The History of the Five Indian Nations of Canada Part 26

T H A T where any Number of Purchasers, more or less, whose Number of Acres amounts to _five_ or _ten thousand_ Acres, desire to sit together in a Lot or Township, they shall have their Lot or Township cast together, in such Places as have convenient Harbours or navigable Rivers attending it, if such can be found; and in case any one or more Purchasers plant not according to Agreement in this Concession, to the Prejudice of others of the same Township, upon Complaint thereof made to the Governor or his Deputy, with a.s.sistance, they may award (if they see Cause) that the complaining Purchaser may, paying the Survey-Money, and Purchase-Money, and Interest thereof, be ent.i.tled, inrolled and lawfully invested in the Lands so not seated.

V.

T H A T the Proportion of Lands that shall be laid out in the first great Town or City, for every Purchaser, shall be after the Proportion of _ten_ Acres for every _five hundred_ Acres purchased, if the Place will allow it.

VI.

T H A T notwithstanding there be no mention made, in the several Deeds made to the Purchasers, yet the said _William Penn_ does accord and declare, that all Rivers, Rivulets, Woods and Underwoods, Waters, Water-courses, Quarries, Mines and Minerals (except Mines Royal) shall be freely and fully enjoyed, and wholly by the Purchasers, into whose Lot they fall.

VII.

T H A T for every _fifty_ Acres that shall be allotted to a Servant at the End of his Service, his Quit-Rent shall be _two Shillings per Annum_, and the Master or Owner of the Servant, when he shall take up the other _fifty_ Acres, his Quit-Rent shall be _four Shillings_ by the Year, or if the Master of the Servant (by Reason in the Indentures he is so obliged to do) allot out to the Servant _fifty_ Acres in his own Division, the said Master shall have on Demand allotted him, from the Governor, the _one hundred_ Acres at the chief Rent of _six Shillings per Annum_.

VIII.

A N D for the Encouragement of such as are ingenious and willing to search out Gold and Silver Mines in this Province, it is hereby agreed, that they have Liberty to bore and dig in any Man's Property, fully paying the Damage done; and in case a Discovery should be made, that the Discoverer have one _fifth_, the Owner of the Soil (if not the Discoverer) a _tenth_ Part, the Governor _two fifths_, and the rest to the publick Treasury, saving to the King the Share reserved by Patent.

IX.

I N every _hundred thousand_ Acres, the Governor and Proprietary, by Lot, reserveth _ten_ to himself, what shall lie but in one Place.

X.

T H A T every Man shall be bound to plant or man so much of his Share of Land as shall be set out and surveyed, within _three_ Years after it is so set out and surveyed, or else it shall be lawful for new Comers to be settled thereupon, paying to them their Survey-Money, and they go up higher for their Shares.

XI.

T H E R E shall be no buying and selling, be it with an _Indian_, or one among another, of any Goods to be exported, but what shall be performed in publick Market, when such Places shall be set apart or erected, where they shall pa.s.s the publick Stamp or Mark. If bad Ware, and prized as good, or deceitful in Proportion or Weight, to forfeit the Value as if good and full Weight and Proportion, to the publick Treasury of the Province, whether it be the Merchandize of the _Indian_, or that of the Planters.

XII.

A N D F O R A S M U C H as it is usual with the Planters, to over-reach the poor Natives of the Country in Trade, by Goods not being good of the Kind, or debased with Mixtures, with which they are sensibly aggrieved, it is agreed, whatever is sold to the _Indians_, in Consideration of their Furs, shall be sold in the Market-Place, and there suffer the Test, whether good or bad; if good, to pa.s.s; if not good, not to be sold for good, that the Natives may not be abused nor provoked.

XIII.

T H A T no Man shall by any Ways or Means, in Word or Deed, affront or wrong any _Indian_, but he shall incur the same Penalty of the Law, as if he had committed it against his Fellow-Planter; and if any _Indian_ shall abuse, in Word or Deed, any Planter of this Province, that he shall not be his own Judge upon the _Indian_, but he shall make his Complaint to the Governor of the Province, or his Lieutenant or Deputy, or some inferior Magistrate near him, who shall, to the utmost of his Power, take Care with the King of the said _Indian_, that all reasonable Satisfaction be made to the said injured Planter.

XIV.

T H A T all Differences between the Planters and the Natives, shall also be ended by _twelve_ Men, that is, by _six_ Planters and _six_ Natives, that so we may live friendly together as much as in us lieth, preventing all Occasions of Heart-burnings and Mischief.

XV.

T H A T the _Indians_ shall have Liberty to do all Things relating to the Improvement of their Ground, and providing Sustenance for their Families, that any of the Planters shall enjoy.

XVI.

T H A T the Laws as to Slanders, Drunkenness, Swearing, Cursing, Pride in Apparel, Trespa.s.ses, Distresses, Replevins, Weights and Measures, shall be the same as in _England_, till altered by Law in this Province.

XVII.

T H A T all shall mark their Hogs, Sheep and other Cattle, and what are not marked within _three_ Months after it is in their Possession, be it young or old, it shall be forfeited to the Governor, that so People may be compelled to avoid the Occasions of much Strife between Planters.

XVIII.

T H A T in clearing the Ground, Care be taken to leave one Acre of Trees for every _five_ Acres clear'd, especially to preserve Oak and Mulberries for Silk and Shipping.

XIX.

T H A T all Ship-Masters shall give an Account of their Countries, Names, Ships, Owners, Freights and Pa.s.sengers, to an Officer to be appointed for that Purpose, which shall be registred within _two_ Days after their Arrival; and if they shall refuse so to do, that then none presume to trade with them, upon Forfeiture thereof; and that such Masters be looked upon, as having an evil Intention to the Province.

XX.

T H A T no Person leave the Province, without Publication being made thereof, in the Market-Place, _three_ Weeks before, and a Certificate from some Justice of the Peace, of his Clearness with his Neighbours, and those he hath dealt withal, so far as such an a.s.surance can be attained and given: And if any Master of a Ship shall, contrary hereunto, receive and carry away any Person, that hath not given that publick Notice, the said Master shall be liable to all Debts owing by the said Person, so secretly transported from the Province. _Lastly_, that these are to be added to, or corrected, by and with the Consent of the Parties hereunto subscribed.

William Penn;

_Sealed and delivered in the Presence of_

William Boelham, Harbert Springet, Thomas Prudyard.

_Sealed and delivered in the Presence of all the Proprietors who have hereunto subscribed, except_ Thomas Farrinborrough _and_ John Goodson, _in the Presence of_

Hugh Chamberlen, R. Murray, Harbert Springet, Humphry South, Thomas Barker, Samuel Jobson, John-Joseph Moore, William Powel, Richard Davie, Griffith Jones, Hugh Lambe, Thomas Farrinborrough, John Goodson.

_An_ A C T _of_ Settlement, _made at_ Chester, 1682.

W H E R E A S William Penn, Proprietary and Governor of the Province of _Pensylvania_, and Territories thereunto belonging, hath, out of his great Kindness and Goodness to the Inhabitants thereof, been favourably pleased to give and grant unto them a Charter of Liberties and Privileges, dated the _twenty-fifth_ Day of the _second_ Month, _One Thousand Six Hundred and Eighty-two_: By which Charter it is said, the Government shall consist of the Governor and Freemen of the said Province, in the Form of a provincial Council and general a.s.sembly; and that the provincial Council shall consist of _seventy-two_ Members, to be chosen by the Freemen; and that the general a.s.sembly may, the _first_ Year, consist of the whole Body of the Freeholders, and ever after of an elected Number, not exceeding _two hundred_ Persons, without the Consent of the provincial Council and general a.s.sembly: And such a.s.sembly to sit yearly on the _twentieth_ Day of the _third_ Month, as in the _first, second, third, sixth, fourteenth_ and _sixteenth_ Articles of the Charter, Reference being thereunto had, doth more at large appear.

A N D F O R A S M U C H as this Charter was the _first_ of those probationary Laws, that were agreed to and made by and between the Proprietary, and Governor, and Freemen in _England_, that were Purchasers in this Province, which said Laws, in the whole and in every Part thereof, were to be submitted to the Explanation and Confirmation of the _first_ provincial Council and general a.s.sembly that was to be held in this Province, as by the t.i.tle and _first_ Law of the said Agreement, doth plainly appear.