Correspondence with regard to site of Hospital. as Private Persons raise a Stock to Support the Hospital and the Assembly build the House so (that all concerned in the Province may share in the Honour, Merit and Pleasure of promoting so good a Work) the Proprietors will be pleased to favour us with the Grant of a Piece of ground for the Buildings, & their necessary Accommodations. If any thing should occur to the Proprietaries that they may think of Service with respect to the management or Rules of the Hospital we should be obliged to them for their Sentiments, being desirous that what falls within our Duty, may be done to the greatest advantage for the Publick. PHILADELPHIA, July 6, 1751. Application was also made, by the following letter, to Messrs. Hyam and Bevan, in London, requesting their friendship in delivering the preceding address of the Managers to the Proprietaries, informing them of the establishment of a Hospital in their Province. and also soliciting a Piece of Ground for the Buildings and their necessary accommodations. PHILADELPHIA, July 6, 1751. Esteemed friends, Thomas Hyam, and Silvanus Bevan. The Opinion we have of your Beneficent Principles induces us to make this Application to you, and we hope the Opportunity of exerting your Tenderness to the Afflicted and distressed will be so acceptable as to render any Apology unnecessary for our Freedom in requesting your Friendship in delivering and Solliciting the address we herewith send to our Proprietors, Thomas and Richard Penn. The Circumstances of this Province have, in a few Years past been much altered, by the Addition of a great Number of Persons who arrive here from several parts of Europe, many of whom are poor and settle in Remote parts of the Country, where suitable provision cannot be made for their Relief from the Various Disorders of Body and Mind some of them labour under, the consideration of which hath lately raised in many of the Inhabitants of this City a benevolent Concern and engaged them to apply for the Assistance of the Legislature by whom a Law is passed and some Provision made out of the Provincial Treasury for the erecting a Publick Hospital or Infirmary under the Direction of a Corporation by whom we have lately been Elected the managers. But as the Publick Funds are not sufficient to answer the expense of endowing it, a Charitable subscription for that Purpose hath been proposed and begun with good Success. The Necessity and Advantages of this Institution are so Apparent that Persons of all Ranks unite very heartily in promoting it and as Several of our most Eminent Physicians and Surgeons have freely offered their Service for some years We have Good grounds to expect that this Undertaking may be of General Service much sooner than was at first expected and that our Legislature will soon make a further provision for the Building which we apprehend it will be prudent to contrive and erect in such manner as to Admit of such Additions as the Future State of the Province may require. The Principal Difficulty we now labour under is the want of a commodious Lott of Ground in a healthy Situation for (tho' we have so great encouragement as we have mentioned) yet we cannot flatter ourselves with Speedily raising a Sum Sufficient to enable us to provide for all other necessary charges and to purchase a Suitable piece of Ground so near the built part of the City as the constant attendance of the Physicians and other considerations will necessarily require. We therefore are under the Necessity of laying the State of our Case before our Proprietors, and we hope the same Motives which have induced Others will have due Weight with them to promote this Good Work, and that they will generously direct a Piece of Ground to be allotted for this Service. There are several Lotts in different Parts of this City very suitable but from their Situation etc., are of great Value for other Purposes we have therefore thought of one which is in a part of the Town quite unimproved and where in all Probability there will be the Conveniency of an Open Air for many years, it is the vacant part of the Square between the Ninth and Tenth Streets from Delaware on the South side of Mulberry Street, and is 396 feet East and West, and 360 feet North and South. The Lotts in this part of the City have not advanced in Value for several Years Past, and are not likely to be soon settled so that we are in hopes if you will favor us with your Application for this Piece of ground you will meet with no difficulty in obtaining it. The Interest of the Proprietors and People are so nearly connected that it seems to us Self-evident that they mutually share in whatever contributes to the Prosperity and Advantage of the Province which consideration added to the satisfaction arising from Acts of Charity and Benevolence will we hope have so much Weight with them, as to render any other Argument Superfluous, but as your own prudence will suggest to you the most Effectual Method of solliciting this Address successfully we rely thereon so much as to think it unnecessary to add any thing more on this Occasion than that your Friendship therein will be exceedingly gratefull to Us and our Fellow Citizens in general, and next to obtaining the Lott We Ask for the most agreeable Service you can do us, is to Obtain a Speedy Answer, for the promoting this Undertaking appears to us so necessary that all concerned therein are unanimous in determining to prepare for the Building early in the Spring of next year We are, with much respect, your obliged, real friends. LONDON, 18th, 1st Mo., 1752. Esteemed Friends.-We received yours the sixth July past, and the address which it brought was by us delivered to Thomas Penn, Esquire, unto which we most readily joined what interest we have with him and his brother, to grant your request of a piece of ground, whereon to build the proposed Hospital in your City; and we make no doubt but Joshua Crosby hath informed you of what his answer was, and also of what Thomas Hyam and Son wrote him from time to time on the subject; and now we have the pleasure to acquaint you that yesterday we received a letter from him granting your request, a copy whereof is here under. We are your assured friends, THOMAS HYAM, SILVANUS BEVAN. Proprietors Gentlemen.-You may inform the directors of the Hospital at Philadelphia, offer another that we sent orders to the Governour, the nineteenth of December, by way of lot of ground. New England, to grant them a piece of ground to build the Hospital upon, though not the piece they asked, yet one of the same size, and where, if it should be necessary, we can grant them an addition. I Am, Gentlemen, your affectionate friend, To Messieurs Silvanus Bevan, and Thomas Hyam. THOMAS PENN. The Governor was pleased to favor the managers with a copy of the instructions he received upon this occasion, which, after due con Thomas and sideration, they made some observations upon, and sent to their agents. A copy of these several papers here follow in their order : THOMAS PENN, AND RICHARD PENN, TRUE AND ABSOLUTE PROPRIETARIES OF THE PROVINCE OF PENNSYLVANIA, AND OF THE COUNTIES of New Penn, Esqrs', CASTLE, KENT, and Sussex, on DELAWARE, IN AMERICA. Charter and To James Hamilton, esquire, our lieutenant governor of our said province and grant of a counties, and to all other persons whom these presents may concern, greeting. piece of Whereas it has been represented unto us, that there is a want in our said ground. province of a common Hospital, or Infirmary, for the relief of such poor as are afflicted with curable diseases; and that many of the good inhabitants thereof, to supply that defect, and out of a tender and charitable regard to their fellow creatures, had voluntarily subscribed, and were still subscribing, large sums of money, towards a stock for the support of such a Hospital; and that the assembly there, being petitioned by a number of the inhabitants of all ranks and denominations, had already granted two thousand pounds, for the founding, building, and furnishing thereof; and that the persons who had contributed towards the stock thereof, or many of them, had, in the month of July past, chosen certain persons to be managers of the said intended Hospital. And whereas the said managers had addressed us, laying the said affair before us, in confidence that so good and pious an undertaking would not fail of our approbation, and hoping, from the accustomed bounty of our family in encouraging former designs of public utility to the people of our said province, the present would also receive our kind assistance; and that as private persons raised the stock to support the Hospital, and the assembly were to build the house, so that we would be pleased to favour the said managers with the grant of a piece of ground for the buildings and necessary accommodations for the said Hospital; and also requesting our sentiments, if anything should occur to us that we might think of service with respect to the management or rules of the said Hospital : Know ye therefore, that we, having taken the premises into our consideration, and approving and greatly favouring the said general scheme and intention, and being desirous to aid and assist the same, as conceiving that the due execution thereof may tend to the relief of many poor and necessitous persons in our said province and to the general benefit and advantage of the same, have resolved to incorporate the present and future subscribers by our grant of incorporation; and at the same time to grant unto such corporation so incorporated, a valuable tract of land in a proper place within our good city of Philadelphia. In order whereto, we do by these presents, give, grant, and commit unto you, our said lieutenant governour, full power, commission, and authority, by one instrument or grant of incorporation, to be issued in our names, and to be sealed with the great seal of our said province, to incorporate and erect into a body politick or corporate, by such name or title as to you shall seem most apt and convenient, all and every such persons, who already have subscribed and paid, or at any time hereafter shall subscribe and pay the sum of ten pounds or more, of current money of our said province, towards the founding and establishing a Hospital for the reception and relief of lunaticks, and other distempered and sick poor within our said province, such corporation to have continuance to such contributors and their successours for ever; and to grant all usual, common, proper and reasonable powers of a corporation unto such corporation, and their successors; and particularly for the making of such reasonable and lawful by-laws, rules and orders, as to the said corporation, or the major part of them, when duly assembled in :such manner as shall be therein appointed, shall seem useful and necessary for the well ordering, regulating and governing the said Hospital; for the regulation of the future elections of managers, treasurer or treasurers, and other necessary Charter from officers and ministers thereof; for limiting their numbers, trusts, and authorities, Proprietors. and the times and durations of their respective continuance in their offices, and the causes and manner of removing any of them (if occasion should require) and generally, for the well ordering all other matters and things, any way relating to or concerning the good government, estate, lands, rents, revenues, interest, monies and goods, and all other the business and affairs of the said Hospital, and of the poor therein, and of the officers and ministers thereof. And also to grant, that all such by-laws, rules and orders, so to be made as aforesaid, shall be from time to time inviolably observed by all concerned, according to the tenour and effect of them, provided they be reasonable in themselves, not repugnant to the laws of Great Britain, or of our said province, and be first approved by us, or such of us, our heirs or assigns, proprietaries of our said province, as shall for the time being be in America, and by the chief justice, and speaker of the assembly for the time being, under our and their hands and seals, in case we, or either of us, or the heirs or assigns of us, or either of us, or any of them, shall for the time being happen to be in America; but in case we, or either of us, nor any of the heirs or assigns of either of us, proprietaries of our said province, shall happen from time to time to be in America, then being first approved by and under the hands and seals of the governour or lieutenant governour, the chief justice, the speaker of the assembly, and the attorney general of our said province for the time being, or by any three of them. And also to grant and appoint such persons to be present and immediate officers of such corporation (until a future election of new ones) as have already been chosen and appointed by the subscribers thereto, and to grant power to the said corporation, and to their successours, to take and receive, and to hold and enjoy, for the use of the said corporation, any lands, tenements or hereditaments within our said province, not exceeding in the whole the yearly value of one thousand pounds at the time of such taking of the gift, grant, alienation, bequest or devise of any person or persons whatsoever; and also to take, receive, hold and enjoy, any goods or chattels, to any value whatsoever; and to grant unto the said corporation power to use a common seal for the business of the -said corporation, and the same at pleasure to alter and change; but you are in such our grant of incorporation to insert one or more express provisoes and conditions, that no general meeting of the members of such corporations, or any persons acting under them, shall sell or convert into money, any real estate, given or to be given to the said corporation (unless directed so to do by the donor or donors of the same) nor shall employ or dispose of any principal money or other effects, which are or shall be given or added for the purpose of increasing of the capital stock of the said corporation in any other manner than by applying the annual rent, revenue, income, or interest of the same, towards the entertainment and .cure of the sick and distempered poor, that shall from time to time be brought and placed in or under the care of the said Hospital, and the officers and ministers thereof, for the cure of their diseases, from any part of our said province, without partiality or preference. And also that fair, full, and plain accounts in writing, of all subscriptions, benefactions, donations, and gifts of every kind to the said corporation, and of the disposal, employment and disbursements of the same, and of the rents, revenues, incomes, interest and produce arising therefrom, and of the disposal thereof, and of all salaries paid to any officers or servants, shall constantly lie open in some publick part of the Hospital, for the free view and inspection, at all times in the day, of any subscriber or contributor, and that an account of the same, signed by three or more of the managers, be, from time to time, once Grant in the month of October, in every year, published in the Gazette, or other newspaper, printed in our said province, for the information of all persons. And that the books, accounts, affairs, economy, disposition, and management of the said Hospital, and of all the estate, rents, revenues, and interest thereof, and of all the managers, treasurers, officers, ministers and servants thereof, and every matter and thing relating to the same, or to any of them, and all abuses concerning the same (if any such should ever happen) shall at all times be subject to the inspection, free examination and reformation of such visitors, not exceeding four in number, as we, our heirs or assigns, proprietaries of the said province, or the lieutenant governour of the said province for the time being, shall from time to time appoint, so as the chief justice, and the speaker of the assembly of our said province for the time being, be always two of such visitors. "And we do hereby give, grant and commit to you, our said lieutenant governor, further power, commission, and authority, in and by the same instrument or grant of incorporation to be so issued as aforesaid, to give and grant unto, and for the use of the said corporation, and their successors for ever, all that part of the square or parcel of vacant land, in our said city of Philadelphia, hereinafter described: that is to say, all that piece or parcel of land situated, lying, and being on the north side of Sassafras street, between Sixth and Seventh streets from Delaware, containing from east to west on Sassafras street three hundred and ninety-six feet, or thereabouts, little more or less, and from south to north, on Sixth and Seventh streets, three hundred feet, and bounding northward on other vacant land, part of the same square, reserved to us, to hold unto, and to the use of the said corporation and their successours, to and for the use of the said Hospital for ever, rendering to the hands of our receiver-general, and of the receiver-general of us, our heirs, or assigns, proprietaries of the said provinces for the time being, in our said province, for our use, the yearly rent of five shillings of lawful money of Great Britain on the first day of March in each and every year henceforth for ever, under a declared and express proviso and condition to be contained in such grant of incorporation, that if, at any time hereafter, there shall not be a constant succession of contributors to meet yearly and choose managers and officers, then the, said tract of land thereby to be granted, shall revert and return to us, our heirs and assigns, proprietaries of our said province, as in our first and former estate. And you are to insert in such grant, all such other proper clauses and matters, not contrary to, or inconsistent with, the directions hereby given, as to you shall seem proper and reasonable; and particularly for the enrolment of the said grant in the master of the rolls office in Philadelphia. For which, this shall be to you our sufficient warrant, commission, and authority. Given under our hands and seals, this twenty-eighth day of October, one thousand seven hundred and fifty-one. THOMAS PENN, L. S. The proposed grant was respectfully but firmly declined; and the following "Remarks" made thereon, written by Franklin, were sent with a letter to Messrs, Hyam and Bevan, July 2, 1752. The design of the hospital being (in itself) so beneficent, and our honorable declined as proprietaries having fully expressed their approbation of it in strong terms, as unsuitable. well as declared their kind intentions of aiding and assisting it, by granting a valuable tract of land, in a proper place, for a Hospital; all therefore that seems necessary for us to do, is to convince our honourable proprietaries, that the |