The History of the Five Indian Nations of Canada Part 22

S E C T. XXII.

A N D our farther Pleasure is, and we do hereby, for us, our Heirs and Successors, charge and require, That if any of the Inhabitants of the said Province, to the Number of Twenty, shall at any Time hereafter be desirous, and shall by any Writing, or by any Person deputed by them, signify such their Desire to the Bishop of _London_ for the Time being, That any Preacher or Preachers, to be approved of by the said Bishop, may be sent unto them for their Instruction; That then such Preacher or Preachers shall and may reside within the said Province, without any Denial or Molestation whatsoever.

S E C T. XXIII.

A N D if perchance hereafter any Doubt or Question should arise, concerning the true Sense and Meaning of any Word, Clause, or Sentence contained in this our present Charter, we will, ordain, and command, That at all Times, and in all Things, such Interpretation be made thereof, and allowed in any of our Courts whatsoever, as shall be adjudged most advantageous and favourable unto the said _William Penn_, his Heirs and a.s.signs: Provided always no Interpretation be admitted thereof, by which the Allegiance due unto us, our Heirs and Successors, may suffer any Prejudice or Diminution; although express Mention be not made in these Presents of the true yearly Value, or Certainty of the Premisses, or any Part thereof, or of other Gifts and Grants made by us and our Progenitors or Predecessors unto the said _William Penn_: Any Statute, Act, Ordinance, Provision, Proclamation, or Restraint heretofore had, made, published, ordained, or provided, or any other Thing, Cause or Matter whatsoever, to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding. I N W I T N E S S whereof we have caused these our Letters to be made Patent: Witness O U R S E L F, at _Westminster_, the _Fourth_ Day of _March_, in the _three and thirtieth_ Year of our Reign.

_Annoque Domini One Thousand Six Hundred and Eighty-one_.

_By Writ of Privy Seal_,

P I G O T T.

The F R A M E of the Government of the Province of _Pensilvania_ in _America_: Together with certain L A W S agreed upon in _England_.

By the Governor and divers Freemen of the aforesaid Province. To be further explained and continued there, by the first Provincial Council that shall he held, if they see meet.

The P R E F A C E.

_W H E N the great and wise G O D had made the World, of all his Creatures it pleased him to chuse Man his Deputy to rule it; and to fit him for so great a Charge and Trust, he did not only qualify him with Skill and Power, but with Integrity to use them justly. This native Goodness was equally his Honour and his Happiness; and whilst he stood here, all went well; there was no need of coercive or compulsive Means; the Precept of divine Love and Truth in his Bosom was the Guide and Keeper of his Innocency. But l.u.s.t prevailing against Duty, made a lamentable Breach upon it; and the Law, that had before no Power over him, took place upon him and his disobedient Posterity, that such as would not live conformable to the holy Law within, should fall under the Reproof and Correction of the just Law without, in a judicial Administration._

_T H I S the Apostle teaches in divers of his Epistles:_ The Law (_says he_) was added because of Transgression: _In another Place_, Knowing that the Law was not made for the righteous Man; but for the disobedient and unG.o.dly, for Sinners, for unholy and prophane, for Murderers, for Wh.o.r.emongers, for them that defile themselves with Mankind, and for Men-stealers, for Liars, for perjured Persons, &c. _But this is not all, he opens and carries the Matter of Government a little further:_ Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers; for there is no Power but of G O D. The Powers that be are ordained of G O D: Whosoever therefore resisteth the Power, resisteth the Ordinance of G O D. For Rulers are not a Terror to good Works, but to evil: Wilt thou then not be afraid of the Power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have Praise of the same.--He is the Minister of G O D to thee for good.--Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for Wrath, but for Conscience sake.

_T h i s settles the divine Right of Government beyond Exception, and that for two Ends: First to terrify evil Doers; Secondly to cherish those that do well; which gives Government a Life beyond Corruption, and makes it as durable in the Word, as good Men shall be. So that Government seems to me a Part of Religion itself, a Thing sacred in its Inst.i.tution and End. For if it does not directly remove the Cause, it crushes the Effects of Evil, and is as such (though a lower yet) an Emanation of the same divine Power, that is both Author and Object of pure Religion; the Difference lying here, that the one is more free and mental, the other more corporal and compulsive in its Operations: But that is only to evil Doers; Government itself being otherwise as capable of Kindness, Goodness, and Charity, as a more private Society. They weakly err, that think there is no other Use of Government than Correction, which is the coa.r.s.est Part of it: Daily Experience tells us, that the Care and Regulation of many other Affairs, more soft and daily necessary, make up much the greatest Part of Government; and which must have followed the Peopling of the World, had_ Adam _never fell, and will continue among Men on Earth under the highest Attainments they may arrive at, by the coming of the blessed_ Second Adam, _the L O R D from Heaven. Thus much of Government in general, as to its Rise and End._

_F O R particular_ Frames _and_ Models, _it will become me to say little; and comparatively I will say nothing. My Reasons are:_ First, _That the Age is too nice and difficult for it; there being nothing the Wits of Men are more busy and divided upon. 'Tis true, they seem to agree in the End,_ to wit, _Happiness; but in the Means they differ, as to divine, so to this human Felicity; and the Cause is much the same, not always Want of Light and Knowledge, but Want of Using them rightly. Men side with their Pa.s.sions against their Reason, and their sinister Interests have so strong a Bia.s.s upon their Minds, that they lean to them against the good of the things they know._

Secondly, _I do not find a Model in the World, that Time, Place, and some singular Emergencies have not necessarily altered; nor is it easy to frame a civil Government, that shall serve all Places alike._

Thirdly, _I know what is said by the several Admirers of_ Monarchy, Aristocracy, _and_ Democracy, _which are the Rule of one, a few, and many, and are the three common Ideas of Government, when Men discourse on that Subject. But I chuse to solve the Controversy with this small Distinction, and it belongs to all three:_ Any Government is free to the People under it (_whatever be the Frame_) where the Laws rule, and the People are a Party to those Laws; _and more than this is Tyranny, Oligarchy, or Confusion_.

_BUT_ Lastly, _when all is said, there is hardly one Frame of Government in the World so ill designed by its first Founders, that in good Hands would not do well enough; and Story tells us, the best in ill ones can do nothing that is great or good; Witness the_ Jewish _and_ Roman _States. Governments, like Clocks, go from the Motion Men give them; and as Governments are made and moved by Men, so by them they are ruined too. Wherefore Governments rather depend upon Men, than Men upon Governments. Let Men be good, and the Government can't be bad; if it be ill, they will cure it. But if Men be bad, let the Government be never so good, they will endeavour to warp and spoil it to their Turn._

_I know some say, Let us have good Laws, and no matter for the Men that execute them: But let them consider, That though good Laws do well, good Men do better: For good Laws may want good Men, and be abolished or evaded by ill Men; but good Men will never want good Laws, nor suffer ill ones. 'Tis true, good Laws have some awe upon ill Ministers, but that is where they have no Power to escape or abolish them, and the People are generally wise and good: But a loose and depraved People (which is to the Question) love Laws and an Administration like themselves. That therefore which makes a good Const.i.tution, must keep it,_ viz. _Men of Wisdom and Virtue, Qualities, that because they descend not with worldly Inheritances, must be carefully propagated by a virtuous Education of Youth; for which After-Ages will owe more to the Care and Prudence of Founders and the successive Magistracy, than to their Parents for their private Patrimonies._

_THESE Considerations of the Weight of Government, and the nice and various Opinions about it, made it uneasy to me to think of publis.h.i.+ng the ensuing Frame and conditional Laws, foreseeing, both the Censures they will meet with from Men of differing Humours and Engagements, and the Occasion they may give of Discourse beyond my Design._

_BUT next to the Power of Necessity, (which is a Solicitor that will take no Denial) this induced me to a Compliance, that we have (with Reverence to G O D and good Conscience to Men) to the best of our Skill, contrived and composed the_ F R A M E and L A W S of this Government, _to the great End of all Government_, viz. To support Power in Reverence with the People, and to secure the People from the Abuse of Power; _that they may be free by their just Obedience, and the Magistrates honourable for their just Administration: For Liberty without Obedience is Confusion, and Obedience without Liberty is Slavery. To carry this Evenness is partly owing to the Const.i.tution, and partly to the Magistracy: Where either of these fail, Government will be subject to Convulsions; but where both are wanting, it must be totally subverted: Then where both meet, the Government is like to endure. Which I humbly pray, and hope_ G O D _will please to make the Lot of this of_ Pensilvania. _Amen._

William Penn.

_The_ F R A M E, &c.

T O A L L P E O P L E, To whom these Presents shall come. W H E R E A S King _C H A R L E S the Second_, by his Letters Patents, under the great Seal of _England_, for the Consideration therein mentioned, hath been graciously pleased to give and grant unto me _William Penn_ (by the Name of _William Penn_, Esq; Son and Heir of Sir _William Penn_ deceased) and to my Heirs and a.s.signs for ever, all that Tract of Land, or Province called _Pensilvania_, in _America_, with divers great Powers, Preheminences, Royalties. Jurisdictions, and Authorities, necessary for the Well-being and Government thereof: N O W K N O W Y E, That for the Well-being and Government of the said Province, and for the Encouragement of all the Freemen and Planters that may be therein concerned, in Pursuance of the Powers afore-mentioned, I the said _William Penn_ have declared, granted and confirmed, and by these Presents, for me, my Heirs and a.s.signs, do declare, grant and confirm unto all the Freemen, Planters and Adventurers, of, in and to the said Province, these Liberties, Franchises, and Properties, to be held, enjoyed and kept by the Freemen, Planters and Inhabitants of the said Province of _Pensilvania_ for ever.

I M P R I M I S.

T H A T the Government of this Province shall, according the Powers of the Patent, consist of the Governor and Freemen of the said Province, in Form of a Provincial Council and General a.s.sembly, by whom all Laws shall be made, Officers chosen, and publick Affairs transacted, as is hereafter respectively declared. _That is to say_,

II.

T H A T the Freemen of the said Province shall on the twentieth Day of the twelfth Month, which shall be in this present Year _One Thousand Six Hundred Eighty and Two_, meet and a.s.semble in some fit Place, of which timely Notice shall be beforehand given by the Governor or his Deputy, and then and there shall chuse out of themselves Seventy-two Persons of most Note for their Wisdom, Virtue and Ability, who shall meet on the tenth Day of the first Month next ensuing, and always be called and act as the provincial Council of the said Province.

III.

T H A T at the first Choice of such provincial Council, one third part of the said provincial Council shall be chosen to serve for three Years then next ensuing, one third part for two Years then next ensuing, and one third part for one Year then next following such Election, and no longer; and that the said third part shall go out accordingly: And on the twentieth Day of the twelfth Month as aforesaid, yearly for ever afterward, the Freemen of the said Province shall in like Manner meet and a.s.semble together, and then chuse Twenty-four Persons, being one third of the said Number, to serve in provincial Council for three Years: It being intended, that one third part of the whole provincial Council (always consisting, and to consist of seventy-two Persons, as aforesaid) falling off yearly, it shall be yearly supplied by such new yearly Elections, as aforesaid; and that no one Person shall continue therein longer than three Years: And in case any Member shall decease before the last Election during his Time, that then at the next Election ensuing his Decease, another shall be chosen to supply his Place for the remaining Time he was to have served, and no longer.

IV.

T H A T after the first seven Years, every one of the said third parts that goeth yearly off, shall be uncapable of being chosen again for one whole Year following: That so all may be fitted for Government, and have Experience of the Care and Burden of it.

V.

T H A T the provincial Council in all Cases and Matters of Moment, as their arguing upon Bills to be past into Laws, erecting Courts of Justice, giving Judgment upon Criminals impeached, and Choice of Officers, in such Manner as is herein after-mentioned; not less than two-thirds of the whole provincial Council shall make a _Quorum_; and that the Consent not Approbation of two-thirds of such _Quorum_ shall be had in all such Cases and Matters of Moment. And moreover, that in all Cases and Matters of lesser Moment, twenty-four Members of the said provincial Council shall make a _Quorum_, the Majority of which twenty-four shall and may always determine in such Cases and Causes of lesser Moment.

VI.

T H A T in this provincial Council the Governor, or his Deputy, shall or may always preside, and have a treble Voice; and the said provincial Council shall always continue, and sit upon its own Adjournments and Committees.

VII.

T H A T the Governor and provincial Council shall prepare and propose to the general a.s.sembly hereafter mentioned, all Bills, which they shall at any Time think fit to be pa.s.sed into Laws within the said Province; which Bills shall be published and affixed to the most noted Places in the inhabited Parts thereof, thirty Days before the Meeting of the general a.s.sembly, in order to the pa.s.sing them into Laws, or rejecting of them, as the general a.s.sembly shall see meet.

VIII.

T H A T the Governor and provincial Council shall take care, that all Laws, Statutes and Ordinances, which shall at any Time be made within the said Province, be duly and diligently executed.

IX.

T H A T the Governor and provincial Council shall at all Times have the Care of the Peace and Safety of the Province, and that nothing be by any Person attempted to the Subversion of this Frame of Government.

X.