who will not admit, that many Deifts have ferved the Pennfylvania and other excluding governments either legislatively or executively. By the fecond article of the charter it is provided, that an affembly fhall be yearly chofen by the freemen, to confift of four perfons out of each county, or of a greater number, if the governor and affembly fhall fo agree, on the 1ft of October for ever, and fhall fit on the 14th following, with power to chufe a fpeaker and other others, and be judges of the quali fications and elections of their own members; fhall fit upon their own adjournments, prepire bills, impeach criminals, and redrefs grievances; and fhall pe fe's all other powers and privileges of an Affembly, according to the rights of the free-born fubjects of England, and the customs oblerved in any of the King's plantations in America. If any county or counties fhall neglect to send deputies, thofe who meet, provided they are not fewer in number than two thirds of the whole, fhall be confidered as the legal reprefentatives of the province. , By the eighth article, in cafes of fuicide, all property is to defcend to the next heirs, as if the deceafed had died a natural death; nor is the governor to be entitled to any forfeiture, if a perfon fhall be killed by cafualty or accident. The fame article provides, that no act, law or ordinance whatsoever, shall at any time hereafter be made, to alter or diminish the form or effect of this charter, or of any part of it, without the consent of the governor for the time being, and fix parts in feven of the Aflembly met-that the firft article, relating to the liberty of confcience, fhall be kept without any alteration inviolable for ever and that William Penn, for himself, &c. does folemnly declare, that neither he, &c. fhall do any thing whereby the liberties in this charter contained, nor any part thereof, fhall be infringed; and that if any thing fhall be done by any perfon contrary thereto, it fhall be held of no effect. This new conftitution differed greatly from the original. The governor might nominate his own council, and he was left fingle in the executive part of the government, and had liberty to restrain the legislative, by refufing his affent to their bills. The affembly, on the other hand, acquired the important privilege of propounding laws, as well as of amending or rejecting them; but though this new conftitution was thankfully accepted by the province, it was unanimoufly rejected by the territo ries; and affairs ftood in this untoward ftate when the proprietary failed for England. The reprefentatives of the province and thofe of the territories divided, and acted as two diftinct bodies, and the attempts to unite them proved ineffectual. The territories confifted of the three counties, Newcafle, Kent, and Suffex on the Delaware, and are commonly known by the name of the three Lower Counties on the Delaware. Notwithstanding Mr. Penn is celebrated as the wifeft of legiflators, the Affembly, about the year 1704, unanimously came to nine refolutions, in which they compi in with. great grief of him, "for undermining his own foundations; and by a fubtle contrivance, laid deeper than the capacities of fome could fathom, finding a way to lay afide the act of fettlement and diffolve his fecond charter."* He was likewife charged with having extorted from the province great fums of money. They complained alfo of the abuses of furveyors, the clerks of the courts, and juftices of the peace, who, they faid, were all put in by the proprietary, fo that he became his own judge in his own caufe. These and other matters were the heads of a reprefentation, or rather remonftrance, drawn up and fent to Mr. Penn then in England, in which he is reprefented as an oppreffor, and as falfifying his word in almost every refpeft with the pro vincials.t The difputes which fubfifted in Pennfylvania were greatly augmented by the intemperance of the Quakers themselves, who, notwithstanding all their zeal for liberty of consceiące, perfecuted, about or foon after 1694, George Keith, (who had been one of their most famous preachers) upon his conforming to the church of England, and went fo far as to throw him into prifon. They apologised for their condu& by pleading, that they did not punifh him for his religious principles, but for having infulted the civil government. If this was a good plea, the New-Englanders might gain great advantages from it, in vindicating themselves as to many of the feverities they practifed upon the Quakers, who infulted their civil governments, beyond what will be eafily credited by thofe, who have not had the opportunity of knowing the tranfactions of that period, or are not acquainted with the abufive language of fome of the then leaders of that denomination-language which the body of modern Quakers will not vindicate. * Chalmers's Annals, p. 654. + The Modern Univerfal History Vol. XLI. p. 19. 1764 Ibid p. 20. STATE OF NEW-YORK. SITUATION, EXTENT, &c. THIS State is fituated between 40° 40′ and 45° north latitude, and 5 welt and 1° 30' calt longitude from Philadelphia. Its length is about three hundred and fifty miles, and its breadth about three hundred. It is bounded fouth-caftwardly by the Atlantic ocean; eaft by the States of Connecticut, Matfachufetts, and Vermont; north by the 45th degree of latitude, which divides it from Canada; north-weftwardly by the river Iroquois, or St. Lawrence, and the lakes Ontario and Erie; fouth-west and fouth by Pennfylvania and New-Jerley. FACE OF THE COUNTRY, SEA COAST, &c. This State, to fpeak generally, is interfected by ridges of mountains running in a north-caft and fouth-weft direction.Beyond the Allegany mountains, however, the country is a dead level, of a fine rich foil, covered in its natural ftate with maple, becch, birch, cherry, black walnut, locuft, hickory and fome mulberry trees. On the banks of lake Erie are a few chefnut and oak ridges. Hemlock fwamps are interfperfed thinly through the country. All the creeks that empty into lake Eric have falls which afford many excellent mill-feats. The lands between the Seneca and Cayuga lakes are reprefented as uncommonly excellent, being molt agreeably diverfified with gentle rifings, and timbered with lofty trees, with little underwood. The legiflature of this State have granted. one million and a half of acres of land as a gratuity to the of ficers and foldiers of the line of this State. This tract is bounded weft by the caft fhore of the Seneca lake, fetts lands in the new county of Ontario; lake Ontario near fort Ofwego; fouth by a ridge of the Allegany mountains and the Pennfylvania line; and caft by the TulcaVol. II. and the Maffuchunorth by part of Foro Creek, which falls nearly into the middle of the Oneida lake, and that part of Montgomery which has been fettling by the New-England people very rapidly fince the peace. This pleafant country is divided into twenty-five townships of xty thoufand acres each, which are again fubdivided into one hundred convenient farms, of fix hundred acres, making in the whole two thousand five hundred farms. Eaft of the Allegany mountains the country is broken inte hills with rich intervening vallies. The hills are clothed thick with timber, and when cleared, afford a very fine pafture: the vallies, when cultivated, produce wheat, hemp, flax, peas, grafs, wats, and Indian coin. The rivers in this State are numerous. Hudfon's river is one of the largest and fineft in the United States: it rifes in the mountainous country between the lakes Ontario and Champlain. In its courie fouth-easterly it ap proaches within fix or eight miles of lake George; then, after a fhoit courfe eaft, turns foutherly and receives the Socondaga from the fouth-weft, which heads in the neighbourhood of Mohawk river. The course of the river thence to New-York, where it empties into York bay, is uniformly fouth, twelve degrees, or fifteen degrees weft. Its whole length is about two hundred and fifty miles; from Albany to lake George is fixty-five miles. This diftance, the river is navigable only for batteaux, and has two portages, occafioned by falls, of half a mile each. The banks of Hudfon's river, efpecially on the western fide, as far as the highlands extend, are chiefly rocky cliffs. The paffage through the highlands, which is fixteen miles, affords a wild romantic Icene; in this narrow pafs, on each fide of which the mountains tower to a great height, the wind, if there be any, is collected and compreffed, and blows continually as through a bellows: veffels, in paffing through it, are often ob liged to lower their fails. The bed of this river, which is deep and smooth to an aftonishing diftance, through a hilly, rocky country, and even through ridges of fome of the higheft mounLains in the United States, muft undoubtedly have been produced by fome mighty convulfion in nature. The tide flows a few miles above Albany, which is one hundred and fixty miles from New-York: it is navigable for floops of eighty tons to Albany, and for fhips to Hudfon: flip navigation to Albany is interrupted by a number of iflands, fix or eight miles below the city, called the Overflangh. It is in contemplation to confine the river to one channel, by which means the channel will be deepened, and the difficulty of approaching Albany with veffels of a larger fize be removed. New-York the water becomes fresh. About fixty miles above The river is ftored with a variety of fish, which renders a fummer paffage to Albany delightful and amufing to thofe who are fond of angling. The advantages of this river for carrying on the fur trade. with Canada, by means of the lakes, have been already menti oned:* its conveniencies for internal commerce are fingularly great the produce of the remoteft farms is eafily and fpeedily conveyed to a certain and profitable market, and at the loweft expenfe in this refpect, New-York has greatly the advantage of Philadelphia. A great proportion of the produce of Pennfylvania is carried to market in waggons, over a great extent of country, fome of which is rough; hence it is that Philadelphia is crowded with waggons, carts, horfes and their drivers, to do the fame business that is done in New-York, where all the produce of the country is brought to market by water, with much lefs fhew and parade. But Philadelphia has other advantages, which will be mentioned in their proper place, to compenfate for this natural defect. The increasing population of the fertile lands upon the northern branches of the Hudfon muft annually increase the amazing wealth that is conveyed by its waters to New-York; added to this, the ground has been marked out, the level afcertained, a company incorporated, by the name of The Prefident, Directors, and Company of the Northern Inland Lock Navigation, in the State of New-York," and funds fubfcribed for the purpofe of cutting a canal from the nearest approximating point of Hudfon's river, to South bay, which empties into the fouth end of lake Champlain the diftance is eighteen miles. The difference of level and the face of the country are fuch, as to juftify a belief that the opening of this canal will not be lefs practicable than useful. Saranac river paffes through Plattfburg into lake Champlain : it has been explored nearly thirty miles, and there found equal in fize to the mouth. In this river is the greatest abundance of fish, fuch as faimon, bafs, pike, pickerel, trout, &c. Sable river, not far from the Saranac, is fcarcely fixty yards wide. On this ftream are remarkable falls: the whole defcent of the water is about two hundred feet in feveral pitches, the greatest of which is forty feet perpendicular: at the foot of it the water is unfathomable. A large pine has been feen, in a frefhet, to pitch over endwife, and remain feveral minutes un Page 192 and 193, vol. 2. |