A LATE elaborate Author tells us, ‘The Design of Colonies is to trade on more advantageous Conditions, than could otherwise be done with the neighbouring People, with whom all Advantages are reciprocal. It has been established, that the State which has founded the Colonies, alone shall trade in the Colonies; and that from very good Reasons; because the Design of the Settlement was the Extension of Commerce, not the Foundation of a City, or a new Empire. Thus it is still a funda­mental Law of Europe, That all Commerce with a foreign Colony, shall be regarded as a mere Mono­poly, punishable by the Laws of the Country. It is likewise acknowledged, that a Commerce established between the Mother-Countries, does not include a Permission to trade in the Colonies; for those always continue in a State of Prohibition.’

‘The Disadvantage of a Colony that loses the Li­berty of Commerce, is visibly compensated by the Protection of the Mother-Country, who defends it by her Arms, or supports it by her Laws. From hence follows a third Law of Europe, That when a foreign Commerce with a Colony is prohibited, it is [Page 4] not lawful to [...] Seas; except in such Cases as are excepted by Treaty.’

‘The great Distance of our Colonies, is not an In­convenience that affects their Safety; for if their Mother-Country, on which they depend for their Defence, is far distant, no less distant are those Na­tions, by whom they may be afraid of being conquer­ed. Besides, this Distance is the Cause, that those who are established, cannot conform to the Manner of living, in a Climate so different from their own; they are obliged, therefore, to draw from the Mother-Country, all the Conveniencies of Life.’

‘The Carthagenians, to render the Sardinians and Carsicans more dependent, forbid their planting, sow­ing, or doing any Thing of the like Kind, under Pain of Death.’ So far my Author.

We are told, this Continent was first discovered to the Europeans, by Sebastian Cabot, a Genoese Adven­turer, who lived at Bristol. In the Year 1497 he was sent by King HENRY the Seventh, to make Discove­ries in the West-Indies; Columbus's Successes, five Years before, having set all the trading Nations in the World, upon Expeditions into America, in Hopes of sharing the Treasure of the new discovered World, with the Spaniards.

The 25th of March, 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh ob­tained Letters Patent from Queen ELIZABETH, to pos­sess, plant, and enjoy, for himself and such Persons as he should nominate, themselves and Successors, all such Lands, Territories, &c. as they should discover not in the Possession of any Christian Prince: And this Company was the first of that Kind that was established in Europe.

A Settlement was carried on with much Zeal and Unanimity. The Form of Government consisted of a Governor and twelve Councellors, incorporated by [Page 5] Name of The Governor and Assistants of the City of Raleigh, in Virginia: But Sir Walter, that great Pro­jector and Furtherer of those Discoveries and Settle­ments, being under Trouble and Disgrace at Court, after an infinite Expence, besides the Hazard and Loss of many Lives, gave over all Thoughts of prosecuting those Designs. And the King, in 1606, did incorpo­rate two Companies in one Patent, to make two sepa­rate Colonies; the first to Sir Thomas Gates, &c. Adventurers of the City of London, with Liberty to begin their first Plantation and Seat, at any Place upon the Coast of Virginia, between the Degrees of 34 and 41; and for the second Colony, to Thomas Hanham, &c. of the Town of Plymouth, with Liberty to begin their first Plantation or Seat, at any Place upon the Coast of Virginia, between the Degrees of 38 and 45. But (as the Author of The History of Virginia, by a Native of the Place, observes) they were no sooner set­tled in all this Happiness and Security, but they fell into Jarrs and Dissentions among themselves; which continuing, the Virginia Adventurers, were under the Necessity of petitioning his Majesty for a new Patent, with Leave to appoint a Governor. In Consequence of which, they re-settled all their old Plantations that had been deserted; made Additions to the Number of the Council; and called an Assembly of Burgesses from all Parts of the Country, which were to be elected by the People, in their several Plantations. These met the Governor and Council in May, 16 [...]0, and sat in Con­sultation in the same House with them: And this was the first General Assembly that ever was held there. This, however, had but little Effect; for the same Author tells us, That ‘the fatal Consequences of the Company's Mal-administration, cried so loud, that King CHARLES the First coming to the Crown, had a tender Concern for the poor People that had been [Page 6] betrayed thither and lost; upon which Consideration he dissolved the Company in 1626, reducing the Country and Government unto his own immediate Direction, appointing the Governor and Council himself, and ordering all Patents and Process to issue in his own Name, reserving only to himself, an easy Quit-Rent of Two Shillings for every Hundred Acres of Land: He likewise confirmed the former Methods and Jurisdictions of the several Courts, as they had been appointed in the Year 1620; and was pleased to establish the Constitution to be by a Governor, Council, and Assembly.’

This, however, was the first regular Form instituted for the Government of the Colonies, and has been the Plan for every other of his Majesty's Colonies.

His Majesty and his Ministers having the Prosperity of this Colony at Heart, and with great Reason, con­sidering the vast Addition it brought into the Revenue; not less, it is computed, than Twenty Million, since its first Settlement; all due Attention was given to the Legislature, and each kept strictly within its own Sphere of Action: And Matters went smoothly on till the Year 1676, when Bacon's Rebellion happened. Who­ever has read the History of those Transactions, will easily see how far the Assembly interested themselves in that Affair, which cost the Crown and Colony upwards of £. 200,000, and brought the Colony almost to an End. The Words of my Author are, ‘The King, when he was informed of this Rebellion, was so far from hearkening to the Pretences of Bacon's Assem­bly, that he ordered a Squadron of Men of War to be fitted out, and a Regiment of Soldiers to embark on board it, for Virginia: But Bacon was dead be­fore Sir John Berry arrived with his Squadron; and his Followers returned every one to their own Homes, with Fear and Trembling. The Governor having [Page 7] made some false Steps in the Affair, as it is supposed, the Matter was not so strictly enquired into.’

Thus you have the Fate of this Colony; First, in the Dissolution of the Company, for their Abuse of the Powers they were entrusted with; and next, by being almost brought to Destruction, by the Counte­nance the Assembly gave Bacon. As to their Conduct since, it shall be taken Notice of hereafter.

The Northern Colony, or Plymouth Adventurers, escaped a Dissolution, by their Friends at Court, but were not less guilty of the Abuse of their Powers; as may appear from the following Letter; upon which I shall make no further Comment, than to request the serious Perusal of it, by those our pretended Patriots; — let them consider in Time, what a perverse, conti­nued, and obstinate Disobedience to his Majesty's In­structions and Commands, may bring upon us. We have, I doubt, but few Friends at Court, and fewer, I doubt, at the Board of Trade: How, indeed, can we expect it, from our Behaviour, after so many gentle Admonitions from both? But to the Letter, which is in very few People's Hands.

First, Their Loyalty was called in Question.

Secondly, They were said to be factious in the Prin­ciples of Religion.

Thirdly, It was said they were a divided People.

Fourthly, They were charged with carrying disre­spectfully towards his Majesty's Commissioners.

Fifthly, They were blamed for a great Omission touching baptizing Infants.

Sixthly, They were accused of Rigidness to such as differed from them in Matters of Religion.

[Page 10] Seventhly, Of grasping after Dominion, more than belonged to them.

This appears from a Letter to the same Gentleman, dated May 1 [...]th, 16 [...]3.

How this Affair ended, I have not been able to learn from any Part of their History. Most People, how­ever, know what Amendments in their Constitution, from Time to Time, have been made, and for what Reasons: The last was thought severe; but the Al­ternate was given them, either to take it upon those Conditions, or they were to have no Charter.

Numerous Instances of the Encroachments and A­buse of Power in our Colony Assemblies might be gi­ven, which I shall wave; what the Event will be, is hard to determine: The many Complaints, however, that have gone, and daily going Home, upon this Su [...]ect, have created Impressions with his Majesty, his Ministers, and the Parliament, not at all in our Fa­vour. Our Neighbour Colony is, at present, in the Hands of the Potter; in what Shape they may turn off the Wheel we shall soon know. My Intention in this, upon the Whole, is no more, than to convince, if possible, our Assembly that they are in the Wrong, and do make a bad Use of their Power; in which if they persevere, it will infallibly bring our Constitution and Privileges into Danger. This, at least, is my Way of thinking. As this is a Subject of no small Importance to me and mine, as well as, I conceive, to us all, I hope a little Warmth (should it so happen) will be pardoned.

Previous to this it may be necessary, as few of our Assembly-men have had the Advantage of a Liberal Education, or the Opportunity of Books to inform themselves of the Nature of Government (especially that of our own,) to present them with a short Sketch of it, which I accidentally met with; and is as follows:

[Page 11] ‘The Design of Civil Government is to secure the Persons and Properties, and Peace of Mankind, from the Invasions and Injuries of their Neighbours: Whereas, if there were no such Thing as Govern­ment amongst Men, the stronger would often make Inroads upon the Peace and Possessions, the Liberties and the Lives of those that were weaker; and univer­sal Confusion and Disorder, Mischiefs and Murthers, and ten Thousand Miseries would over-spread the Face of the Earth.’

‘In order to this general Good, viz. the Preserva­tion of the Persons of Men, with their Peace and Possessions; Mankind have been led by the Princi­ples of Reason and Self-Preservation, to join them­selves into distinct Civil Societies; wherein, as by a Compact, expressed or implied, every single Person is concerned in the Welfare and Safety of all the rest; and all engage their Assistance to defend any of the Rest, when their Peace or Possessions are invaded; so that by this Means, every single Member of the Society has the Wisdom and Strength of the Whole engaged for his Security and Defence: To attain this End most happily, different Societies have chosen different Forms of Government, as they thought most condu­cive to obtain it.’

‘The most regular Mixture seems to be that where­in the chosen Representatives of the People have their distinct Share of Government. The Nobles, or great Men, have their Share; and a single Person, or the King, has his Share in this Authority; and all agreed upon by the whole Community. This is called a mixed Monarchy; and herein these three Estates of the Kingdom, are supported by mutual Assistance, and mutual Limitations; not only to se­cure the common Peace, the Liberty of the Nation from Enemies, but to guard it also from any dange­rous [Page 12] Inroads that might be made upon it, by any of these three Powers themselves.’

Such is the Happiness of Great-Britain, under the King, Lords, and Commons.

‘Here let it be noted, That whosoever has the Power of making Laws, whether the King, Nobles, or the People, or al these together; yet still the par­ticular Execution of these Laws, must be committed to many particular Magistrates or Officers; and they are usually fixed in a Subordination to one another; each of them fulfiling their several Posts, throughout the Nation, in order to secure the general Peace.’

‘In all Forms of Government there is, as before hinted, a Compact or Agreement between the Go­vernors and the Governed, expressed or implied, viz. that the Governors shall make it their Care and Bu­siness to protect the People in their Lives, Liberties and Properties, by restraining or punishing those who injure, attack, or assault them; and that the Gover­ned submit to be punished, if any of them are found guilty of those Practices; and also that they oblige themselves to pay such Homage, Honours and Taxes; and yield such Assistance to the Governors, with their natural Powers, and their Money or Pos­sessions, as may best obtain the great Ends of Go­vernment, and the common Safety of the whole Society.’

‘For this Purpose, therefore, each Person, by his Compact, willingly abridges himself of some Part of his original Liberty or Property, for the common Service of the Society of which he is a Member: And he engages himself, with his Powers and Capa­city to defend and preserve the Peace, and Order and Government of the Society, so long as he and his Fellow-Subjects are protected by it, in the Enjoy­ment of all their natural Rights and Liberties. The [Page 13] very Reason of Man, and the Nature of Things, shew us the Necessity of such Agreements’

‘From this View of Things it appears, that tho' no particular Form of Government, besides the antient Jewish, could claim divine Right, yet all Govern­ment is from God, as he is the Author of Reason and Nature, and the God of Order and Justice: And every particular Government which is agreed upon by Men, so far as it retains the original Design of Government, and faithfully preserves the Peace and Liberties of Mankind, ought to be submitted to, and supported by the Authority of God, our Creator, who, by the Light of Reason, hath led Mankind in­to Civil Government, in order to their mutual Help and Preservation, and Peace.’

‘In this Sense it is, that the two great Apostle, Pe­ter and Paul, vindicate Civil Governors, and demand Subjection to them, from Christians. Rom. xiii.1. &c. Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers; for there is no Power but of God. The Powers that be, are ordained of God: Whosoever, therefore, resist­eth the Power, resisteth the Ordinance of God; and they that resist, shall receive to themselves Damnation, (i. e. are condemn'd;) for Rulers are not a Terror to the good Works, but to the evil. 1 Pet. ii.13. Sub­mit yourselves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's Sake; whether it be to the King, as supreme, or to Governors, as to them who are sent by him, for the Punishment of evil Doers, and the Praise of them that do well. What St. Paul saith, is, ordained of God, i. e. in general; as Civil Government, or Civil Pow­ers. St. Peter calls it the Ordinance of Man, i. e. in particular; as to the several Forms of this Govern­ment, which Men agree upon or appoint: And, in­deed, God has left to Men to agree upon and appoint the particular Forms: And so far as any of them [Page 14] pursue and attain this End, they must be submitted to, and supported as an Ordinance both of God and Man.’

What Connection there is between this System, and the Constitution of Great-Britain, let those acquainted with it, judge: — A Constitution envied and admired by every State and Power on Earth; and which No­thing has been able to injure, or ever will be able to injure, but those intestine Encroachments and Divisions amongst themselves; and while the Ballance of that Power, lodged with the three Branches, is kept in a due Poise, will last as long as Time lasts. Of this glorious System we are but a very faint Resemblance; if any at all, it is the most disagreeable Part of it, that, viz. of encroaching upon the two upper Branches of the Legi­slature; in this we have shewn a good Deal of Dexte­rity. But more of this hereafter.

We are no more than a little Corporation, in the same Manner as a Mayor, Aldermen, and Common-Council are impowered, by his Majesty's Letters Pa­tent, to form Rules and Orders for the Government of a City, in its several Wards and Districts; even so; tho' in somewhat a higher Degree, and more extensive Sphere; but all to the same Purpose is a Governor, Council and Assembly, to govern a Colony, in its se­veral Counties and Precincts, by the same Power: Every Law or Rule made, that is not peculiarly adapted to their respective Communities, has no Meaning; and every Law made, that in any Shape clashes or inter­feres with the Laws of Great-Britain, are, ipso Facto, void. By this I understand, that the Liberties and Properties of British Subjects abroad, established and cemented by the Treasure and Blood of our Ancestors, Time out of Mind, is not left to the Caprice and Hu­mour of a Colony Assembly.—O Fortunati! I would not, therefore, advise our worthy Assembly, or their [Page 15] Leaders, to profane those sacred Terms, either to frighten or mislead the Ignorant. Our Liberties and Properties are out of their Reach; they have Nothing to do with them: Every Subject within the King's Dominions, the meanest as well as the greatest, have a Right to the common Law of England, and the Great Charter, established and confirmed, as Sir Ed­ward Coke tells us, by two and thirty Acts of Parlia­ment, and is only declaratory of the fundamental Grounds of the common Law, and no more than a Confirmation or Restitution of the Privileges which were previously claimed and due thereby; and all this we were intitled to, before Assemblies had a Being, and which our Posterity will enjoy when they are no more. I would, therefore, advise those Gentlemen, for the Future, to drop those parliamentary Airs and Stile, about Liberty and Property, and keep within their Sphere, and make the best Use they can of his Majesty's Instructions and Commission, because it would be High-Treason to sit and act without it. This is our Charter; and we may, if we please, be extream­ly happy in the Privileges we enjoy from it; that alone, of having it in our Power to tax ourselves, is invalu­able; of this, I doubt, we shall never be truly sensible, till, by some Mis-conduct of our own, we come to lose it. If we abuse, or make a wicked Use of his Maje­sty's Favours, we are, of them, but Tenants at Will; we only hold them during Pleasure, and good Behaviour. In most Corporations, where there appears an Abuse of Power or Neglect of Duty, a Quo Warranto is neces­sary to set Things to rights; in our Case it is not wanted, tho', (as that great Lawyer Lord Chief Justice Hale, has remarked, in Relation to the Island Jersey) we are Parcel of the Dominions of the Crown of England; we are no Part, nor ever were, of the Realm of England, but a Peculiar of the Crown; and by a natural and ne­cessary [Page 16] Consequence, exempted from parliamentary Aids. Thus you see our Dependence and the Reason of it, is altogether upon his Majesty's Grace and Fa­vour. If we don't approve of our present System of Government, let us pray for a better: In the mean Time, let us not contemptuously treat those Favours the Crown has been pleased already to confer upon us. That this is the Case, is but too obvious.

The Constitution, or Frame of Government the Crown has been pleased to favour us with, is by a Go­vernor and Council of his own Appointment; and to which, by his Directions, are added the Representa­tives of the People; of which his Majesty's Commis­sion and Instructions are the Basis. This is an Emblem, or faint Representation of the British Constitution; and will, with equal Propriety, answer all the good Purpo­ses intended, if we have but Sagacity enough to make a proper Use of it. Here are three Branches in the Legislature, whose Powers are sufficiently distinguish­ed and pointed out to them; and while the Ballance is duly kept up, that is, while each of the Branches keep candidly and strictly within its own Sphere of Action, without encroaching, infringing, or maliciously endea­vouring, for any particular Ends, to vilify or lessen the Powers of any other of the Branches, we may conclude ourselves in a happy Way; on the Contrary, if we see any one of the Branches, assuming to itself any Part of that Power, originally lodged, and intended by his Ma­jesty to be lodged with the other Branches, and scram­bling vehemently, out of all Measure and Character, for more Power than ever was intended it, you may conclude, that every Step taken for that Purpose, is a Nail in our Coffin, and tends to an Alteration, if not a Dissolution of the Constitution. That each, in their Turns, have attempted this, is beyond Dispute. Those Attempts from a Governor, can only be by Fits and [Page 17] Starts, out of Pique or Prejudice to Particulars; they cannot long subsist: He may be guilty of some few Acts of Oppression; but considering he has not only the other two Branches of the Legislature to check him, but even his own Commission and Instructions, nay, even the whole Body of the Laws of England, and one particularly adapted to the Purpose, which makes him accountable in Westminster-Hall, for any Mis-conduct here. There Mr. Lowther was called to an Account for Acts of Oppression, and was like to have payed severely for it, had he not screened himself by the Act of Grace. He was allowed, upon a regu­lar Complaint, to come home to defend himself; at the Conclusion thereof, he was committed by the Council-Board, till he entred into a Recognizance with Sureties [...] £ 20,000; and was also ordered to be prosecuted by the Attorney-General. From hence I would infer, that no Governor, from any Acts of his qua Gover­nor, can indanger our Constitution. From a Council we have not much to apprehend, even if they were to join any one of the other Branches, provided the third keeps it's Ground. The Council are in the Nature of Moderators between the Extreams, without whose Concurrence they have no Power to act: Should they, however, neglect their Duty, or abuse the Powers they are intrusted with, they are accountable to his Majesty, and a Suspension soon puts an End to their Being.

From an Assembly, if we value our Constitution, we have every Thing to dread; they have the [...] on their Side, which greatly preponderates in the Bal­lance, and will be doing (I wish I could say fairly) what every other monied Person does; that is, turn it to their own particular Advantage; and in this Kind of Traffick our Assemblies have, of late Years, shown great Dexterity, even so far as greatly to lessen that [Page 18] Dignity and Power, so essential to Government, lodged with their Superiors, the Governor, and Council; and to add to our Misfortune, there is no Remedy, at present, in Being, to cure this Mischief, but either a great Al­teration, or a total Dissolution of the Constitution; dissolving an Assembly is none, but the most effectual Method to continue the Mischief: This we may learn, in some Measure, from an Advertisement of their own, or from some of their Friends, of the 17th of February, in the Gazette, in these Words, ‘Notwithstanding the utmost Efforts of the Court Party had been exerted, yet our two late Members carried the Elections by a very great Majority; and thus, I am persuaded, it will be, should we have an Election every Month in the Year, for we are determined not to be worried out; and we know our Interest too well, to be de­ceived either by Paper of Parchment.’ I cannot conceive what this Advertisement refers to, unless it be to the King's Commission, which, if I mistake not, is on Parchment, as the Instructions are on Paper.

Thus it is evident, a Dissolution is no Cure for the Abuse of Power in an Assembly: And this brings to my Mind an Observation of a noted Author, on this Point, viz. ‘That when the Ballance of Power is duly fixed in a State, Nothing is more dangerous or un­wise, than to give Way to the first Steps of popular Encroachments; which is usually done, either in Hopes of procuring Ease and Quiet from some vex­atious Clamour, or else made Merchandize, and merely bought and sold. This is the breaking into a Constitution to serve a present Expedient, or supply a present Exigency; the Remedy of an Empirick, to stifle the present Pain, but with certain Prospect of sudden and terrible Returns. When a Child grows easy and content by being humour'd; and when a Lover becomes satisfied▪ by small Compliances, with­out [Page 19] further Pursuits; then expect to find popular Assemblies content with small Concessions. If there could one single Example be brought, from the whole Compass of History, of any one popular Assembly, who, after beginning to contend for Power, ever sat down quietly with a certain Share; or if one Instance could be produced, of a popular Assembly, that ever knew, or proposed, or declared what Share of Power was their Due; then might there be some Hopes, that it were a Matter to be adjusted by Reasonings, by Conferences, or Debates: But since all this is ma­nifestly otherwise, I see no Course to be taken, in a settled State, but a steady, constant Resolution, in those to whom the Rest of the Ballance of Power is intrusted, never to give Way so far, to popular Cla­mours, as to make the least Breach in the Constitu­tion, through which a Million of Abuses and En­croachments, will certainly, in Time, force their Way.’

‘Health, in the natural Body, consists in the just Proportion of those Salts, Sulphurs, and other Prin­ciples which compose our Fluids: If any of them be­comes predominant, or too much weakned, Sickness ensues: And in order to restore an equal Ballance, we are frequently obliged to have Recourse to a Re­medy, which, to a Man in Health, would prove a slow Poison.’

‘Most of the Revolutions of Government, in Greece and Rome, began from the Abuse of Power in those selected for the Preservation of the People; which generally ended in the Tyranny of a single Person. This shews the People are their own Dupes.’

‘The Romans chose Legislators to pick up the best Laws wherever they were to be found, and to digest them into Order; and during the Exercise of their Office, suspended the Consular Power: But they soon affected kingly State, destroyed the Nobles, and oppressed the People.’

[Page 20] ‘The Ep [...]eri in Sparta usurped the absolute Authori­ty, and were as cruel Tyrants as any in their Ages.’

‘The Athenians chose four Hundred Men for the Administration of Affairs, who became a Body of Tyrants: They murdered, in cold Blood, great Numbers of the best Men, without any Provocation, for the mere Lust of Cruelty.’

‘In Carthage the Ballance of Power got so far on the Side of the People, as to bring their Government to a Dominatio Plebis; as was that of Rome, at last, which ended in the Tyranny of the Caesars. Thus it may appear, Tyranny is not confined to Numbers.’

Now, if I may be allowed to compare small Things with great▪ if it evidently appears, that those great and free and independent States, lost their Liberties from an over Ballance of Power, usurped by their po­pular Assemblies; and if I can shew, that our little, diminutive, dependent States are following that Ex­ample, as fast as ever they can; and that the same Causes eternally produce the same Effects; I hope I shall be intitled to the Thanks of some of my thought­less, unwary Country-men; and tho' it may not affect us in so fatal a Manner, our Liberty being, (as before mentioned) otherwise secured; yet it must infallibly indanger our Constitution: We are but yet, as it were, in the Hands of the Potter; in a probationary State of Go [...]d-Behaviour; if we totter upon three Legs, he can add or diminish, or turn us off in what-ever Shape he pleases; and who dare say, What doest thou?

If any impartial Thinker, or indeed that can think at all, would give himself the Trouble seriously to re­flect, and compare our present Situation and Consti­tution, with any other upon the Face of the Earth, I am confident he would determine in our Favour. We have, from the Infancy of Times here, been nursed up and indulged, at an infinite Expence to the Crown, and [Page 21] People of England: Even at this Day, they are at the Expence of £. 10,000 Sterling, yearly; and have been at no less, for any Thing I know, every Year ever since we had a Being, for our Preservation. We are exempted from all parliamentary Aids; we have never added any Thing to the Revenue of Great-Britain, as some of our Neighbour Colonies have done, of im­mense Sums: Our Plan of Government is from that of Old-England; the most complete System known; to which, if any Additions can possibly be made, we have it in our Power to make them: We have it in our Power to tax ourselves, as Conveniency sutes; which bears no Proportion to those Taxes paid by a like Number of our Fellow-Subjects, in Great-Britain. Can mortal Men expect, then, to be happier? or any reasonable Man or set of Men, wish for, or endeavour at a Change?

Let us now see what grateful Returns we have made, on our Parts, for those Favours.

A general Retrospection into the Proceedings of our Assembly, is a Task I have neither Inclination nor Leisure to undertake; and shall, therefore, leave it to those who may hereafter have the Curiosity to collect the Debates of that House, for the Benefit of the Com­munity; and shall only content myself with giving a short Specimen of their Conduct for — Years past.

The Commission and Instructions directed to his Excellency the Governor, but intended for the Good of the Whole; which, by the Bye, I cannot help thinking, that if they were in every Body's Hands. as a Family-Piece or House Bible, and not cooped up like the Sibylline Oracles, to which Recourse was only had upon extraordinary Emergency, it might be of mighty Use; the People would become acquainted and in Love with their Constitution! they would there see▪ through the Whole, the benevolent Intentions of our [Page 22] most gracious Sovereign the King, and our Mother-Country: Whereas, at present, they are represented, by some of our Dealers in Po [...]ticks, as big with that Monster, Prerogative, a Thing which some of our weak Members are taught to dread as much as ever Children were that of Raw-Head and Bloody-Bones.

Thus by wicked Instruments, for wicked Purposes, are weak Minds imposed upon; for whose Sake I shall endeavour to explain the Word, which, I doubt, is but ill understood, even by those the Perverters of it: If I am mistaken, I shall readily stand corrected.

There is, in every Family, a Sort of Government without any fixed Rules; and indeed it is impossible, even in a little Family, to form Rules for every Cir­cumstance; and therefore it is better conceived than expressed; but perfectly understood by every Indivi­dual belonging to the Family. The Study of the Fa­ther or Master, is for the Good of the Whole; all Ap­peals are to him; he has a Power, from the Reason and Nature of Things, to check the Insolent, or Indolent, and to encourage the Industrious: In short, the whole Affairs of the Family are immediately under the Care or Direction of the Father or Master; and this is a natural Prerogative, known and acknowledged by every Man living, who has ever had a Family, or been any Ways concerned in a Family, in all Ages and in all Places. His Majesty, as he is our political Father, his political Prerogative, from the like Circumstances and Reasons, is equally necessary. And this political Authority has been allowed the supreme Director, in all States, in all Ages, and in all Places; and without it, there would be a Failure of Justice.

In the Commission and Instructions, as I was ob­serving, there are some Powers in the Crown, which it cannot divest itself of, that, viz. of the Militia, Guards, and Garrisons; and tho' his Majesty has given [Page 23] particular Directions for the Regulation of the Militia here, (a Part so essential to every State and Govern­ment) yet our late worthy Assembly thought fit to drop it altogether; for which, as they have given us no Reasons, they must give us Leave to guess; and I think there can be but two, that, viz. of lessening the Power of the Captain General; or that the Road to those Commissions, is not generally through the As­sembly-House.

It is plain the Intention of the Crown, in our Con­stitution, was to bring it up, as near as possible, to that of the original Plan. All Monies raised by Parliament, are issued by Warrant from the Lords of the Treasury. His Majesty has been pleased to direct, that all Mo­nies raised in the Colonies, shall be issued by Warrant under the Hand of the Governor in Council. What due Regard has been paid to this Instruction, is noto­rious, and the Reason plain; because, otherwise, the Assembly would, in a great Measure, lose those Ap­plications for Gratification of Services done, or preten­ded to be done, by their Friends and Dependents; of which they take upon themselves to be the sole Judges, in Derogation of the Power lodged with the other Branches of the Legislature, and Violation of his Ma­jesty's Commands.

This will appear in a clearer Light, from the Pro­ceeding of our late Assembly, and the Council's Ad­dress to his Excellency, upon that Point; to which I beg Leave to refer. But, as I have met with an Ad­dress in the Proceedings of a neighbouring Colony, up­on the same Subject, done with great Spirit and Accu­racy, I shall make no other Apology for inserting so much of it, as relates to the Subject; and is as follows▪

‘— And now we are come to that Part of this Con­troversy, which we are no less surprized than con­founded should ever be made One, since, as the Gen­tlemen [Page 24] of the Assembly are sensible, that what is ob­jected to, under this Head, was wholly new, and not to be met with in any former Excise Act; so they could not be ignorant of his most sacred Majesty's Instruction in this Respect; his Excellency having caused the same to be laid before them, previous to their passing the Act; and consequently they might well believe, that no Member of the Council could consent to the passing this Bill, with such Clauses in it, without justly forfeiting, at the same Time, his Place at this Board.’

‘The Words of the Bill are in the forty-third Clause; wherein, after some of the Uses are mentioned, is the following Proviso, viz. Provided, That a particular Account of all such Necessaries and Utensils, be first laid before the Assembly, to be by them inspected, regulated and approved of: And they, thereon, address the Go­vernor and Commander in Chief of this Island, for the Time being, and Council, for the Payment there­of: And the Treasurer for the Time being, is strictly enjoined and required, not to pay, or allow of, any Order or Orders that shall be granted, or obtained, for the Payment of such Utensils or Necessaries, un­less such Order or Orders, be obtained in Manner a­foresaid. And the Committee of publick Accounts, for the Time being, is hereby strictly repuired and enjoined, not to allow of any Order or Orders that [...] be granted, or [...]tained, for the Payment of such Necessaries or [...], unless the same be obtained [...] to the Credit of the Treasurer, [...] upon his accounting with them; [...] Custom to the contrary [...]. After this, another Use is specified; [...] following Paragraph.’

‘ [...] or Sums of Money shall be [...] Persons whatsoever, by the [Page 25] Treasurer for the Time being, on any Order or Or­ders that shall be hereafter passed; but such only, as shall be addressed for by the General Assembly, and obtained in the same Manner, as is herein be­fore appointed in this Clause: Nor shall they, or any of them, be allowed of by the Committee of publick Accounts, for the Time being, to the Credit of the Treasurer for the Time being, on his account­ing with them; any Law, Usage, or Custom to the contrary notwithstanding.’

‘All which the Council would have left out of the Bill; and an unanswerable Argument, why they must necessarily insist upon their being left out, the Mem­bers of Council think proper to insert, immediately after those Words in the Bill, the King's thirty-fourth Instruction to the Governor; by which they appre­hend it will, at first View, appear what a direct Op­position there is in one to the other. The Instruction is as follows, viz.’

‘You are not to suffer any publick Money whatso­ever, to be issued, or disposed of, otherwise than by Warrant under your Hand▪ by and with Advice and Consent of our said Council: But the Assembly may, nevertheless, be permitted, from Time to Time, to view and examine the Accounts of Money, or Value of Money, disposed of by Virtue of Laws made by them, (which you are to signify unto them) as there shall be Occasion.’

‘These Words in the Instructions, the Council think too plain and full to be misunderstood; and that they are not capable of any other Meaning than that ge­nuine, in which they have been, and are taken by the Members of this Board; who cannot, therefore, suffer themselves to be taught otherwise. Thus we find the Royal Instructions say, No publick Money what­soever, shall be suffered to be [...] of other­wise [Page 26] than by Warrant under the Governor's Hand, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Council. But the General Assembly of his Majesty's Island, on the contrary, say, That no Warrant or Order for [...], shall be obtained, till the Accounts of the Persons seeking such Order, have been first said before them, to be by them inspected, regulated, and approved of: And if the Governor and Council should presume to issue any such Order, in Pursuance of his Majesty's Instructions, the Gentlemen do strictly enjoin and re­quire the Treasurer not to pay or allow of any Order, to be granted or obtained; nay, if the Treasurer should, by Inadvertency or otherwise, pay any such Order, the Gentlemen of the Assembly have still ano­ther Remedy behind; and do, therefore, strictly en­join and require, the Committee of publick Accounts, not to allow the same to the Credit of the Treasurer.’

‘The Royal Instructions make it necessary, for all those who are intitled to any publick Money, to ap­ply for it to the Governor and Council; but the As­sembly of this Province will have it, that Application shall be first made to them for it. The King's Instruc­tions say, That the Governor and Council, and they only, shall be Judges of what Warrants are proper to be issued for any of the publick Money: But di­vers of his Majesty's Subjects, who are of the Gene­ral Assembly here, insist, that they will be the Judges; and that no Order for publick Money shall issue, till their Judgment has been obtained for it. The Royal Instructions permit the Assembly only to view and examine the Accounts of Money, after it has been disposed of; but these Gentlemen contend for a View, Inspection, Regulation, and Approbation of them, before; and that too, with the strongest Words of Defiance, — any Law, Usage, or Custom to the Con­trary notwithstanding.’

[Page 27] ‘Such Contrarieties as these, betwixt the Royal Pleasure, signified in the Instructions, and that of the General Assembly, may well be thought enough, without any more, to determine the Opinion of this Board; and no better Reason, certainly, can be ex­pected from the Members of his Majesty's Council, for their refusing their Assent to any Bill, than that the passing of it would be contrary to the King's In­structions. But as the Members of the Council are assured, that the Gentlemen of the Assembly are go­ing upon a great and dangerous Mistake; and that they are now aiming at what can have no other Ten­dency (tho' we do not charge them with any such Intention) than to subvert the Constitution of the Island, as settled by his Majesty's Commission and Instructions, and to render the Council altogether unuseful in the Government; they cannot pass over this Head without observing, that this Attempt of the Assembly, is not only a bold Innovation here, but is also very contrary to the Usage of Parliaments in England; where, tho' it is admitted, that bills of Aids and Subsidies do generally begin with the Com­mons, and they usually lay the Rates and Duties on Merchandize, yet they have Nothing to do with the Application of the Money, as far as we may presume to judge by their Practice. If they are afterwards apprised of any Misapplications or Abuses, the Me­thod is, to address the King, (as the Assembly may do here) that the several Officers concerned in the same, do lay the Accounts before the House, that they may examine into them, and be therefore enabled to take suitable Measures for bringing the Offenders to con­dign Punishment, or for preventing the like Abuses for the Future; but that is all. And will the Assem­bly of this Island, assume Powers not attempted, nor even claimed by a British House of Commons? For [Page 28] Gentlemen to set up for Judges of what does not be­long to them, and to assume to themselves the Pow­ers and Privileges of the Council Board, we cannot think at all becoming; but, on the other Hand, are satisfied it must lead to Confusion, and in the End, if a timely Stop be not put to it, produce the worst of Consequences.’

‘The Members of the Council would be glad to know what there is in the Nature of those Accounts, that they may not be supposed capable of judging of them, as well as the Assembly? or why this Board may not be presumed to have as tender a Regard for the Interest of the Island, and to the due Disposition of its publick Money, as the Assembly? They think they may reasonably ask, how it comes to pass, that the Gentlemen of the present Assembly should be deemed the only Persons fit to be trusted with the publick Affairs? or what Security the Country will have, that the same would be safer in their Hands, than where the King has been pleased to place them?’

The Gentlemen go on to observe upon the Agent Bill.

‘The ninth Amendment is to the following Cláuse of the Bill, viz. ‘For the Payment of such Sum or Sums of Money, as from Time to Time, upon the Address of the General Assembly of this Island, shall, by Or­der of the Governor, or Commander in Chief for the Time being, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Members of his Majesty's Council, be made pay­able to such Person or Persons, as the present General Assembly of this Island, shall or may appoint to be their Agent or Agents, to regulate the publick Af­fairs of this Island, in Great-Britain.’ Which Clause discovering the same Spirit of Encroachment with the last, the Council found it necessary to alter, and instead thereof, to insert what follows, viz. ‘For the Pay­ment [Page 29] of the Salary of such Agent or Agents of this Island, in Great-Britain, as shall or may, at any Time hereafter, be appointed, and given by any Law for that Purpose.’ And this, they apprehended, would answer all the good Purposes of the other, with­out being liable to any of the Objections. By these Words, if the Legislature, at any Time during the Continuance of the Act, judge it proper to have A­gents for the publick Service, here is sufficient Provi­sion made to pay them out of the publick Money: But the Council could not, nor can on any Account, consent to the Clause, as it stands in the Bill; First, Because the Money is not to be paid but upon the Ad­dress of the Assembly: Secondly, For that the Words are too general and indefinite; for the Payment of such Sum or Sums of Money, as shall, from Time to Time, &c. whereby the Assembly might have it in their Power to give away immense Sums for that Purpose, or under that Pretence: Thirdly, Because the Money is made payable to such Person or Persons, as the pre­sent General Assembly shall or may appoint to be their Agents. And here the Members of his Majesty's Council cannot forbear expressing their Amazement, that the Gentlemen of the Assembly should take up­on themselves to appoint Agents of their own, as they call them, when, at the same Time, they say, it is to negotiate, transact, and carry on the publick Af­fairs of this Island, in Great-Britain▪ What! are all those publick Affairs to be carried on by their Agents, without any Concern of the Governor and Council? Must these have no Hand at all in directing and in­structing such Agents, in what will be for the publick Benefit; and the Money, notwithstanding, even unli­mited Sums, be implicitly paid, by their Allowance? What is this but to assume, in Effect, an arbitrary and independent Power, and so far to render the [Page 30] other Branches of the Legislature useless, and of no Signification?’ —&c.

The Event of this Affair was, that the Bill, or a Draught of the Bill, with the Council's Reasons for their Amendments, were sent Home; and the Gover­nor soon received an Order, grounded on a Report of the Honourable the Committee of his Majesty's Privy-Council, for rejecting the Draught of the Bill, as con­trary to the constant Usage of that Island, and of all other his Majesty's Colonies, and derogatory to the Royal Prerogative; which being expressly said to be advised by their Lordships, with Intent to discourage Attempts of the like Kind for the Future.

While these Matters were in Agitation at Barbados, the same Disputes were carried on in New-England, but, if possible, with still more Obstinacy, tho' with somewhat more Colour of Reason, because of their Charter, which they pretended was infringed by the In­structions: They, therefore, were not satisfied with the Royal Determination, but thought fit to apply to the Parliament; as appears from the printed Votes of the British House of Commons.

To this I have only to add, by Way of Query; — Should an Assembly, chose by the People as Trustees and Guardians of their Constitution and Privileges, af­ter so clear a Declaration of his Majesty's Sentiments, continue to insult his Majesty's Government, by con­temptuously rejecting every Order and Instruction that does not sute their Taste or Humour? And are they not accountable to the People, for the Consequences of their Conduct? Surely no One can think otherwise.

But I shall go on to shew, in a few more Particulars, the Intention of the Crown, in forming us upon the British Plan.

The Bill for the Payment of the Debts of the Go­vernment, has been sufficiently animadverted upon, by the Address of the Council here, as well as what may be collected from that other of Barbados. The Ap­plication Act, as it is called, comes next to be conside­red: It is, indeed, an Original; and from the very Face of it, appears to be calculated in direct Opposition to his Majesty's Instructions, and the very Form and Nature of our Constitution: Every Officer of the Go­vernment is there named by the Assembly, with his Allowance tacked to the End of it; which being a [Page 32] Money Bill, is, with them, sacred and not to be touched with profane Hands; and with this Proviso too, viz. ‘That if any of them die or are removed, so much of the aforesaid Allowances to be paid, as shall be at that Time due; and no more.’ If an Officer, then, dies or is removed, the Governor, it is true, may put ano­ther in his Place; but he can have no Salary or Allow­ance, till the Assembly please; and that Allowance is just as they please to like the Person. It is not a new Thing with some of our Assemblies, to add or substract a Figure in the Salary of of the Officers, according to the Nature of the Application; and even to drop an useful Office, upon Occasion, if they disapprove of the Officer; witness the Weigh-Master General's Office. This, I think, is an Encroachment with a Witness, as it creates a Dependence of all the Officers of the Go­vernment, upon an Assembly; which, of Course, quite inverts the very Order and Nature of Government.

In Great-Britain, to defray the necessary Services of the Government, Estimates are laid before the House of Commons, of which they, if they please, may judge of the Necessity, as well as of the Quantum; the Funds, however, are raised; but the Application is left to his Majesty. If there are any Misapplications, it is with the Commons to enquire; and Nothing is more dreaded, than a parliamentary Scrutiny.

The Disposition of Officers, is an inherent Right of the Crown; and is, indeed, a Part of that Power lodg­ed in that Branch of the Legislature, in order to keep up the Ballance; and without it, it would lose of its Weight. It is his Majesty's Intentions, that we should follow the same Method; but, those Intentions our Assemblies have treated according to their usual Com­plaisance.

The proper Appointments of the Civil List, for his Majesty's Support, is for Life; which, from long Ex­perience, [Page 33] is found most conducive to the Benefit of the Community.

It is his Majesty's Royal Will and Pleasure, that there be paid to his Governor and Captain General, £. 1200 Sterling, yearly, out of his Revenue arising in his said Province; and it is his express Will and Pleasure, that all Laws made for the Supply and Sup­port of Government, be indefinite, and without Limi­tation, as to Point of Time: As the Commission is, the Meaning I think is plain, that it should last, at least, as long as the Commission; and in this Sense, most of those Colonies immediately under his Majesty's Direction, have taken it; and accordingly, as I am in­formed, observe it, and enjoy Peace and the Favour of the Crown, while New-York and New-Jersey are, at present, famous all over his Majesty's Dominions, for worrying one another, and Contempt of Royal Orders and Instructions: But instead of this, our Assembly tell him he may take £. 1200, if he pleases, but it shall be at 40 per C. Discount; and even that, but from Year to Year; it is this or Nothing; there is no Alternate. This, however, is paying no great Compliment to his Majesty's express Royal Will and Pleasure, and but poor Returns of Gratitude for Ten Thousand Pounds Sterling, laid out upon us yearly, by his Majesty. That of a yearly Support is but of a late Standing; it was not so from the Beginning. From this Period, however, we may date the Commence­ment of all our Confusions. Five Years was the com­mon Method; and I believe I may challenge the most sanguine Party-Man, to point out any dreadful Conse­quences that attended it. This, I say, was the Method, this ought to be the Method, and this will be the Me­thod, however terrible, at present, it may appear; and if we do not follow it, it will be done to our Hands; or we shall have no Peace in o [...]r Israel, and the King no Government.

[Page 34]Can any Thing be more absurd, than to imagine a Governor, sent abroad to govern a People, and to be supported according to the Dignity of his Office, and under certain Restrictions and Instructions, essential to that Government; but to obtain that Support, every Instruction must be given up, one after another, or have no Support? which is just throwing the Gover­nor into their Hands: This has been the Practice for many Years, and his Majesty and his Ministers know it too; what the Event will be, Time only can disco­ver. Some Remedy must be found, or the People will at last govern.

A Governor is no sooner appointed, than the first Question is, Into whose Hands shall I throw myself? the Answer is ready, Into whose but such as can best manage the Assembly. Hence Prime Ministers and Courtiers are established; and, of Course, Anti-cour­tiers: Hence Parties are formed; and thus the Peace of the Publick is destroyed, honest Neighbours set to­gether by the Ears, and all Good-fellowship excluded the Society; Elections are carried on with great Ani­mosity, and at a vast Expence, as if our Alls were at Stake: And what is all this for? Is the publick Good really the Point in View? or is it to shew how dexte­rously the one Side can manage the Assembly for him, and the other against him? Let us be told what mighty Advantage the Publick has reaped from that repeated Round of Squabbles we have been pestred with, with no other View than to distress a worthy Gentleman.

Thus, I think, the Reasonableness, and even the Ne­cessity of supporting a Governor, according to his Majesty's Royal Will and Pleasure, that is independent­ly of any Body but himself, is evident, as it will destroy all those Sources of Contention.

In Virginia, the Two Shillings Sterling, upon every Hogshead of Tobacco exported, makes the Support [Page 35] easy to the People, who are at this Time, and like to continue in all Duty and Obedience. It is the same in the Leeward-Islands, from the Four and an Half per C. and we hear of no Fraca's amongst them.

A gentle Tax upon Lands here, would answer all these Purposes, relieve the Merchant, and encourage Trade, at this Time in a languishing Condition.

If a Man of Worth and Honour falls to our Share, (which indeed, as Matters stand at present, we can hard­ly expect) he will, if supported according to his Dig­nity, naturally incline to do us all the good Offices in his Power, if we ourselves don't take Pains to prevent him; and he, the Council, and General Assembly, will have that Time, hitherto spent in trifling Squab­bles, to think of securing us from abroad, and encou­raging Trade and Industry at home.

The Manner of our supporting our Judges, is equal­ly ridiculous and absurd. It is agreed on all Hands, that those Offices ought to be held for Life, indepen­dent both of Crown and People, and under no Bias; but our Assembly are determined to keep them too, under their Thumbs; and tell them, we will allow so much for this Year, but if you do not behave as we think you should do, we will give you less next Year, and perhaps Nothing at all. This would have little Weight with a Man of Fortune and Integrity, in that Office; but might prove too powerful a Temptation to such as have Nothing else to depend upon. As the Commissions, therefore, for good Reasons, are for Life; so ought, for the same Reasons, the Salaries to be.

I have been informed, that in New-England, there was a long Debate in the House, whether the Gover­nor's Salary should be paid at the Beginning or at the End of the Year, that they might be the better able to judge of his Good-Behaviour; and, if I am not mis­taken, it was carried for the latter.

[Page 36]The Jersey Assembly, not many Months ago, waited upon the Governor with the Revenue Bill, insisting, that the Council had Nothing to do with it; and had he passed it in that Manner, can any Body doubt, but that their next Vote would have been to exclude both Governor and Council. Those are great Strides in our Assemblies towards —

But to go on with our Act.

Whoever will be at the Pains to compute the A­mount of the Salaries, and compare it with those Al­lowances made to Assemblies, and their immediate Dependents, will readily see how far the one comes short of the other.

There are Twenty-seven Assembly-men, to whom the Law allows to some Ten, to some Six, and to o­thers, Four Shillings a Day; take the Medium at 7 s. and this amounts to £. 9:9:0, every Day from their setting out, to their Return to their Homes; and this is a Tax immediately out of the Farmers Pockets; all others are upon the Merchant (a Point that may be discussed at another Time;) besides £. 300 to a Trea­surer, yearly, tho' his Majesty has appointed one for that Purpose, and £. 200, yearly, to an Agent of their own. The Incidents on both Sides may be left out in the Computation. We shall be told, perhaps, that some of these Gentlemen, don't take up their Allow­ance; but sure They won't openly declare this, because, in my humble Opinion, it is down-right Bribery, as I cannot conceive the Difference between saying, I will give you seven Shillings a Day, if you chuse me; or, I will forgive you seven Shillings a Day, if you chuse me. —So much for this extraordinary Act.

His Majesty, out of a tender Regard for the Preser­vation of the Lives and Properties of his Subjects here, has given Directions, that proper Provision be made for Indian Affairs; but our worthy Assembly, that [Page 37] their Conduct may appear of a Piece, have made none; I shall not enquire into the Reasons; they ought, in­deed, to be very good Ones, to satisfy the People; because, in Case of a Rupture with France, it must have very fatal Consequences; and it is not impossible, (considering how indefatigable the French are in this Matter) but that Fresh-Water may become our Fron­tier: I can see Nothing to hinder them, without our Indians, from driving the whole Country in before them. How far the Authors of this Neglect may be answerable for those Consequences, at the great Day of Accounts, I am not Casuist enough to determine; and shall, therefore, leave it to their own Consciences.

I have but one Thing more to observe upon, in this Act, and that is, That neither Governor nor Council can command one Shilling of the publick Money, if that Shilling would save the Province, while the Spea­ker has it in his Power, by Order of the House, to dispose of it as he pleases, without being accountable to any but themselves.—See the last Clause but one, in the Act.—How consistent this is with the Nature of our Constitution, or, indeed, any other Constitution, I shall leave to those more judicious to determine.

As I have but little Hopes of any Remedy for those Evils, on this Side of the Atlantick, I would have it e­nacted, by a British Parliament, That whereas great Ir­regularities and Confusions have arisen from the present Methods taken for the Support of Government, and Officers of the Crown, &c.

I. Be it Enacted, That all Lands hitherto granted, or that shall be granted by his Majesty, shall pay at the Rate of One Shilling for every Hundred Acres, up­on Oath, in Lieu of all other Rents or Reservations whatsoever; applicable only towards the Support of Government and the Officers of the Crown; to be is­sued by Warrant, according to Instructions.

[Page 38]As to what may be objected in Relation to the giving up the Quit-Rents; they are but a Trifle to the Crown, and will ever be a Canker in the Estate of the Subject. From 1664 to 1710, they are but of very little Importance. The Counties of New-York, West-Chester, Dutchess, and Albany, that is, all the East Side of Hudson's River, extending along the Ri­ver about 170 Miles, does not, by an accurate Calcu­lation, pay above £. 90 Sterling, to be collected from several Thousand Hands. The Rest of the Counties are much upon the same Footing; and I may, I think, venture to affirm, that, had it not been for the vacating two Grants; one, viz. to Mr. Evans, and the other to Dell [...] and Bayard; the Quit-Rents would not have defrayed the Expence of collecting them; nor would the Province have been half so well settled.

Governors, during that Period, were under no Re­strictions. Grants of Lands, and Reservations, were in Proportion to the Gratifications to a Governor. The greatest Part of the Grants, during that Time, are to pay such Quit-Rents, as hereafter shall be esta­blished by the Laws of this Country; which is just saying, you shall pay when you please. There are, however, some Pepper-Corns, some Wampum, Sti­vers, and Beaver-Skins ascertained.

Since 1710, 2 s 6 is reserved upon every Hun­dred Acres; but as Grants are not easily come at by a poor Man, the Rich have generally engrossed them, not with a View of settling the Lands, but of parcelling of them out to the best Bidders. Those Grants, and, of Course, the Reservations, by these Means became so divided and subdivided, that at last, it will become impracticable, if not impossible, either for the Officer to collect, or the Possessor to pay, tho' never so willing, with any Certainty or Regularity. In many of the old Grants, the Shares of the Possessors [Page 39] does not amount to the tenth Part of a Penny; and they must go perhaps a great Way to pay that, or be prosecuted; or if any one of them should even be o­bliged to pay the Whole, they have no Remedy against those concerned. A poor Man in the Moba [...]ok's Coun­try, possessed, perhaps, of fifty Acres, must go up­wards of two Hundred Miles every Year, to pay fif­teen Pence, or be prosecuted; the Event of which may be fatal to such a Person. This will, in Time, create great Uncertainty and Confusion in that Collec­tion. In Lieu, therefore, of which, I humbly conceive, that One Shilling upon every Hundred Acres, would relieve the Subjects, amply support Government, the Officers of the Crown would become independent of Assemblies, Trade would be relieved, and those extra­vagant landed Gentlemen, would be obliged to pay their Proportion of that Expence.

From good Hands I understand, that a Person pos­sessed of two Hundred Acres, pays more to the Pub­blick, than some of those possessed of their Hundred Thousands.

In order to put our Indian Affairs upon a proper Footing, I would have all Monies, raised upon the Retailers of Liquors, (being a Sort of a voluntary Tax through the whole Continent be made a perpetual and unalienable Fund for that Purpose. If this Affair, of so much Importance to the British Interest, be left much longer to the Caprice of Assemblies, we may ea­sily guess what will be the Consequence. And that all Duties upon Indian Goods cease, and the Trade left open to all his Majesty's Subjects, except those that take the Road to Canada.

As I conceize, that Trade carried on between Albany and Canada, is attended with very pernicious Conse­quences to the British Interest, I cannot help thinking, with Submission, but that an effectual Stop might be [Page 40] put to it by the following Method. By the 12th of Ch. II. no Alien, or Person not born within the King's Allegiance, &c. shall exercise the Trade or Occupation of a Merchant or Factor in any of his Majesty's Plantations, upon Forfeiture of all his Goods, &c.

Let an Officer, therefore, be posted at Albany, who is to publish the above Clause; giving Notice, that in three Months, all Goods, Wares, or Merchandize ex­ported or imported, from or to Albany, by the French or their Factors, the Natives, not under his Majesty's Allegiance, will be seized; the Proof to be put upon the Owner.

There are two Objections to this; First, If the French are not supplied from us, they will fall upon other Means of supplying themselves, which will pre­judice the Consumption of the British Manufactures: But the Absurdity of this Objection has already been sufficiently exposed, (See the Papers relating to an Act of the Assembly of the Province of New-York, for En­couragement of the Indian Trade, &c. and for prohi­biting the selling of Indian Goods to the French, viz. of Canada; and Mr. Colden's History of the Five Nations) I shall take no further Notice of it.

As to the second Objection, that this will be acting contrary to that Freedom of Commerce with the In­dians, mutually stipulated by the Articles of the Treaty of Utrecht; to this I have only to say, that the French understand not that Treaty in such Light; as appears by their discharging our Traders from trading, upon any Pretence whatever, within their Territories, under severe Penalties; witness the Treatment those three Philadelphia Traders met with lately, for trading at Ohio, only pretended to be within their Territories; whereas neither English nor Indians, admit it to be so; and the Ohio Indians will suffer all the Extremities of War rather than admit it to be so.

[Page 41]By this Time, I presume, I am reckoned a mighty Governor's Man, (an invidious Distinction) and no Friend to Assembly-men. As to the first, I own it, First, Because I find the Laws are severe (where Laws govern) against such as industriously endeavour to cre­ate Jealousies between the supreme Magistrate and the People: Secondly, Because no Piques or Prejudices ought to eff [...]ce Good-Manners, due to every Superior, especially a Supreme Magistrate: And lastly, Because in the whole Course of my Observations, I never knew any one Individual get any Thing by it, but a little Vanity and a great Deal of Vexation.

As to Assembly-men, there are those whom I re­vere. One whose only Aim is at the Honour, Safety, and Interest of his Country; and who on this Mark constantly keeps his Eye fixed; who dreads not the Frowns of an enraged Governor, or the horrid Cla­mours of a possessed Multitude; who smiles to see so many (in all Appearance) honest and thinking Men, jog on like a Gang of Pack-Horses; who truly enjoys all that Freedom in his Actions, which he thinks his Duty to procure for, and defend his Country-men in; One, in short, who is directed, influenced, or biassed by none; and while he is in his Country's Service, thinks the most glorious Epithets the World can fix up­on him, are those of a rigid, inflexible, ill-natur'd, honest Man.—And such a one who would not revere?

But, as a certain Gentleman observes: ‘I think, says he, there is hardly to be found through all Na­ture, a greater Difference between a representing Commoner in the Function of his publick Calling, and the same Person, when he acts in the common Offices of Life; here he allows himself to be on a Level with the Rest of Mortals; here he follows his own Reason and his own Way; in short, here his Folly and his Wisdom, his Reason, and his Passions, are [Page 42] all of his own Growth, not the Echo of other Men: But when he is got near the Walls of his Assembly, he assumes and affects an intire Set of very different Airs; he conceives himself a Being of a superior Na­ture to those without, and acting in a Sphere where the vulgar Methods for the Conduct of Life, can be of no Use: He's listed in a Party where he neither knows the Temper nor Designs, nor perhaps the Leader; but whose Opinions he follows and maintains with a Zeal and Faith, as violent as a young White­fieldian does those of a Methodist, whose Sect he is taught to profess: He has neither Opinions, nor Thoughts, nor Actions, nor Talk, that he can call his own; but all conveyed to him by his Leader, as Wind is through an Organ: The Nourishment he receives, has not only been chewed, but digested be­fore it comes into his Mouth: Thus instructed, he follows the Party, right or wrong, thro' all its Sen­timents, and acquires a Courage and Stiffness of O­pinion, not at all congenial with him.’ Such a One, if any such there be, I most heartily despise.

The Raging of the Sea and Madness of the People, are put together in Holy-Writ; and the Wrath of a King, to that of the Raging of a Lyon: But his Favours are as the Dew upon the Grass, which that we may endeavour, every one in his particular Station, to culti­vate and deserve, are my sincere Wishes.