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 provisions 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 privi lege, 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

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pleased, and till the stock in hand, or such parts of it as he thought fit to dispose of, were in a fair way of being sold off, he did not think it for his interest to incumber himself with more. This happened sooner than he foresaw; though it must be acknowledged that the founders of few cities appear to have possessed more foresight. The growth of his colony, indeed, exceeded his most sanguine expectations; and when successive new purchases came to be made, an inconvenience by degrees became manifest, which, perhaps, had not been thought of before, or, if thought of, had not been guarded against. Men who want a present convenience, must not be over-solicitous about future contingencies; and in general, we choose to be blind to such objects as we fear we have not strength enough to remove: he that is too much of a huckster, often loses a bargain; as he that is too little so, often purchases a lawsuit.

It was no hard matter to induce a belief, that occasional treaties with the Indians, under the pretence of keeping up the same brotherly correspondence which had been at first established with them, was a necessary measure of government; nor to prevail with the province, while this was understood to be the sole consideration, to bear the expense of them. But when it appears, as in the course of time was unavoidable, that a treaty and a purchase went on together, that the former was a shoeing-horn for the latter; that the governor only made the compli

ments, and the assembly the presents; it could not but appear also, that there must be somewhat unfair in a procedure where one paid all the cost, and the other engrossed the profit; and that it was high time to put some stop to a practice so injurious to their understandings.

It is not indeed necessary in private life to bargain, that those who purchase for their own use and advantage should pay the price out of their own pockets; but in public it is. Persons who stand on the same ground, will insist on the same rights; and it is matter of wonder, when any one party discovers folly or insolence enough to demand or expect any pre-eminence over the other: whereas prerogative admits of no equality; and presupposes that difference of place alters the use of language, and even the very nature of things. Hence, though protection is the reason, and, consequently, should be the end of government, we ought to be as much upon our guard against our protectors as against our enemies.

Power, like water, is ever working its own way; and whenever it can find or make an opening, is altogether as prone to overflow whatever is subject to it. And though matter of right overlooked may be reclaimed and re-assumed at any time, it cannot be too soon reclaimed and re-assumed. That assembly, then, which first discovered this lapse, or which, at the requisition of their constituents, first endeavored to retrieve it, did no more than their

duty. Again: the distinction made by Mr. Penn in the case of quit rents, between his two capacities of governor and proprietary, had an use, which even he, with all his shrewdness, did not perhaps advert to, when it was made, or at least expect it would be adverted to by any body else. It must be remembered that, at the time he obtained the reservation of quit rents, he artfully distinguished between his two capacities of proprietary and governor, insinuating that " government must be supported with splendor and dignity, and that by this expedient they would be exempt from other taxes." For the support of the GOVERNOR and GOVERNMENT, they were therefore submitted to; for the support of the PROPRIETARY, when absent from his government, and when the government charge was otherwise supported, they were paid: and as he and his agents went on, not only to reserve such rents out of all the parcels of lands they disposed of, but even to rise in their demands, as the value of lands rose; so it could not but follow, that in process of time these quit rents would of themselves become an immense estate. When, therefore, the proprietary no longer acted as governor, nor even resided in the province, nor expended a fifth of his income there, could it be supposed, that this estate, thus attained, and thus perverted from its original purpose, should not be liable, in common with all other estates, to contribute to those charges it was first in the entire allotted for, and the whole amount of which it so

manifold exceeded? No property in England is tax free: no difference in the amount or value of property makes any difference in the duty of subjects; and nothing is more consonant to reason, than that he who possesses most, should contribute most to the public service. And yet, for want of a specific clause to declare their property taxable, the proprietaries contrived to insist on having it exempted from every public obligation, and upon charging the difference on the public, who, it cannot be too often remembered, gave it in the first instance as the price of an exemption from all other taxes.

This constituted the principal ground of the disputes between the governors and the assembly; but there was another cause of controversy, which occasioned much heat. The assembly in 1753 being desirous of increasing the provincial paper currency in proportion to the increase of the province, by an addition of twenty thousand pounds, prepared a bill for that purpose, which governor Hamilton rejected as unseasonable, but at length offered to pass it with a suspending clause, reserving it for the royal approbation, which the assembly refused to accept, as contrary to precedent and subversive of the rights of the province. The governor was equally determined, and during the contest on this subject, several alarming messages were sent from him to the assembly, stating the progress of the French on the frontiers: but notwithstanding these communications, the dispute concerning the supplies still