Pennsylvania Assembly: Message to the Governor
Printed in Votes and Proceedings of the House of
Representatives, 1756-1757 (Philadelphia, 1757), pp. 50-3.
[December 19, 1756]
May it please your Honour,
To prevent, if possible, any Misunderstanding
between your Honour and this House, we beg Leave to recapitulate
what has passed on the Article of Quarters, during the present
Session.
On the 19th of October last, your Honour was
pleased to communicate to us a Letter from Lord Loudoun to
yourself, dated September 22, 1756, in which Quarters, and the
Necessaries allowed in Quarters by Act of Parliament, were demanded
of this Province: The Building of Barracks came first under our
Consideration, but if the House had been disposed to build them,
the Season was too far advanced, and the Dimensions could not be
judged of, as the Number of Forces to be quartered here was not
expressed.
The House then endeavoured to procure the last
Act of Parliament that was made for the Quartering of soldiers in
England, to be their Guide in making the necessary Provision here;
your Honour was applied to for a Sight of that Act, which you were
so kind as to promise to procure for us, but some Time passed
before we obtained it.
On the 24th of November your Honour was pleased
to lay before us another Letter from Lord Loudoun, dated October
28, 1756, in which the Demand for Quarters was repeated, and one
Battalion of the Royal Americans was mentioned to be provided for
in Philadelphia, but the Number of which that Battalion should
consist was not mentioned. His Lordship is not particular as to
Quartering, or the Necessaries to be furnished in Quarters, as he
is pleased to say, “he is writing to one who is so thoroughly
acquainted with the Quartering in England in Time of Peace, and
what Things are furnished in Quarters for the Officers and
Soldiers, and how much further Quartering extends in Time of War,
and even must do so from the Nature of Things.”
Your Honour has never been explicit on these
Points with the Assembly. We know nothing of them but what is to be
learnt from the Act of Parliament you were so good as to furnish us
with. We presented to your Honour a Bill so exactly conformable to
that Act, that it brings over the very Clauses, by which Troops are
quartered in England. After this Bill had lain four Days in your
Honour’s Hands, the House hearing the Soldiers were expected in
Town the next Day, sent up to know your Result upon it. You were
then pleased in a Message to object to the Preamble of one of those
Clauses; we immediately agreed to strike it out, and had no Reason
to expect any farther Objections.
However, before the Bill passed, and after the
Amendment was agreed to, your Honour did indeed send us down the
following written Message, viz.
December 8. 1756.
“Gentlemen,
“Since your Message of Yesterday Evening, I am
well informed, from the strictest Enquiry, that the Quarters
demanded by my Lord Loudoun for the Officers and Soldiers that are
every Moment expected here, cannot be had in the Publick-houses of
this City. The Bill now before me therefore being insufficient to
answer the End proposed by it, and the great Inconveniences that
may arise if proper Quarters are not provided for the Reception of
His Majesty’s Troops being evident, I must, in the warmest Terms,
recommend it to you, to make immediate Provision for that
Service.
With the above written Message your Honour was
pleased farther to send us a verbal One in these Words, viz.
“Sir,
“The Governor commands me to acquaint the
House, that if they do not think proper to make any further
Provision than what is expressed in the Bill, the Governor agrees
to the Alteration, and is ready to pass it as it now stands.”
As the House had been informed that the Number
for which Quarters were demanded, did not exceed 600 Men, Officers
included, and were of Opinion that the Publick-houses of
Philadelphia were sufficient to provide Quarters for that Number,
they acquainted your Honour with their Sentiments in the following
respectful Message.
December 8. 1756.
“May it please your Honour,
“On examining the Lists of recommended and
licenced Publick-houses, we find there are no less than One Hundred
and Seventeen in this City only, exclusive of the Suburbs. We hope
therefore your Honour will be of Opinion with us, that the Number
of Soldiers for which Quarters are required may very well be
disposed of among them in the Manner directed by the Act of
Parliament now to be extended hither; especially as it is not
necessary the Soldiers should all be lodged in the Publick-houses,
but those who keep such Houses may provide lodging for the Men in
other Houses, if they find it more convenient so to do. Signed, by
Order of the House,
Your Honour made no Reply to this Message, but
passed the Bill the same Day; and therefore we had Reason to
believe you were satisfied with it.
The Bill passed on the Eighth Instant: On the
13th, the Mayor and Aldermen of Philadelphia presented to the House
the following Remonstrance, and withal laid before us the annexed
Paper, expressing the Number for which Quarters were demanded.
“City of Philadelphia, Dec. 11. 1756.
“To the Honourable the Representatives of
the Freeman of the Province of Pennsylvania, now sitting in
Assembly, The Remonstrance of the Mayor,
Recorder, and Aldermen of the City of Philadelphia, sheweth,
“That your Remonstrants have prepared Billets
on the Publick-houses of this City, according to the Directions of
a late Act in such Case made and provided, for such of His
Majesty’s Forces as Lord Loudoun hath been pleased to order into
Winter Quarters here; but we find, on the strictest Enquiry into
the Circumstances of the Keepers of such Publick-houses, that many
of them are so poor and indigent, that they are neither of Ability
to support the Burden of providing for so great a Number of Troops,
or have proper Houses and Accommodations suitable for their
comfortable Reception. We further beg Leave to remonstrate, that
the Commanding-Officer hath demanded a Hospital, with Bedding,
Fire, and other Necessaries, to be provided for a Number of Sick;
but as no publick Building hath been erected in this City for that
Purpose, your Remonstrants, though willing and desirous to do every
Thing in their Power to demonstrate their Loyalty to His Majesty,
and to promote the Good of his Service, are sorry to find
themselves incapable of complying with this Demand, without the Aid
and Assistance of the Legislature of this Province: We therefore
thought it our Duty to lay the Premises before you our
Representatives, that such Regulations and Provision may be made
therein as you in your Wisdom shall judge most expedient.
|
Attwood Shute, Mayor, |
John Mifflin, |
|
Benjamin Chew, Recorder, |
John Stamper, |
|
William Plumsted, |
Thomas Lawrence, |
|
Robert Strettell, |
Alexander Stedman.” |
“Captain Tulleken’s Demand of Quarters,
&c.
“December 13. 1756.
“In Obedience to Orders received from his
Excellency the Earl of Loudoun, Colonel Stanwix has thought proper
to send Captain Tulleken to Philadelphia to demand Quarters for the
First Battalion of His Majesty’s Sixty-second, or Royal American,
Regiment.
“Captain Tulleken demands Quarters as
follows.
“Quarters for 500 Men; and Hospital for the
Sick; a Store-house; a Guard-room for an Officer, and Men.
“Billetts for the Officers.
“Colonel one; Lieutenant-Colonel one; Majors
one; Captains eight; Subalterns thirty; Staff-Officers six. Total
Forty-seven.
“n. b. There must be
Fire and Candles for the Guard-room, and for the Hospital.
“Besides the above, Captain Gate’s Company of
Independents, Forty-seven Men, four Officers.
“The whole have Billets delivered them on the
Publick-houses.
The House, how desirous soever that the King’s
Troops might have good and suitable Quarters, could not proceed to
make further Provision by a Supplementary Act, without being well
informed of the present State of the Quartering, that they might
know what was deficient, and what was necessary to be supplied;
they therefore immediately required the Mayor to lay before the
House a List of the Names of the Publick House-keepers, with the
Number of Officers and Soldiers billeted on each House (which he
accordingly undertook to do by the next Morning) that we might be
able to judge whether they could, or could not, be comfortably
quartered by those Publick House-keepers.
This Order of the House, though of some Days
standing, not being complied with, and the House being sincerely
desirous that the King’s Troops should be well provided for, took
Occasion, from the Report that your Honour had issued Orders for
Quartering on private Houses, to send up their Message of
Yesterday, in the following Words, viz.
“May it please your Honour,
December 17. 1756
“A Report having Yesterday prevailed in Town,
that your Honour had given Orders to the Sheriff to quarter the
Soldiers on private Houses, which greatly surprized the
Inhabitants, the House (though they do not believe it possible your
Honour could be prevailed with to issue Orders so diametrically
opposite to an express Law passed by yourself but a few Days
before) think it necessary on this Occasion humbly to request, that
your Honour would be pleased to direct the Magistrates and Officers
of the City and Liberties, who have billeted the Soldiers on
Publick-houses, according to Law, to visit those Houses, inspect
the Accommodations provided for the Men, see that they are good and
sufficient, and oblige every publick House-keeper to receive and
provide for the Officers and Soldiers that are or may be billeted
on each House, in Proportion to the Number for which Quarters are
required, either in the Publick-houses, or such others as the
Keepers of them may procure; so that the Minds of the People may be
quieted, and no just Cause of Complaint may arise, that Quarters,
and the Necessaries in Quarters, are not duly provided, according
to the Intention of the Legislature in passing that Act.
“The House have recommended it to the
Provincial Commissioners to provide an Hospital for the Soldiers,
which we make no Doubt will be done accordingly. Signed, by Order
of the House,
To this your Honour is pleased to answer as
follows, viz.
December 18. 1756.
“Gentlemen,
“The King’s Troops must be quartered. With
respect to the Insufficiency of the late Act, I refer you to my
Message of the Eighth Instant, delivered immediately before the
Passing of it; and I see no Reason, from any Thing that has
occurred since, to alter my Opinion.
On the whole we beg Leave to remark, That if
any Thing more than the Act of Parliament requires be expected of
us, we have never been explicitly informed what it is: That though
your Honour is referred to by Lord Loudoun, as well acquainted with
those Matters, you have never explained them to us: That when the
Bill for extending the Act of Parliament hither was presented for
your Concurrence, you made no Objection as to its Insufficiency,
but that the Publick-houses could not accommodate the whole; which
Objection we had afterwards Reason to think we had obviated to your
Satisfaction. And lastly, That in your Message of Yesterday, you
are not pleased to say that you will or will not favour us in our
Request, that the Magistrates may be directed to see the Act duly
executed, and good Quarters effectually provided; nor to point out
any other or further Deficiency in the Act; but only tell us, as we
think, somewhat abrubtly, that the King’s Troops must be
quartered.
May it please the Governor, we know that the
King’s Troops must be quartered, and are desirous they should have
good Quarters. The Assemblies of this Province have in very late
Instances shewn their Regard for the Soldiery, by voluntarily
presenting Conveniencies and Refreshments to the Officers, and
furnishing Provisions and warm Cloathing for the Soldiers of the
King’s Forces, to the Amount of many Thousand Pounds. We thought we
had by the late Law provided well for their Quartering in this
Province; especially as we had exactly followed the Act of
Parliament made for the same Purpose. We cannot conceive it will,
when well considered, be thought adviseable, to quarter the
Soldiers by Force on private Houses rather than by Law on
Publick-houses; and we apprehend, that if the bought Servants,
which have been so lately taken from the King’s good Subjects here,
and no Satisfaction made their Owners, notwithstanding the Act of
Parliament so expresly requires it, are now to be thrust into their
Houses, and made their Masters, some Commotions may arise,
dangerous to the King’s Peace. On these Considerations, and being
desirous to preserve a good Understanding with your Honour, we beg
you would be pleased to favour us with a Conference, that this
Matter may, as soon as possible, be fully understood, and finally
settled.”
623528 = 007-038c.html