The Proprietaries have for a long Series of Years made a great Secret of the Value of their Estate and Revenue: By Accident the following authentic Paper is fallen into our Hands, and will serve as a Groundwork, on which the Reader may be enabled to form some Idea of the Value of that Estate in Pensylvania. It is a Copy of an original Paper drawn by Mr. Thomas Penn himself many Years ago, and endors’d “My Estimate of the Province, T Penn.”

The above Paper has no Date, but by sundry Circumstances in it, particularly there being no Value put on the Thirds of the Bank Lots, because they were not then fallen in; and by the Valuation put on the Lands (which is very different from their present Value) it must have been drawn while Mr. Thomas Penn resided in Pensylvania, and probably more than Twenty Years ago; Since which Time a vast Addition has been made to the Value of the Reserved Lands, and a great Quantity of Land has been disposed of, perhaps equal to all preceding. We must therefore add to the above Sum of £252,122 2s. 0d. the following Articles, viz.

But on the whole, it appears pretty clearly, that deducting all the Articles containing the Valuation of Lands yet unsold, and unappropriated within their Patent, and the Manors and Rents to be hereafter reserv’d, and allowing for any small over-Valuations in their present reserv’d Lands and Incomes [tho’ ’tis thought if any be it will not be found to exceed the under-Valuation in other Instances] there cannot remain less than a Million of Property which they now at this Time have in Pensylvania.

And in that Province there are but 20,000 Families, to each of which, one with another, there does not belong more than £300 of Property, if so much; which multiply’d by 20,000 gives £6,000,000 for the whole Property of the People there.

The Proprietaries then have in present Possession a Property there at least equal to one sixth of That of the People. They ought therefore to pay the same Proportion of the Taxes.

That the Reader may form some Judgment of the Profits made by this Monopoly of Land in America in Favour of the House of Penn, we shall just mention, that the Land is first purchased of the Indians, and none but the Proprietors are allow’d to purchase of the Indians within the Limits of their Grant: The Indians of late Years have somewhat rais’d their Price; and for the last great Purchase in 1754, which was of about Seven Millions of Acres, they demanded (how much do you think?) no less than 2000 Dollars amount at Seven and Sixpence Currency each, to Seven Hundred and Fifty Pounds.

But the Indian Council at Onondago not being satisfied with the sale of so much Land at once, the Proprietors have since been obliged to disgorge a Part of the Hunting Country they had not paid for, and reconvey the same to the Indians, who, when they are dispos’d to sell it, may possibly demand 2000 Dollars more, for which the above Account must then have Credit.

One would think that where such good Bargains are bought of the poor Natives, there should be no Occasion for fraudulent Art to over-reach them, in order to take more than is granted: And that if a War occasion’d by such Injuries should be drawn upon the innocent Inhabitants, those who were the Cause of the War, if they did not, as in Justice they ought, bear the whole Expence of it, at lest they would not refuse to bear a reasonable Part. Whether this has ever been the Case is now a Subject of Publick Enquiry.

But let us see how the Land bought in such lumping Pennyworths of the Natives by the Monopolist, is huckster’d out again to the King’s Subjects. To give the Reader some Idea of this, after remarking that £15 10s. 0d. per Hundred Acres for wild Land, is three Times dearer than the Proprietor of Maryland’s Price, and ten Times dearer than his Majesty’s Lands in Virginia and Carolina, both as good if not better Countries, we shall present him with a genuine Account, stated under the Hand of the Proprietor’s Receiver General, obtain’d with great Difficulty by the Purchaser of two Tracts of Land, some Time after he had paid his Money; when on more particular Consideration of the Sum paid compar’d with the Quantity bought, he imagin’d he had paid too much. The Account is as follows, viz.

“Received of John Fisher Two Hundred and Twelve Pounds, Three Shillings and Seven Pence, in full for 423 Acres in Pextang Township, granted by Warrant of 19th March 1742, to Jacob Job, and for 268 Acres in same Township, by Warrant of 9th January 1743 to Thomas Cooper, both in the County of Lancaster.

n. b. The Quitrent in full to 1st March 1747.

The Purchaser not being skill’d in Accounts, but amaz’d at the Sum, apply’d to a Friend to examine this Account, who stated it over again as follows, viz.

“In Feb. 1747, John Fisher obtained a Proprietary Patent for the Lands above mentioned. But by the Accompts then exhibited to him, and which he paid, he was charged on Job’s Right £141 4s. 8d. which is £67 8s. 1d. more than the above Account, and also was charged on Coopers Right, £70 18s. 11d, which is £24 3s. 3¾d. more than the above Accompt of Cooper’s. So that by the two Accompts it is supposed he has paid £91 11s. 4¾d. more than could legally be received from him.

“The Reason of such great Difference in the Accompts are as follow, viz.

“1st That Interest has been charged on the Consideration Money for Job’s Land, for 10 Years and 18 Days before the Land was survey’d.

“2d That Quitrent has also been charged for that Time at 85 per Cent.

“3d That the Principle and Interest to the Time of Warrant and Survey were added together, and that Interest was charged for that Total to the Time the Patent was granted.

“4th That Interest has been charged on the Consideration Money for Cooper’s Land, for 5y. 10m. 8d. before the Land was survey’d.

“5th That Quitrent has also been charged for that Time at 85 per Cent.

“6th That the Principle and Interest to the Time of Warrant and Survey were added, and Interest charged for that Total to the Time the Patent was granted, which is compound Interest.”

To these Remarks of the Accountant we shall only add, That the Price of Exchange between Philadelphia and London is not fix’d, but rises and falls according to the Demand for Bills; That 85 per Cent. charg’d for the Exchange in this Account is the highest Exchange that perhaps was ever given in Pensylvania, occasion’d by some particular Scarcity of Bills at a particular Time; That the Proprietor himself in his Estimate reckons the Exchange but at 65, which is indeed near the Medium, and this Charge is 20 per Cent. above it. That the Valuing the Currency of the Country according to the casual Rate of Exchange with London, is in itself a false Valuation, the Currency not being really depreciated in Proportion to an occasional Rise of Exchange; since every Necessary of Life is to be purchas’d in the Country, and every Article of Expence defray’d by that Currency (English Goods only excepted) at as low Rates after as before such Rise of Exchange; That therefore the Proprietor’s obliging those who purchase of him to pay their Rents according to the Rate of Exchange is unjust, the Rate of Exchange including withal the Risque and Freight on remitting Money to England; and is besides a dangerous Practice, as the great Sums to be yearly remitted to him, put it in the Power of his own Agents to play Tricks with the Exchange at Pleasure, raise it at the Time of Year when they are to receive the Rents, by buying a few Bills at a high Price, and afterwards lower it by refraining to buy till they are sold more reasonably.

By this Account of the Receiver General’s, it appears we have omitted two other Articles in the Estimation of the Proprietary Estate, viz.

On what Pretence these Articles of Charge are founded, how far they may be extended, and what they may amount to, is beyond our Knowledge; we are therefore obliged to leave them blank till we can obtain more particular Information.