was regularly done by a deed of feoffment, in August 1682, to William Penn, who exerted himself diligently and with success in procuring adventurers for the settlement of his new colony. Of the frame or system of government devised by this celebrated man, in the year following, the author of the Review observes, that "the introduction serves to give us a more lively idea of Mr. Penn preaching in Grace-Church Street, than we derive from Raphael's cartoon of Paul preaching at Athens; as a man of conscience he sets out; as a man of reason he proceeds; and as a man of the world he offers the most plausible conditions to ALL, to the end that he might gain SOME."

"This frame of government consisted of twentyfour articles, and savored very strongly of Harrington and his Oceana. In the governor and freemen of the province, in the form of a provincial council, (always in being, and yet always changing) and general assembly, the government was placed. By them conjunctively all laws were to be made, all officers appointed, and all public affairs transacted. Seventy-two was the number this council was to consist of; they were to be chosen by the freemen; and though the governor or his deputy was to be perpetual president, he had but a treble vote. One-third of them was, at the first, to be chosen for three years, one-third for two years, and one-third for one year, in such manner that there should be an annual succession of twenty-four new

members, &c. The general assembly was at first to consist of all the freemen, afterwards of two hundred, and never was to exceed five hundred.

"The laws agreed upon in England were in all forty; partly political, partly moral, and partly economical. They are of the nature of an original compact between the proprietary and the freemen, and as such were reciprocally received and executed.

"But in the following year, the scene of action being shifted from the mother-country to the colony, the department of the legislator was shifted too. Less of the man of God now appeared, and more of the man of the world. One point he had already carried against the inclinations of his followers; namely, the reservation of quit rents, which they had remonstrated against as a burden in itself, and added to the purchase money, was without precedent in any other colony: but he artfully distinguishing the two capacities of proprietary and governor, and insinuating that government must be supported with splendor and dignity, and that by this expedient they would be exempt from other taxes, the bait took, and the point was carried.

"To unite the subtlety of the serpent with the innocence of the dove, is not so easily done as said. Having in this instance experienced the weight of his credit and the power of his persuasion, he was no sooner landed, than he formed a double scheme for uniting the province with the territory, though

it does not appear that he was properly authorised so to do, and to substitute another frame of government in lieu of the former, which having answered the great purpose of inducement here at home,' for collecting of subjects, he was now inclined to render somewhat more favorable to himself in point of government."

Such was the original settlement of the founder and legislator of Pennsylvania, who has been praised as another Lycurgus, and yet it appears that his conduct was not altogether free from suspicion even at that period; for some of his friends charged him with subtle contrivance and artifice in laying aside his original frame of government, and introducing another a few months afterwards; the pretence of which was, the union of the province granted to him by the crown, and the lower counties obtained by assignment from the Duke of York.

In less than three years after the arrival of Penn, and when his colony had begun to put on a promising appearance, he returned to England to settle some disputes that had arisen between him and Lord Baltimore the proprietary of Maryland. James the Second was now on the throne, and it cannot be denied that Penn was closely attached to that misguided monarch, who is said indeed by persons extremely intimate with the proceedings of his court,

'England, where this "HISTORICAL REVIEW" was first published.

to have been encouraged by him in many of those obnoxious proceedings which hastened the revolution.

When that event took place, the conduct of Mr. Penn exposed him to censure; and as a proof that his connexion with the friends of the exiled monarch continued to render him an object of jealousy to the new government, he was deprived of his authority over his infant colony, by a royal commission in 1693. Three years afterwards, however, he recovered the rights which had been assumed by the crown, and in 1701 he granted another charter of privileges to the inhabitants of Pennsylvania and the territory annexed, which instrument from that period became the established formulary or rule of government for the province.

By this last charter, though much remained of the first institution, yet much was taken away. "The people had no longer the election of the council; consequently all who were to serve in that capacity were to be nominated by the governor, and, of course, were to serve upon what terms he should please to impose. Instead of having but three voices in seventy-two, he was now left single in the executive, and at liberty to restrain even the legislative by refusing his assent to their bills whenever he might think fit." It provided, however, that an assembly should be yearly chosen by the freemen to consist of four persons out of each county, or of a greater number if the governor and assembly

should so agree, with all the powers and privileges of a deliberative body according to the rights of the free-born subjects of England. After some provi sions for the due administration of justice, this instrument decided that no act, law, or ordinance, should at any time hereafter be made to alter, change, or diminish the form or effect of this charter, or of any part or clause therein, according to the true intent and meaning thereof, without the consent of the governor, for the time being, and six parts in seven of the assembly. "On the other hand, likewise, the assembly, who at first could not propound laws, though they might amend or reject them, were put in possession of that privilege, and upon the whole there was much more reason for acknowledgment than complaint."

Matter of complaint, however, soon arose, on account of the demand of subsidies. The charter which Mr. Penn had obtained from the crown, comprehended a much greater extent of territory than he thought fit to take up of the Indians at the first purchase; and even in the very infancy of the colony, it was inconsiderately provided by the assembly, that in case any person should presume to buy land of the natives within the limits of the province, without leave first obtained from the proprietary, the bargain and purchase should be void. Rendered thus the only purchaser, he reckoned that he might always accommodate himself at the Indian market, on the same terms, with what quantity of land he

VOL. I.

T

3