your Admonishment as I presume it will come with more Propriety & Weight from Your Honours than me and wish it may have the Effect of his living upon a better Understanding with the People, & being more Circumspect in the Duties of his Office. I am with great Respect, Your Honours PHILADELPHIA 17 June 1769 Humble Servant J. WILLIAMS To the Honble The Commissioners of His Majesty's Customs at Boston Letter from Governor Franklin to the Earl of Hillsborough, announcing the continued refusal of the Assembly to grant money for the supply of the King's troops. [From P. R. O. America and West Indies, Vol. 1^6 (194).] BURLINGTON June 1, 1771. To The Right Hon ble The Earl of Hillsborough My Lord, In my Letter of the 30th of April, I inform'd your Lordship of the Assembly's having at that Time refus'd to grant any Money for the Supply of His Majesty's Troops stationed in this Province, but that I had Hopes of their receding from their Resolution at the next Session. In these Hopes, however, I have been greatly disappointed, for they have again resolved, by a great Majority, not to comply with the Requisition. The only Reason they give for their Refusal is, that the Colony in its present Circumstances is not of Ability to make any further Provision for the Troops, which is one of the worst Reasons they could possibly have invented, it being a notorious Fact that the Colony was never in a more flourishing Condition than at present, and that there is now actually in the Treasury a greater Sum of Paper Money unappropriated (originally made current for the Use of the Crown) than is sufficient to answer the present Demand. Their Conduct therefore in this respect is entirely inexcusable, and I can assure your Lordship that it not only appears in this Light to me, but to many of the principal Inhabitants of this Province. Some of the Members who voted against the Supply had positive Instructions from their Constituents to grant it. The real Cause of their extraordinary Conduct, as I am inform'd and have Reason to believe, is that they expect a Dissolution will shortly take place, in order to give the Counties of Morris, Cumberland, & Sussex an Oppor tunity of electing Members agreeably to the Law lately confirm'd by His Majesty,' and that by their Refusal they should recommend themselves to the Bulk of the common People and so secure their Elections. I had therefore some Thoughts of dissolving the Assembly, in hopes that after they had secured their Seats by a new Election, they might be brought to grant the Supply as formerly; but the Gentlemen of the Council, and many other Friends of Government, were of Opinion, that if they were dissolved at this Time, it would be understood, that it was on Account of their refusing to burden the People with new Taxes, &c. which would encrease their Popularity, ensure the Return of the same if not worse Men into the Assembly; and, as they would be re-elected principally for their Refusal 1 Morris county was set off from Hunterdon county, by acted passed March 15, 1738-9, but continued to vote with Hunterdon in the election of two Assemblymen. Cumberland was set off from Salem by act passed January 19, 1747-8, but still voted with Salem in the Assembly elections. Sussex was set off from Morris by act passed June 8, 1753, but continued to vote with Hunterdon in the choosing of Assemblymen. By an act passed May 10, 1768, confirmed by the King in Council, December 9, 1770, each county was allowed to choose two representatives.—Allin. son's Laws, 109, 153, 194, 306, and variour dispatches ante. of the Requisition they would probably still avoid a Compliance. My Purpose at present is to prorogue them from Time to Time, without letting them proceed to any Business till I am honoured with His Majesty's Pleasure thereupon. If it should not be thought expedient to punish them with a Suspension of their Powers of Legislation by Act of Parliament, as was done in the Case of New York on the like Occasion, the same Thing may be regularly & constitutionally done by continued Prorogations, until they consent to make the Provision required. There are many Matters both of a publick and private Nature for which they want to obtain Acts of Assembly, and for which rather than continue long without, I imagine they would give up the Point. Or, if Leave could be given me to consent to a Loan Office Act, on Condition that Part of the Interest should be annually applied to the Support of the Troops, I am convinced that the People in general would then insist upon the Assembly's Compliance, even tho' the Money was allowed to be a legal Tender in the Treasury and Loan Offices only. But this cannot be done, I sup pose, without an Alteration in the late Act of Parliament respecting Paper Currency in the Colonies.- The only Inconvenience which occurs to me as likely to attend the Prorouging the Assembly till they are brought to a proper Sense of their Duty, is, that if they should happen to hold out any long Time, the Officers of Government would be deprived of their Salaries, which, small as they are, they cannot well do without. The present Support of Government, however will not expire until the first Day of October next, by which Time I may, perhaps receive His Majesty's particular Directions for my Conduct in this Matter. I have the Honor to be, with the greatest Respect, My Lord, Your Lordship's most obedient & most humble Servant W FRANKLIN. Letter from the Lords of Trade to Gov. Franklin, relative to the disallowance of two Acts of the Assembly of New Jersey. [From P. R. O., B. T., New Jersey, Vol. 17, p. 247.] WHITEHALL June 21, 1771 To William Franklin Esq Governor of New Sir, Jersey. We have had under Our consideration the Laws passed by you in October 1770, and have found it necessary for reasons which we have humbly submitted to His Majesty to propose that two of the said Laws, that is to say the supplementary Act to the Act for enabling Creditors to recover their just Debts and the Acts for confirming Titles derived from Grants and Devises made by Aliens should be disallowed. Besides these Laws the Act for the support of Government appears to Us in part to require explanation, and to be in other respects liable to material objection. The inclosed Extract of the Report made to Us on that Law by Our Counsel, contains a very proper and just observation on that part of it which directs the Salaries to be paid out of such Money made current for His Majesty's Service in the late War that now is in the Treasury and altho' We have full Confidence that the Legislature of the Colony would not designedly propose any Law that should have the operation to give a further Currency to Paper Credit, than what the Act of Parliament allows yet Laws of this [kind] may be so inadvertently framed as to have that consequence, and therefore in a case of this kind the utmost precaution should be used to prevent it and to leave no room for any doubt in the consideration of the Law here, and We think that the best means of avoiding any such mistake or doubt would be to state in future Acts of this sort the quantities of Paper Bills remaining in the Treasury under the different emissions at the time of passing the Act and the periods fixed for their redemptions. We have long had hopes that the House of Representatives of New Jersey would from the propriety of the thing itself have receded from their Claim of the Sole right of appointing an Agent for the Colony 'and that those words in the support Bill which are meant to establish their Claim would have been omitted, We observe however with concern that they are still continued and therefore as we think that such Claim is unjust and unwarrantable, and never can admit any person to appear before Us as Agent for the Affairs of the Colony at large who is not appointed by concurrent Act of the whole Legislature of the Colony, it is Our Duty to signify that opinion and resolution to You in order that you may not give your Assent to any Law with the like Clause for the future. We are, Sir, Your most obedient humble Servants, HILLSBOROUGH. ED: ELIOT. WN FITZHERBERT. Letter from the Earl of Hillsborough to Gov. Franklin approving his conduct in the matter of recruiting the King's forces, and inclosing public papers. Sir, [From P. R. O. America and West Indies, Vol. 176 (194).] WHITEHALL, July 3rd 1771. Governor of New Jersey. I have received, and laid before the King, your let See Governor Franklin's letter of December 26, 1771. |