Page images
PDF
EPUB

66

Colony, and to such other public Uses, and in such "Sort Manner and Form as by Acts of the General "Assembly of this Colony shall hereafter be directed." The fund and Security for the Redemption of the Bills are by Mortgages in at least double the Value in Lands, and in at least three Times the Value in Houses, as is particularly set forth and explain'd in Pages 8 & 9, and other Parts of the Bill.

As a Majority of the principal Inhabitants of the Colony are of Opinion, that there is a great Necessity for an Act of this Nature, and are very anxious to obtain it, I have no doubt but the Council and Assembly will at their next Meeting, pass such another, and press for my Assent. It would therefore be a Furtherance of Business, as well as a great Ease to me, if His Majesty's Pleasure, with regard to any Alterations or Amendments of this Bill, could be known by that Time, which I expect will be the latter End of May or Beginning of June at farthest.—The form of the Paper Bills, viz "This Bill by Law shall pass current, &c. I apprehend should be altered, as it seems to imply a legal Tender, and I believe the Assembly will readily agree to such an Alteration as it was not their Intention to make the Money, to be issued by this Act, a legal Tender; and they thought that they had Sufficiently provided against its being so, by leaving out the Clause for that Purpose which had been always inserted in the former Laws for Emitting Paper Money. The following Form, perhaps, would remove the Objection, viz [This Bill shall be taken in the Loan Offices in New Jersey for in any Payment for the Discharge of Mortgages taken in the said Offices by Virtue of an Act of Assembly made in the Ninth Year of the Reign of King George the III. Dated 1769.]-With regard to the Appropriation, if His Majesty should chuse to have the whole Sum appropriated to Purposes to be particularly mentioned in the Act, rather than to be left, as

at present to the Disposition of future Acts of the Legislature, and will be pleas'd to specify what those Purposes should be, and the particular sums which should be allotted for each, it is probable that the Assembly will acquiesce, in Consideration of the public Advantages which they expect from the Act. What

I before said on this Head, in my Letter No 9, need not be repeated here; your Lordship will of course pay that Attention to it which you may think it deserves. -As to the Fund and Security for the Redemption of the Bills, they are quite Sufficient, and I really believe that the Sum requested, in Addition to our present Currency, is not so large as to endanger the Value of it in the least;-on the contrary, much more seems wanted for a Medium of Commerce, and to promote the Improvement of lands, &c.

I cannot account for the Petition of the House of Representatives of this Colony, not being presented to His Majesty. I have heard that the Speaker transmitted it to the Agent for that Purpose, soon after the House were prorogued. The proper Channel for it to pass (as your Lordship justly observes) was through me, and why they did not desire me to transmit it, as they did their Address to His Majesty on the Repeal of the Stamp Act, I cannot say, unless it was owing to a Suspicion that I should object to the Contents, and therefore decline complying with their Request.Their Publishing it, however, before they knew it had been presented, is certainly very blameable; nor do I know what they could offer in their Vindication, if they were in Being;-but that Assembly, as I before inform'd your Lordship, have been since dissolv'd and a new one chosen.

I sincerely wish that the happy Unanimity which your Lordrhip mentions to have prevail'd in both Houses of Parliament, in their Addresses to the King, may be attended with those good Effects in the Colo

nies your Lordship hopes for, and so far as my Endeavors can in anyways contribute thereto they shall not be wanting.

M: Skinner, the Speaker of the late House of Representatives of this Colony, has sent me the enclosed Copy of a Letter which he receiv'd since the Dissolution of the House from the Speaker of the Assembly in Virginia. As the new Assembly for this Province when they meet, will probably incline to have this Letter laid before them, and to answer it, notwithstanding any Thing I can urge to persuade them to the contrary; and as it is of the same Nature with the Circular Letter from the Speaker of the Assembly of the Massachuset's Bay, I shall be glad to know His Majesty's Pleasure Whether in case the Assembly determine upon Receiving and Answering it, I should prevent their Proceedings thereon by a Prorogation or Dissolution.

I have likewise receiv'd from M: Skinner the two first Volumes of the printed Laws of this Colony and all of those which have been since printed that he can collect. They are too bulky to send by the Post to go by this Packet: I shall therefore take the first opportunity of transmitting them by a Vessel from Philadelphia.

The late Increase of the Royal Family' is an Event that could not but afford the greatest Satisfaction to me, and the rest of His Majesty's Subjects within this Province. I am extremely oblig'd to your Lordship for the Intelligence, and heartily congratulate you upon the joyful Occasion.

I have the Honor to be, with the greatest Respect, My Lord, Your Lordship's most obedient

& most humble Servant

WM FRANKLIN

The birth of the Princess Augusta Sophia, November 8, 1708.

Letter from the Earl of Hillsborough to Gov. Franklin, relative to the bill of the New Jersey Assembly for issuing £100,000.

Sir,

[From P. R. O. America and West Indies, Vol. 174 (192).]

WHITEHALL. March the 22nd 1769.

Governor of New Jersey.

I have received and laid before the King, your letter of the 28th of January, containing observations upon a Bill, (inclosed therein) for issuing One Hundred Thousand Pounds in paper Bills of Credit upon Loan.

This letter and the Bill therein referred to, have been by His Majesty's Command communicated to the Lords of Trade for their Consideration, and I shall not fail to transmit to you, by the earliest opportunity, such instructions as His Majesty shall think fit to give you, in consequence of their Lordships' report.

With regard to the letter from the Speaker of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, mentioned in your dispatch of the 28th of January, it is impossible to foresee in what manner it may be treated by the Assembly, in case they should take up the Consideration of it, and therefore I cannot give you any precise instructions upon that head; If however their Proceedings upon this letter should be of such a disrespectfull and unwarrantable Nature as to amount to a denial of the authority of the Legislature to enact Laws binding upon the Colonies in all cases whatsoever, it will certainly become you to shew a proper resentment of such Conduct; But it is His Majesty's Pleasure that you should exert your utmost endeavours to reduce the Minds of His Subjects in New Jersey to that

just confidence in His Government, which a calm and dispassionate consideration of it, cannot fail of making them see the strongest foundation for.

Your letters N 13 & 14. were received yesterday, and have been laid before the King, and I shall be very glad if your letter No 13, so far as it is intended to be a fair and candid justification of your own Conduct, shall produce in His Majesty's Mind the effect you wish.

I am &c

HILLSBOROUGH

Order of the Lords of the Committee of Council for Plantation Affairs, directing the preparation of Drafts of Instructions to the Governors of the several Colonies and Plantations in America for regulating their conduct in respect to bills for raising money by way of lottery.

L. S.

[From P. R. O. B. T. Plantations General, Vol. 30 (28), V. 16.]

AT THE COUNCIL CHAMBER WHITEHALL
THE 24TH DAY OF APRIL 1769.

By the Right Honourable the Lords of the
Committee of Council for plantation Affairs.

His Majesty having been pleased to referr unto this Committee, a Representation from the Lords Commissioners for Trade and plantations, Dated the 7th of last Month, proposing (for the Reasons therein Contained) that proper Instructions should be Circulated to the Governors or Commanders in Chief of the several Colonies and plantations in America, directing them not to give their Assent to any Act of their re

« PreviousContinue »