Upon this second Riot, the Sheriff & those Justices, then present, made a Record thereof, on their own View, ag the s Roberts & 57. Others by Name, Inhabitants of the Countys of Essex & Morris, & Others, to them unknown, to the Number of 300, at the least. The Gent of the Co! considering that most of the People concerned in the s Riots, are an ignorant People, & greatly imposed on, by a few wicked & designing Men, conceiving that a Gen! Pardon, for the Crimes past, together with the s Riot Act, wo be the easiest & most effectual Method, to restore & secure the Peace of the Province, & knowing that Mercy to Criminals, ought to flow from the Crown, Some of them, therefore, interceded with the then Gov! to grant a Gen Pardon, w'ch he seemed inclinable to do. By Affid's taken May 3d & 8th 1746, It appears that the Infection of the Riots was spreading into West Jersey; For that the People settled on that Hundred thousand Acre Tract, in the County of Hunterdon, belonging to those Proprietors in & abo! London, called the West New Jersey Society, within a fortnight then last past, had two great Meetings, in Order to stand by One Another in Defence of their Poss'ions ag the s Prop" (tho' by the Paper C. No 8, it appears that those People do own the Societys Title to that Tract, & that they themselves had no Pretence of Right to the same; That they had agreed to a Paper, for that Purpose, & about 70. had signed it, at their Meeting on the 26th Day of April; That an Article was, That if any Person, seated on the sa Tract, sho refuse to sign that Paper, he sho! be dispossesed, by the Rest, & his Improvem! sold, by them to the highest Bidder, That sundry People, from Newark, & Eliza Town, were reported to have been present at the last of those Meetings, That, about Ten or a Dozen of them observed to be riding, continually, backwards & forwards, to & from Newark, Elizabeth Town & Cohanzey, where the Society have other Lands, & it was believed in Order to unite all, in One Combination. . . . By these appear, Designs formed by the same Rioters for turning many other People out of Poss'ion by Force. It appears that they had erected Courts of Judicature, & determined Causes, by hearing One Side, but intended for the future, to hear both Sides; That they had taken upon them to Choose their Militia Officers. By these appears how they buoy themselves up, with their Numbers, Friends & Strength, not only in New Jersey, but in New York, Long Island, Penilv & New England; and that they are not afraid of any Thing the Governm! can do to them; And give out that, from their Numbers, Violences & unlawful Actions, its to be inferred that, surely they are wronged & oppressed, or else they would never rebell ag the Laws. By these appears Information, That the People on the Societys Tract, had made a firm Agreement, to defend all their Farms there by Mobb, and that Maidenhead, & great Numbers of others, had joyned in firm Engagements to stand by one another to Death, tho' they have no Pretence to any Right but Poss'ion & Improvem! And that they were resolved shoa they be opposed by Fire Arms, to take up Fire Arms to defend theirselves That they would not mind either the Gov! or the King himself, if of a different Way of thinking from them; And that the King himself was unable to quell Mobs in England, any other Way than by granting their Desires. . . By these it appears, that the Rioters had formed a Design of coming to Burlington (where the sev! Branches of the Legislature are sitting) in a Body on the 16th Day of December, & that Advertisements, to give Notice of that Design to the Rioters, had been set up, in sundry Places, requiring their Attendance, for that Purpose. The Co! & Assembly, on Notice of that Design, in a free Conference, agreed to make Resolves of their sev! Houses ag! it, & to send them to the Sheriffs of the sev! Countys, from & thro' which, the Rioters were likely to come, to publish, Which was accordingly done, And we have been credibly informed, that many of the Rioters were on their Way, coming, but, on Notice of sd Resolves, returned. . . . On the 18th of Feb'ry 1747, His Exc! gave his Assent to two Acts that had before been past by the Co!! & Assembly viz! An Act for the suppressing & preventing of Riots, Tumults & other Disorders, within this Colony, by w'ch Penaltys or Imprisonm are enacted to be inflicted upon Persons that shall be guilty of any of the like Disturbance for the future, & ano! Act intitled, An Act for avoiding Actions of Slander & for Stay of Proceedings until the 1st Day of Octo! 1748, in other Civil Actions ag the late Rioters. ... The Day before, to witt, the 17th Day of Feb 1747, His Ex the Gov! passed His Majty most gracious Pardon, Entitled, An Act to pardon the Persons guilty of the Insurrections, Riots & Disorders raised & committed in this Province. ... By the Atty Gen! Certificate it appears that no more than Nine Persons have made any Application to him, for the Benefit of the sa Pardon, & as the Fees of Prosecution were payable to him, no more than those 9. Persons who have been prosecuted, have intituled themselves to that Pardon, Yet those who have accepted & complyed with the other Pro visoes in the Pardon ment its conceiv'd are intitled to more Favour than those who have persisted without any Complyance. ... . . . By this Depos" also appears, some of the Means that the Rioters use, to bring & keep People into their Combinations, to witt, Threats to pull down their Houses, if they did not joyn them, & the Fears of Death if they fell from their Engagem's with them. By these Depositions appears, more of the Rioters Endeavours, & Ways of drawing innocent People, into their Combines & that the Rioters pay Taxes to their Comtees That One Rioter had sayd, he had payd so much from Time to Time, as with a Tax of 13 then layd on him, would have been suffic! to have bought his Plantation By this Depos" also appears a continual Destruction & Waste of Timber, carryed on by the Rioters for three Years past, upon some Thousands of acres of Land belong to P'sons therein named, which before that, were the best timbered Lands in New Jersey, but now, none good left on them, that a Team can easily approach - By this & the other Dispositions it appears that the Rioters of particular Places, have got Captains over them who they call by that Name, & that the said Amos Roberts seems to be the Chief Captain of the whole Rioters in this Province. It appears not to the Council, that any One Poss'ion forcibly entred upon, & detained by, the Rioters, dur these Disturbances, has been restored to the Owners, pursuant to the Tenor of the Pardon afs & they have good Reason to believe that no One has been restored, but all are Forcibly detained to this Day. On the 1 Day of this instant December, the Co of Prop" of East New Jersey, presented a Mem! & Representation to the Gov! Co!! & Assembly, Setting Forth the miserable State of this Province, for that the Laws have, long ceased to be a Protect" to His Majty good Subjects therein, & the Right of the People to that Protection, & to expect that the Legislature of this Province will, at this Time, effectually interpose to enable the Officers of the Gov'm to carry the Laws of the Land into Execution. William A. Whitehead, editor, Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey (Newark, 1883), VII, 207-225 passim. 31. Politics in Pennsylvania (1740-1754) BY ROBERT PROUD (1780) Robert Proud, one of the few careful and laborious historians who wrote of their own times, was a loyalist. — Bibliography: Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, V, 242-246; Channing and Hart, Guide, § 108. D URING the administration of Governor Thomas, it is observed that the enlisting of indented or bought servants, for soldiers, was first permitted to be carried into execution, in the province, before the act of parliament, in that case, was made; which being disagreeable and injurious to many of the inhabitants, and contrary to ancient usage, John Wright, one of the people called Quakers, a worthy Magistrate of Lancaster county, and a Member of Assembly for the same, having spoke his mind freely against it, in the Assembly, was, therefore, with divers others, dismissed from his office, as a Judge, by a new commission which came out for Lancaster without his name; before which, having got intelligence of the intention, he came to the court, in May, 1741, and took his leave thereof, in a valedictory speech. . . . Thomas Penn, after this, on the death of his brother John, in 1746, became the principal Proprietor, and possessed of three fourths of the province. He lived the longest of the three brothers; but he appears never to have been very popular, in the province : he is said, in general, to have conducted himself rather too much reserved towards the people, and too nearly attached to certain views, for his private interest, in reference to the province; which are things opposite to popularity. Besides, the imprudence of some persons in the province, in order to shew their dislike at some part of his conduct, which did not please them, tended to create and increase a similar disposition, where the contrary ought the more to have been cultivated and cherished; but, in general, he was a person of a worthy character, and of moderate principles. In the fifth year of Governor Thomas's administration, in October, 1742, at the annual election, for the Members of Assembly, in Phila delphia, happened such an instance of the unwarrantable effect of party spirit, as, at that time, made a lasting impression on the minds of many of the inhabitants. . . . a large number of sailors, from the shipping in the river Delaware, during the time of election (not being any way interested, or, of right, concerned therein) armed with clubs, suddenly and unexpectedly appeared, in a tumultuous manner, and formed a riot, at the place of election, knocking down a great number of the people, both Magistrates, Constables and others, worthy and reputable inhabitants, who opposed them; and, by violence having cleared the ground, several of the people were carried off, as dead! : This was repeatedly done, upon the return of the electors; till, at last, many of the inhabitants, being enraged, took measures to force them into their ships, and near fifty of them into prison; but they were soon discharged for it afterwards appeared, that they had been privately employed, in this work, by some party leaders; it being then in time of war, when consequently party spirit, which is so nearly allied to it, and, in the extreme, ends in the same, was encouraged to make greater efforts, to distract the public proceedings, and under this Governor's administration, by more ways than one, to divert the established form of the constitution, from its peaceable order and course, into that of its opposite nature; in which an increasing party here, since that time, though generally under the most specious and plausible pretences, have ever appeared to take delight: for change is grateful to the human race; and, probably, no government of mankind is, at all times, entirely free from factious spirits; and a large number will always be found, especially where much liberty abounds, which is only proper for the wise and good, whose interest, as well as pleasure, it will ever be to favour revolutional consequences. During Governor Thomas's administration, the Indian affairs, seem mostly to have been well managed, and harmony continued with that people; which has always been a matter of great importance, as well as expence to this province. But, as before observed, his ardour, in pressing some things of a military nature, appears to have introduced unprofitable altercation between him and the Assembly, during part of his administration; which naturally tends to disappointment and dislike, between parties of such opposite and fixed principles, and so very different views of advancing the public utility, as those of Governor Thomas, and the Assemblies of Pennsylvania were, at that time; but afterwards, for divers years before his resignation, which was in the summer of the year 1747, a much better understanding existed between them. In consequence of Governor Thomas's resignation, the administration, as usual, devolved on the Council, Anthony Palmer being President, till November, 1748; when James Hamilton, of Pennsylvania, arrived Governor from England; a gentleman of considerable fortune in the province, and well esteemed by the people: he was the son of Andrew |