, having lost every thing else, begins to pray that you would spare his life:— In short, the voice of misery and distress is no longer to be stifled, now you propose to lead us another dance.

The Proprietor is no more; by 26 very de­cent and very modest Resolves of the House, you conceive him as dead as Harry the Eighth. So the helm must be clap'd hard to lee, and we shall be about in a jerk. Nothing else than a King's government will now suit the stomach of a Quaker politician: Not that you all love his Majesty neither, for some of you would not wil­lingly give six-pence to support his cause; many who now push for a King's government, have never paid a farthing of a tax for the King's use, but as their goods have been destrain'd. You would not take up arms for him, when his do­minions were at stake; not because you are [Page 10] mightily averse from shedding blood; for we ne­ver saw people have a better Goû for that busi­ness than some of you had, when his Majesty's subjects were like to come in your way. But whether it proceeds from a love to his Majesty, from a hatred of the Proprietor, from some hopes of keeping the people under a Quaker-yoke for ever by this scheme, or from a desire to throw down the whole fabric together, if you must fall,—whatever is the motive,—you are de­termin'd on having a King's government.

But as our Assembly adjourn'd without grant­ing any supplies, in order to consult their con­stituents (of whom you are at present no incon­siderable part) whether we shall petition his Majesty to take this government under his im­mediate care, &c. And as we find you are for­warding this petition with great vigour, we would humbly beg to know whether it might not be consistent with Quaker politicks, to in­struct your Representatives to prepare the Supply Bill first, so that it may pass; and petition af­terwards, if necessary. If the Bill be unjust, they may protest against the oppression, and give the Proprietor as many sur-names as they please; but at the same time raise troops for the security of the miserable inhabitants; his Majesty will not be the least more unwilling to take care of us, upon hearing that we have rais'd money for the support of his subjects, tho' we should do it un­der oppressive circumstances; I should think that [Page 11] such an action would rather recommend us to his Majesty; unless perhaps he might think that while we were acting wisely, we had no occasion for new Governors. For my part, I can see but one objection to passing the Supply Bill, under those circumstances, and that is, the extraordi­nary expence to which it will put the province.— If the Proprietor's located uncultivated lands be taxed at only £. 5 per hundred acres, it will re­duce his share of the present supply about £. 110 lower than it should be, according to the Assem­bly's plan: That whole sum will fall upon the inhabitants of the province, which will be almost the third part of a farthing for every inhabitant, and all we should get in return for this great ex­pence, would be protecting the lives and fortunes of the frontier inhabitants: For, suppose we should grant no supplies during the season, we may compute that the Indians would kill about 900; make slaves of about 1100; and, wound, banish, and reduce to beggary about 13000:— So you see all that we get by the extra expence of £. 110, is the prospect of saving fifteen thou­sand of his Majesty's subjects from beggary, cap­tivity and death; which would make each one of them cost us about seven farthings. But it may be a question with some, whether the life of a Dutch or Irish man, be worth so much?—

But if you will not urge the Assembly to pass the Supply Bill, I beg that you would at least send another messenger to the Indians; acquaint [Page 12] them that we hope by next winter to import a new Governor, and then we shall look them in the face; but in the mean time, as we are not in tune for making any defence, it will not be fair to meddle with us; but if they insist on conti­nuing the murther and ravages which they began a few days ago, tell them that we have computed their chance, and on the condition that they will not wound, plunder and banish any more for the season, we shall agree quietly to give up 3000 frontier inhabitants, whom they may kill, and eat if they please; for some of your writers ⁽ⁿ⁾ have made it plain, that it's no matter what the Indians do with a man after they have kill'd him.—By this bargain with the Indians, you will save from banishment, and perhaps dying with hunger, about 13000 innocent people; which, we apprehend, would be as great a proof of your loyalty, as you have given for many years.—The thing is practicable enough; there are Indians in town, whom you may send on this message; and if the Governor should not ap­prove of it, you may send without his approba­tion, as 'tis said you lately did.

We are all this time taking it for granted, that the Proprietor is to be kick'd off the Stage; but let us now see what has been his fault: He desires that his located, uncultivated lands, be tax'd at five per cent: And is there not a very express decree to that purpose? It seems unac­countable [Page 13] to me, why the Proprietor should be blamed for what the King in Council has done; and still more surprising, that we should abuse him for a thing that we have already approv'd by our Agent; if the decree was unjust, should not we have complained then; have represented the great Difference of the Prices of Land, and the singular goodness of the Proprietor's Land? It is strange that we should have to quarrel in this province, at the expence of so much Mo­ney, and danger of so many lives, about a Thing that should have been settled in England long ago. We conceive that we have spent about ten thousand pounds already, upon an embassy to London; but if that sum was not enough to get business well done, let us send again, and spend three times as much: We seem to be pre­paring for it; but in the mean Time, don't let us avenge our blunders on the Proprietor. Sup­pose that he has done wrong, in selling his Lands too dear, or in reserving some of the best to himself, how will the Matter be mended by geting a King's Governor? Shall we then make laws to force the Proprietor to take up the worst Land? (for he has a right to some) Or shall we force him to sell his property at whatever price we choose to give? Shall we prevent him from leting his friends have land? Or, shall we force him to refund the fourscore thousand pounds which we gave to his Governors? Is he also to refund the thousands which Governor D— re­ceiv'd [Page 14] as bribes, to injure the Proprietor? And besides that, is the new Governor, and all the retinue and dependants that may follow him, to [...]ed upon the air? If this be the scheme, pur­sue it on; but if these things be impracticable, I cannot see how we shall get our present condi­tion mended.

I expect to be told, I am not well affected to his Majesty, as you said of some Presbyterians t'other day at the State-House, because they would not plunge themselves blindly into your measures: I suppose, however, they are very in­different about such malicious accusations. In spite of all you can say, his Majesty will judge of your loyalty, and theirs, according to the sub­stantial proofs you give of it, in time of danger; and not by your idle gasconade at a State-house. What under the heavens did your speaker mean, by telling us that the Proprietor has made us all slaves, and will presently bring our heads to the block? Can the Proprietor take away our lives, or our liberties? Have we not got a valuable Charter? Don't we make our own laws, and sit as juries to determine upon life and pro­perty, according to these laws? The danger is from another quarter; you are the persons that have made us slaves; you have depriv'd us of charter-privileges; have made laws for us, and have offer'd to deprive us of juries, so that you might have the power to spare our lives, or take them away, at pleasure. Did the Proprietor [Page 15] ever attempt such a thing? You ascribe all our contentions and trouble to the Proprietor, with the same justice that you do our slavery: Your non-resisting principle began our troubles, and your obstinacy continued them. You refus'd to grant his Majesty supplies in Governor THOMAS's time, but the Governor was obliged to take the men; and through obstinacy you sunk ten or twelve thousand pounds. What share of blame had the Proprietor in that affair? When you had lost your hold in the corporation of this city, the Governor would not assist you to be aveng'd of your successors; for which you never forgave him. Was the Proprietor to be blam'd for that quarrel? In the beginning of the late French war, you plead conscience, or unbelief, or something worse, and would grant no sup­plies. Was the Proprietor to blame there?— But the Proprietor urged you then so hard, to come into some measures of defence, that you never forgave him since. And as you were af­terwards obliged to grant supplies, you resolv'd to manage your cards so as to give him but little ease.

And we contend, that if our Assembly had, ten years ago, consisted of men sincerely dis­posed to serve his Majesty and their country, by defensive measures, we might have avoided most of all our quarrels with the Governor; and should at the same time have sav'd this province one hundred and fifty thousand pounds, at least, and many thousand lives.

[Page 16]How many thousand pounds did it cost us to get the Indians to charge the Proprietor with all our trouble? Even to accuse him with the high­est fraud,—of producing false records. But when the matter was enquir'd into, it was plain that the accusations were false, and that you had set the Indians on.

Sir W—M J—N, in his report of these proceedings, mentions several Quakers who had corresponded with the Indians, and been guilty of several seditious and treasonable practices: Yet you are still disposed to fling all our calami­ties on the Proprietor. It is notorious that the Pro­prietor looses greatly by the depopulation and slavery of the frontier counties; but you are the persons who gain by it; for the fewer the new counties are, the more likely the Quakers are to hold their power in this province. Yet we are told^(o) that the Proprietor has made slaves of us all, and will presently (make us lords, and) bring us to the block. A curious politician is this same orator of your's.— We are told that the change is easy, from Proprietary-Slavery to Royal-Liberty. It is a pity the change were not easy, from Quaker-Slavery to British-Liber­ty. For my part, I cannot see what you mean, by talking as if we were not already under his Majesty's government:— We conceive that we are under it; and are ready to spend the last drop of blood, rather than submit to any other Sovereign: That's more than you can say.— [Page 17] The Proprietor is our Governor under the King, and he nominates a Lieutenant-Governor for his Majesty's approbation. Can this circumstance ever be mended? It is impossible his Majesty should be acquainted with the many thousand of­ficers who are in his service. Even in a King's government we must expect to have a Governor whom some body has recommended to his Ma­jesty. My Lord Some-body has a friend, who has a cousin, who needs a place, or stands in some other body's way: Him he recommends to the prime minister, &c. and so we may come by a Governor. And the question now is, Who shall recommend our Governor to his Majesty; shall the Proprietor? who must naturally be de­sirous of the growth of this province; or must some Nobleman or other? who, perhaps, knows and cares little about it.

We have had one trial already of a Governor the Proprietor did not chuse to recommend, i. e. Governor D—Y. We know he oblig'd you much: And a few such Governors would do for us all.—But the change of a Governor is not the only thing we are to expect; if we must have a change, we shall have a thorough one. For if we get a new government, the Parliament must alter our Charter first, and then we shall have new privileges and new laws. We know what we have, and we can hardly get better, but we may get worse, when it will be too late to repent. It is very probable that we shall soon have stamp-offices, [Page 18] customs, excises and duties enough to pay, we don't want to pay tythes into the bar­gain. —Our present Charter is a very good one, if you would suffer the people to enjoy it: But you seem resolv'd to enslave us, either in one go­vernment or another. You privately instructed your Agent in England, to make terms for you. You were preparing, like the unjust steward, that in case you should be turn'd out of power in this government, you might immediately plunge us into a new government, where you should reign again: And doubtless a Quaker's finger would then be heavier than his loins have been hitherto. The answer that you got from Eng­land, was that you might be able to get the go­vernment changed, ‘The Quakers still retain­ing their power.’ A very comfortable an­swer! —But if the people of this province suf­fer you thus to lead them blind-fold into a new system, they will very well deserve to be rid.— You have the power at present of making any laws for us that you please, and you would re­tain the same power in the new government, for your scheme is not to grant the frontier-counties any Representatives before this change. Thus, bound hand and feet, we are to be delivered up!

If you are really desirous to do this province a service and make the people happy, your only way is to grant them their privileges, let them be fairly represented in Assembly; and then when they are free men, if they desire a change [Page 19] of government, let them petition; but sooner by no means.— Suffer me to say, that when there are petitions before the Assembly from two or three thousand frontier inhabitants, and more daily coming in, praying for redress of grievan­ces, that at such a time to push for a new go­vernment, instead of letting the people be re­dress'd; such conduct, I say, and at such a time, will admit of constructions very dishonorable to your society.

It is cruel to deprive people of their liberties, and when they cry for justice, immediately to raise a counter-cry, and set the province in a ferment about another affair, lest the groans of the injur'd should be heard. Therefore, instead of listening to new schemes, I am resolv'd, and hope that every lover of this province and of liberty, will resolve to listen to no proposals for a change of government, until justice is done to the in­jur'd, the oppress'd and groaning inhabitants of our frontier-counties.—

P. S. In the next we purpose to shew how little regard the Quakers have paid to decency or truth; and how they have not once spoke to the true subject of com­plaint, in all the pamphlets they have wrote.