actually coming to pass, who yet with the same Breath advise that all the Governments on the Continent be form'd into one, by being brought under one Vice-Roy, and into one Assembly. For surely if we in earnest believ'd that there was or would be hereafter a Disposition in the Provinces to Rebel and declare themselves Independent, it would be good Policy to keep them disunited; because if it were possible they could contrive so wild and rash an Undertaking, yet they would not be hardy enough to put it in Execution, unless they could first strengthen themselves by a Confederacy of all the Parts. . . . THE Sum of my Argument is, That the Benefit which Great-Britain receives from the Plantations, arises from their Commerce: That Oppression is the most opposite Thing in the World to Commerce, and the most destructive Enemy it can have: That Governours have in all Times, and in all Countries, bin too much inclin'd to oppress: And consequently, it cannot be the Interest of the Nation to increase their Power, and lessen the Liberties of the People. I am so sanguine in this Opinion, that I really think it would be for the Service of the Crown and Nation to incorporate those Governments which have no Charters, rather than Disfranchize those that have. THE last Thing I propos'd to consider was, how far it may be consistent with Justice, to deprive the Colonies of their Charters, without giving them a fair Tryal or any previous Notice. . The 4th Proposition, That it seems inconsist ent with Justice to Disfranchise the Charter Col onies by an Act of Parliament. It seems therefore a Severity without a Precedent, that a People who have the Misfortune of being a Thousand Leagues distant from their Sovereign, a Misfortune great enough in it self, should UNSUMMON'D, UNHEARD, IN ONE DAY be depriv'd of all their valuable Privileges, which they and their Fathers have enjoy'd for near a Hundred Years. It's true, the Legislative Power is absolute and unaccountable, and King, Lords and Commons may do what they please; but the Question here is not about Power, but Right: And shall not the Supream Judicature of all the Nation do right? One may say, that what the Parliament can't do justly, they can't do at all. In maximis minima est licentia. The higher the Power is, the greater Caution is to be us'd in the Execution of it, because the Sufferer is helpless and without Resort. Jer[emiah] Dummer, A Defence of the New-England Charters (London, 1721), 35-76 passim. 49. "A Short Discourse on the Present State of the Colonies" (1728) BY GOVERNOR SIR WILLIAM KEITH Keith was the last governor of Pennsylvania commissioned by Penn himself. Bibliography: Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, V, 240-258; Channing and Hart, Guide, § 133. WHE 7HEN either by Conquest or Encrease of People, Foreign Provinces are possessed, & Colonies planted abroad, it is convenient & often necessary to substitute little Dependant Governments, whose People by being enfranchised, & made Partakers of the Priviledges & Libities belonging to the Original Mother State, are justly bound by its Laws, & become subservient to its Interests as the true End of their Incorporation. Every Act of Dependant Provincial Governments ought therefore to Terminate in the Advantage of the Mother State, unto whom it ows its being, & Protection in all its valuable Priviledges, Hence it follows that all Advantageous Projects or Commercial Gains in any Colony, which are truly prejudicial to & inconsistent with the Interests of the Mother State, must be understood to be illegal, & the Practice of them unwarrantable, because they Contradict the End for which the Colony had a being, & are incompatible with the Terms on which the People Claim both Priviledges & Protection. Were these Things rightly understood amongst the Inhabitants of the British Colonies in America, there wou'd be less Occasion for such Instructions & Strict Prohibitions, as are dayly sent from England to regulate their Conduct in many Points; the very Nature of the King wou'd be sufficient to direct their Choice in cultivating such Parts of Industry & Commerce only as wou'd bring some Advantage to the Interest & Trade of Great Britain, & they wou'd soon find by Experience that this was the solid & true Foundation whereon to build a real Interest in their Mother Country, & the certain Means to acquire Riches without Envy. On the Other Hand where the Government of a Provincial Colony is well regulated, & all its business & Commerce truly adapted to the proper End, & design of its First Settlement; Such a Province like a Choice Branch, springing from the Main Root ought to be carefully nourish'd, & its just Interest well guarded; No little Partial Project or Party Gain, shou'd be Suffered to affect it, but rather it ought to be considered & weigh'd in the General Ballance of the whole State as a usefull & profitable Member. For such is the End of all Colonies, & if this Use cannot be made of them, it wou'd be much better for the State to be without them. . . . From what has been said of the Nature of Colonies & the restriction that ought to be laid on their Trade, is in [it is] plain that none of the English Plantations in America can with any reason or good sence pretend to claim an Absolute Legislative Power within themselves; so that let their several Constitutions be founded on Ancient Charters, Royal Patent, Custom, Prescription or what other Legal Authority You please, yet still they cannot be possessed of any rightfull Capacity to contradict or evade the force of any Act of Parliament wherewith the Wisdom of Great Britain may think fit to effect them from time to time, & in discoursing of their Legislative Power (improperly so called in a dependant Government) we are to consider them only as so many Corporations at a distance invested with Ability to make Temporary By Laws for themselves agreeable to their Respective Situations & Clymates, but no ways interfering with the Legal Prerogative of the Crown or the true Legislative Power of the Mother State. If the Governors & General Assemblys of the Several Colonies wou'd be pleas'd to consider themselves in this Light, one wou'd think it was impossible that they wou'd be so weak as to fancy, they represented the King, Lords & Commons of Great Britain within their little Districts; And indeed the useless or rather hurtfull & inconsistent Constitution of a Negative Council in all the Kings Provincial Governments has it is beleived contributed to lead them into this mistake, For so long as the King [h]as reserved unto himself in his Privy Council the Consideration of, & Negative upon all their Laws, the Method of appointing a few of the Richest & Proudest Men in a small Colony as an upper House, with a Negative on the Proceedings of the King's Lieutenant Governor, & the People's Representations seem not only to Cramp the natural Liberty of the Subject there, but also the Kings Just Power & Prerogative. . . . It is generally acknowledged in the Plantations that the Subject is entituled by Birth & Right unto the benefit of the Common Law of England, but then as the common Law has been altered from time to time, & restricted by Statutes it is still a Question in many of the American Courts of Judicature wether any of the English Statutes which do not particularly mention the Plantations can be of Force there until they brought it over by some Act of Assembly in that Colony where they are pleaded; And this creates such Confusion, that according to the Art or influence of the Lawyers, before Judges who by their Education are but indifferently Qualified for that Service, they allow the Force of the particular Statutes, and at other times reject the whole especially if the Bench is inclinable to be partial, which too often happens in those new & unsettled Countries; & as Mens Liberties & Properties in any Country chiefly depend on an impartial and Equal Administration of Justice, this is one of the most Material Grievances which the Subjects of America have just Cause to complain of; But while for the want of Schools & other proper Instructions, in the Principles of Moral Vertue, their People are not so well Qualified even to serve upon Juries, & much less to Act on a Bench of Judicature, It seems impracticable to provide a Remedy until a Sufficient Revenue be found out amongst them to support the Charges of sending Judges from England to take their Circuits by turns, on the several Colonies on the Main, which if thought worthy of a Consideration will appear neither to be improper nor unpracticable; & until that can be done all other Attempts to rectify their Courts of Law will be fruitless, & may therefore be Suspended. . . . A Militia in an Arbitrary & Tyrannical Government may possibly be of some Service to the Governing Power, but we learn by Experience that in a free Country, 'tis of little Use; the People in the Plantations are so few in proportion to the Lands, which they possess, that Servants being scarce, & Slaves so excessively dear, the Men are generally under a necessity there to work hard themselves in Order to provide the common necessary's of Life for their Families, so that they cannot Spare a days time without great loss to their Interest. . . . ... The Wisdom of the Crown of Britain therefore by keeping its Colonies in that Situation is every [very] much to be applauded while they continue so; it is morally impossible that any dangerous Union shou'd be form'd among them, because their Interest in Trade & all manner of Business, being entirely seperated by their Independancy, every Advantage that is lost or neglected by one Colony is immediately picked up by another, & the Emulation that continually subsists between them in all manner of Intercourse & Traffick, is ever productive of Envys, Jealousies & Cares how to gain upon each others Conduct in Government or Trade, Every one thereby endeavouring to magnifie their Pretentions to the Favour of the Crown by becoming more usefull than their Neighbours to the Intèrest of Great Britain. . . All that has been said with Respect to the Improvement of the Plantations, will it is supposed signifie but very little unless a Sufficient Revenue can be raised to support the needfull Expences, in Order to which it is humbly submitted whether the Duties of Stamps upon Parchment & Paper in England, may not with good reason be extended by Act of Parliament to all the American Plantations. William Byrd, The History of the Dividing Line, between Virginia and North Carolina, etc. (edited by Thomas H. Wynne, Richmond, 1866), II, 215-227 passim. 50. Various Kinds of Colonial Government (1747) BY DOCTOR WILLIAM DOUGLASS Douglass was a physician and savant in Boston; he wrote much, assembling in confused form much of his learning in his Summary. His strong prejudices are manifest, but he is a valuable witness. - Bibliography: Tyler, American Literature, II, 151-157; H. L. Osgood, in American Historical Review, II, 644, III, 31, 244. General Remarks concerning the British Colonies in America. THE `HE Subject-Matters of this Section according to my first Plan are prolix, being various and copious, and perhaps would be the most curious and informing Piece of the Performance to some Readers; but as many of our Readers in these Colonies seem impatient for our entring upon the Affairs of their several Settlements, we shall contract the present Section, and shall defer several Articles to the Appendix ; such as, the Rise, Progress, and present State of the pernicious PaperCurrencies; some Account of the prevailing or Endemial Diseases in our North-America Colonies, and many other loose Particulars, the various Sectaries in Religion, which have any Footing in our American Colonies shall be enumerated in the Section of Rhode Island, where we find all Degrees of Sectaries (some perhaps not known in Europe) from NO RELIGION to that of the most wild Enthusiasts. Religious Affairs, so far as they may in some Manner appertain to the Constitution of the Colonies, do make an Article in this Section. . . . ... Concerning the general Nature and Constitution of British North A' American Colonies. LL our American Settlements are properly Colonies, not Provinces as they are generally called: Province respects a conquered People (the Spaniards in Mexico and Peru may perhaps in Propriety |