The House are very thankful to the Governor for the Readiness and Candour with which he communicated to them the Proprietary Instructions, relating to Money Bills.

They desire he would be pleased to remember, that they requested the Reasons on which those Instructions were founded, as well as the Instructions themselves; their Design being to comply with the Instructions, if the Reasons should convince their Judgments, but not otherwise, the Proprietary Instructions being by no Means Laws in this Province.

They have the greatest Respect and Esteem for the Governor, and the strongest and most sincere Desire to do every Thing that may be agreeable to him, consistent with the just Rights and Privileges of the People they represent. They beg therefore that he would be pleased to give no Ear to any Insinuations to the contrary. And the Committee having taken the Sense of the House on the Objections made to the Bill for raising Sixty Thousand Pounds for the King’s Use, humbly offer the following Remarks to the Governor on those Objections, in their Order.

1. The House chose, at this Time, an Excise Bill rather than a Land-Tax Bill, to avoid any Dispute about taxing the Proprietary Estate, and because, as it was a Mode of raising Money they were used to and understood, the Bill might more speedily be formed and brought to Effect, so as to answer the present pressing Emergency; and being in the same Form with a Number of preceding Excise Bills, that had been passed by former Governors, gone through the Offices at Home, and received the Royal Assent; they well hoped it might meet with no Objections.

The last Time it passed, the Term was Ten Years. No Inconvenience arose from the Length of that Term. Could we have sunk the Sum we wanted by the Excise in that Term, we should not desire to extend it. But we expect it will not yield more in Twenty Years than the Sixty Thousand Pounds granted. The Act of Parliament made for the Eastern Colonies, is not in Force here. Had the Parliament thought it fit that this Province should be governed by that Act, they would not have excluded Pennsylvania out of the Bill, as they actually did. Governor Hamilton had formerly offered to extend the Excise to any Term, during which we would load it with Three Thousand Pounds per Annum, granted to the Crown. From whence we concluded the Term of Twenty Years would not be objected to, Sixty Thousand Pounds being granted.

Other Taxes or Excises on other Consumptions might possibly be laid, but we have no Experience of them: They will require a Time of more Leisure to be well considered, and Laws for collecting them properly formed, so as to be effectual, and not injurious to our Trade. If this War continues, we may soon want them all; and the succeeding Assembly may take those Matters in Hand immediately after their Meeting, so as to have such new Excises ready before the Money now granted is expended; though we still think a well proportioned Tax on Property, the most equal and just Way of raising Money.

If every Man who received our Bills of Credit in Payment, was obliged to keep them in his Hands till the End of Twenty Years, to be sure the Length of the Term would occasion a proportionable Depreciation. But they being a legal Tender in all Payments, and the Possessor able to exchange them immediately for their Value, it is not Length of Term, but Excess of Quantity, that must occasion their Depreciation; and that Quantity is by this Bill yearly to diminish. Besides, the Eighty Thousand Pounds we have out on Loan, is now to sink in the next six Years, which will greatly lessen our Currency, and consequently lessen the Danger of the Depreciation.

If the Quantity should prove too great, which we believe it will not, a subsequent Act, laying Excise or Duty on other Commodities, encreasing the Duty per Gallon, raising it also from private Consumption, or obtaining Money by any other Means for the publick Service, may be made, and the Money applied to the more speedy Sinking this Sixty Thousand Pounds.

2. There will probably be little or no Surplus left to the Disposition of the Assembly. People now leave the Province faster than they come into it. The Importation of Germans is pretty much over. Many go from us to settle where Land is cheaper. The Danger attending Frontier Settlements will probably be long remembered, even after a Peace may be restored. And if our Inhabitants diminish, the Excise will be lessened instead of being increased. At its best, it produces, communibus Annis, not more than Three Thousand Pounds per Annum.

In former Excise Laws the Assembly have had the Disposition of the Whole. They preserved the publick Credit. Paid all publick Debts punctually every Year—And have not abused the Trust reposed in them.

The Instruction is not a Royal but Proprietary Instruction, calculated to establish arbitrary Government among us, to distress the Assembly and People, and put it out of their Power to support their Complaints at Home. It would moreover deprive us of a just Right and Privilege, enjoyed from the first Settlement of the Country.

3. Lord Loudon is a Nobleman distinguished by the great Trust the Crown hath placed in him. We have likewise received a high Character of his Integrity and Uprightness, which induces us to confide in him. The Chance of War (which Heaven prevent) may, after several Removes, give him a Successor unknown to us. If it should be found necessary and convenient before the Money is expended, the Governor and Assembly can at any Time, by a little Act, subject the Remainder to the Order of his Successor, the Commander in Chief for the Time being.

4. It is true, there was a Fund appropriated to sink the Notes issued for the Grant to the Crown-Point Expedition. That Fund in a great Measure fails by the Loss of one whole County to the Enemy, and the Abandoning considerable Parts of other Counties, where Lands mortgaged to the Loan-Office are situated. The whole Sum was appropriated to the King’s Service. And if those Notes had not been issued, that Assistance could not have been given, as our Affairs were then circumstanced. They cannot be redeemed in due Time by that Fund, without adding to the Distresses of the People, already too great, and the Publick Credit ought to be kept up, as it may be wanted on some future Emergency. Besides, those Notes bear Interest, and at this Time the Province is less able than ever to pay Interest. We should now save Money by all Means in our Power.

5. Though the Law referred to may expire some Years before the Time limited in the Bill, yet as the Punishment is to be inflicted by Virtue of the present Law, and not by Virtue of the Law referred to, which is only referred to for the Description of the Punishment; and as that Law, after its Expiration, will still remain on our Records, we apprehend no Inconveniency can arise from the Reference objected to. If any should arise, a subsequent Act may remedy it.

6. By all former Excise Laws, it was required of the Magistrates not to grant Recommendations till the Certificates of Payment of Excise were produced; but no Penalty was laid for their Non-compliance. A law without a Penalty is vain. This has proved so; being generally disregarded. As it is for the King, tending to the more effectual Collection of the Excise granted, and by no Means difficult to be complied with by the Magistrates, we think it reasonable to fix a Penalty on that Breach of Duty.

7. If the Clause were, that the Collector should not be capable of being re-appointed after one Year, the Reason would have more Weight. But he may, and probably will, be continued from Year to Year, if he shows himself diligent in Collecting, and punctual in Paying his Collections to the Treasurer. We have found by Experience, that Officers appointed for long Terms, grow negligent of their Duty, and yet are not easily removed. Great Sums have thereby been lost to the Publick. And we have had Instances of Collectors appointed to fill a Vacancy a Year before the Expiration of the Term, being extremely diligent, in order to recommend themselves to a Continuance after the Year should expire, which has proved much to the publick Advantage. Our Sheriffs and Coroners, whose Duty is more hard to learn, are chosen from Year to Year, without any Inconvenience.

8, 9. In these Particulars, the Bill is conformable to former Excise Laws, which have received the Royal Assent, and no Inconvenience has arisen.

10. The Fund appropriated for sinking the Five Thousand Pounds, given for the Canada Expedition, was broke in upon by the late extraordinary Demands for publick Money. Five Thousand Pounds was given in Provisions to General Braddock, and near Four Thousand Pounds more to cut a Road for the King’s Service at the Instance of that General; besides large Sums for the Maintenance of Indians, extraordinary and expensive Treaties, &c. not expected or foreseen when the Fund was laid. It may therefore fall short, and the outstanding Debts not pay the Whole, but however the Publick Credit ought to be supported; and the new laid Excise is the most proper Fund to supply Deficiencies in the Old.

The House cannot be supposed insensible of the Distresses of their Fellow Subjects on the Frontiers. Several of the Members reside there. They hoped they had in this Bill provided for those People the Means of speedy Assistance, and avoided all Objections. They see none now of Importance enough, in their Opinion, to prevent the Passage of the Bill. They grant the Money freely to the King’s Use, and cannot admit of Amendments to a Money Bill: They therefore persuade themselves, that the Governor will consider the present Circumstances of the Province, and the Consequence of dispiriting the Inhabitants, by depriving them at this Time of their Privileges, without which they would think the Country scarce worth defending; and that he will not suffer a Proprietary Instruction, new, unjust, and unseasonable, to deprive His Majesty of a Grant so large, so freely given, and so necessary for His Service; and for the Preservation of the Proprietary Estate, as well as the securing the Lives and Fortunes of the Inhabitants, who promised themselves great Happiness in being placed immediately under his Care and Protection.