the late accounts which have been brought into the Country by the Gentlemen who are Members of the Assembly, and who give out that they do not doubt but that all the Indentured Servants or Apprentices inlisted in the said Companies within this Province will soon be disbanded; for that the Assembly, by some proceedings of their House, have laid the Governor under a Necessity of discharging all the said Servants or Apprentices, and to oblige those concerned to return them to their respective Owners without charge, and to the Satisfaction of the Persons nominated by the Assembly for that purpose; an Injunction which, were it legal in itself, and that the officers had it really in their power to discharge those Persons, which they humbly insist they have not, yet it is next to impossible to be performed by the Officers, who neither have the means of delivering them to their Masters, nor know the several places of the dwellings of the Masters of those Servants or Apprentices, who are said to live in remote and different places of this Province, and some out of the Province, and besides many are called Servants who utterly deny themselves to be so.

"Under these Apprehensions, The Troops under our Command are rendered exceedingly uneasy, even so as publickly to declare that they will never suffer themselves to be seperated, and rather than be exposed to the inhumane usage of the Masters of some of them, and the Creditors of others for small Debts, they will go into some other Government where they hope to be better used and protected in His Majesty's Service. This uneasiness among the Soldiers has rendred the Duty of the Officers extremely burthensome, and may, in the end, have a bad Effect upon the Soldiers themselves; and we humbly beg leave to say further, that we are of Opinion that these Soldiers, whether they be indented Servants or Apprentices, or Freemen who came Voluntarily to the Officers and inlisted themselves and took the Oath before a Magistrate, as prescrib'd by Act of Parliament, and have since received near two Months' Subsistence, cannot be legally discharged without the Command of the Colonel of the Regiment.

"And we further beg leave to represent to your Honour, that from the behaviour of some in this Province (from whom we thought we had reason to expect a ready compliance with His Majesty's Instructions and a peaceable disposition towards ourselves and the Soldiers), We find it extremely difficult to retain the Men in their Duty, and without the utmost care to prevent their returning the Insults and Reproaches they meet with from those who by their conduct plainly shew they are not Friends to the present Glorious Expedition.

"Wherefore, We humbly pray that your Honour will be pleased to signifie to us whether you judge it proper or intend to discharge any of the Soldiers now under our Command, that we may govern ourselves accordingly, and without loss of Time make a just and full Representation of our Case to our Superior Officers.

"But if your Honour shall determine to leave such as pretend to have suffered loss by any Illegal act of Ours, by Inlisting Indented Servants or Apprentices, to seek their Remedy at Law, We shall always be ready to answer any suit they may think fit to commence against us while we remain within this Province; and in the mean Time we pray that we may have your Honour's Countenance, and to avoid Tumults and Disorders of all kinds That we may have the Protection of the Civil Magistrate, in common with the rest of our fellow Subjects within this Province, while we continue in our Duty to our King and Country. We are,

And the foregoing Letter being duly considered, It is the Opinion of this Board,

That the discharging the Soldiers inlisted in this Province to serve His Majesty (whether Freemen or Servants) may be of dangerous Consequence to the publick Peace, and cause Mutinies, Tumults, and Disorders, not easily to be supress'd under our present Weak and Defenceless Constitution and Government, and that it would be a great Disregard of His Majesty's Royal Instructions and of the British Counsels, and a publick Encouragement to the Enemies of the Nation;

That all His Majesty's Subjects (not restrained by act of parliament) have, as We conceive, a Right to inlist themselves in the Defence of His Majesty's Person and Government, and for the Security of the Trade and Navigation of the British Nation; And

That the inlisting of bought Servants is not such a Grievance as hath been represented, many of them having so short a time to serve that the loss to the Masters will amply be made up by their

detention of the Freedom Dues required by Act of Assembly to be given by the Masters to such Servants as serve out the time of their Indentures; And that as at a moderate Computation we conceive not less than Sixty thousand People have been imported into this Province within twenty years; the Number of Men raised here may very well be spared without Injury to it, and the loss suffered by the Masters easily repaired by a reasonable allowance out of the Publick Money, which we conceive is capable both to defray that Expence and to make the Provision expected by His Majesty.

Mr. Preston then laid before the Board accounts exhibited to him by Doctor Grome, Nicholas Scull, and Mary Osborne, against the Province, which are referred to the Examination of Ralph Assheton, Samuel Hasell, and Thomas Griffitts, Esq and for them to Report thereupon.

At a Council held at Philada., August 27th, 1740.

PRESENT:

The Honble GEORGE THOMAS, Esqr., Lieutenant Governor.

Anthony Palmer,

Clement Plumsted,

Thomas Laurence,

Ralph Assheton,
Samuel Hasell,

Thomas Griffitts,

Esqrs.

The Minutes of the preceeding Council being read and approved, The Gentlemen to whose Consideration were referred the Accounts exhibited by Doctor Grome, Nicholas Scull, and Mary Osborne, reported that they had examined the said Accounts and allow'd the Charges to be just.

At a Council held at Philada., Octo" 3d, 1740.

PRESENT:

The Honourable GEORGE THOMAS, Esq., Lieutenant Gov

ernor.

Samuel Preston,

Samuel Hasell,

Clement Plumsted,
Thomas Griffitts,

}

Esqrs.

The Governor laid before the Board the several Returns of Elections for the Year ensuing; and having nominated the Persons to be Sheriffs and Coroners agreeable to the said Returns, and no Objections being made thereto

Ordered,

That Commissions be made out to Septimus Robinson, Esq'" as Sheriff, & Owen Owen, Gent., as Coroner of the City and County of Philada.; to Benjamin Davis as Sheriff, and Awbrey Bevan as Coroner of the County of Chester; to Joseph Jackson as Sheriff,

and William Atkinson as Coroner of the County of Bucks; and to Robert Buchanan as Sheriff, and Joshua Lowe as Coroner of the County of Lancaster.

The Governor also Ordered that Commissions be made out to John Gooding as Sheriff, and Henry Gonn as Coroner of the County of Newcastle; to Samuel Robisson as Sheriff, and Richard James as Coroner of the County of Kent; and to Cornelius Willbank as Sheriff, and John Wynkoop as Coroner of the County of Sussex.

At a Council held at Philada, Octo" 15, 1740.

PRESENT:

The Honble GEORGE THOMAS, Esqr., Lieut. Governor.
Thomas Laurence and Thomas Griffitts, Esqrs.

The Representatives of the ffreeman Chosen to serve in Assembly this Year waited on the Governor at the Time by him appointed, and John Kinsey, Esq informed the Governor that the Members had met pursuant to the Law and Charter and had chosen him for their Speaker, the Duty of which Office, he said, he would endeavour to execute to the best of his Judgment; and, as is usual, Pray'd the Governor that the House, or Members thereof, might have free Access to the Gov Person upon all Proper Occasions when the public Good required it; That he would be pleased to put a favourable Construction upon their proceedings, and not give ear to any Reports concerning them or their Debates till the same past into Resolves; That they might enjoy full freedom of Speech and Debate in their House; That the Members Persons might be free from arrest during their Sessions; And that the Governor would be pleased to Excuse any involuntary Errors or Mistakes which he as Speaker might make in the Exercise of his Duty.

To which the Governor reply'd:

That as he never intended to invade any of the just Priviledges of the Assembly, so he hoped their House would not Assume or Člaim any other Privileges than such as justly pertained to them.

At a Council held at Philada., Jan" 5th, 1740–1.

PRESENT:

The Honble GEORGE THOMAS, Esqr., Lieut. Governor.
Samuel Hasell and Thomas Griffitts, Esqrs.

The Governor laid before the Members Present an Additional

Instruction from their Excellencys the Lords Justices; which was read, and is as follows, viz":

(6 By the Lords Justices.

"To. Cant Wilmington, P. Hervy, C. P. S. Dorset, Grafton Richmond Lenox, & Aubigney Bolton.

"Additional Instruction to George Thomas, Esq Deputy Governor of his Majesty's Province of Pennsylvania, in America, Or to the Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's said [L. S.] Province for the Time being. Given at Whitehall, the twenty-first Day of August, 1740, in the fourteenth Year of his Majesty's Reign.

"Whereas an Act of Parliament was passed in the sixth Year of her late Majesty Queen Anne, Entitled An Act for ascertaining the Rates of foreign Coins in her Majestie's Plantations in America: And Whereas Complaints have been made that the said Act has not been observed as it ought to have been in many of his Majesty's Colonies and Plantations in America, by Means whereof many indirect Practices have grown up, and various and illegal Currencies have been introduced in several of the said Colonies and Plantations, contrary to the true intent and meaning of the said Act, and to the Prejudice of the Trade of his Majistie's Subjects, In Consequence of which Complaints an Humble Address was presented the last Sessions by the House of Commons to his Majesty, 'That he would be graciously pleased to require and Command the respective Governors of his Colonies and Plantations in America effectually to observe the said Act of the sixth of Queen Ann.' It is, therefore, his Majistie's Royal will and Pleasure, And you are hereby strictly required and commanded to take the most effectual Care for the future that the said Act be punctually and bona fide observed and put in Execution according to the true intent and Meaning thereof. And to the end that His Majesty's Commands herein may be fully made known to all his Subjects within your Government, and that none of them may Pretend Ignorance thereof, You are hereby further required and commanded to Publish this Instruction in such Manner as may best Answer his Majesty's Gracious Intentions herein signified.

"And Whereas many and great Inconveniences have arisen in some of his Majestie's Colonies and Plantations in America by passing Laws for striking Bills of Credit and issuing out the same in Lieu of Money, making it Obligatory on all Persons to take such Bills in payment of Debts, Dues, & Demands, whereby the good intention of the aforementioned Act of the sixth of her late Majesty Queen Anne for ascertaining the Rates of Foreign Coins in her Majesty's Plantations in America has been frustrated, and a great Discouragement has been brought on the Commerce of this Kingdom by occasioning a Confusion in Dealings and a lessning of Credit