erecting Courts of Justice, sitting in Judgment upon persons Impeached, and upon bills and other matters, that may be from time to time presented by the assembly, not Less than two thirds shall make a Quorum, and that the Consent and approbation of the majority of that Quorum, shall be had in all such cases and matters of moment, And that in Cases of Lesser moment not less than one third of the whole shall make a Quorum, the majority of which shall and may always Determine in all such matters of Lesser moment, as are not above specified and in case the Governour's power shall hereafter happen to be in the Council, a President shall then be Chosen out of themselves, by two thirds or the Major part of them, which President shall therein reside. . .

And Be It further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the Governour and Council for the time being, shall at all times settle and order the scituation of all Cities and Market Towns, modelling therein all public buildings, Streets and Market places, And shall appoint all publick landing places of the Towns of this Province and Territories, and if any man's property shall be judged by the Governour and Council to be comodious for such Landing place in the said Towns, and that the same be by them appointed such, that the Owner shall have such reasonable satisfaction given him for the same as the Governour and Council shall see meet, to be paid by the said respective towns.

And Be It further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the Representatives of the freemen when met in Assembly shall have power to prepare and propose to the Governor and Council all such Bills as they or the Major part of them, shall at any time see needful to be past into Laws, within the said Province and Territories.

10. Provided always, that nothing herein Contained shall debar the Governour and Council from Recommending to the Assembly all such bills as they shall think fit to be past into laws, and that the Council and Assembly may upon Occasion confer together in Committies when desired all which said proposed and prepared Bills or such of them as the Governour with the advice of the Council, shall in Open Assembly, declare his assent unto, shall be the Laws of this Province and Territories thereof...

11. And Be It further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the Assembly shall sit upon their own Adjourments and Committies and continue, in order to prepare and propose bills, Redress grievances and Impeach Criminalls, or such persons as they shall think fit to be there Impeached, untill the Governour and Council for the time being shall Dismiss them, Which Assembly shall, notwithstanding such Dismiss, be capable of Assembling together, upon summons of the Governour and Council, at any time During that year, Two thirds of which Assembly in all cases shall make a Quorum.

12. And Be It further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That all elections of Representatives fore Council and Assembly, and all questions to be determined by them shall be by the major parts of votes; . . .

No. 45. Treaty of Ryswick

September 10/20, 1697

THE war of the Palatinate, known in America as King William's, or Frontenac's, war, was the first of four intercolonial conflicts which, accompanying in each case the outbreak of war between England and France in Europe, ended in the overthrow of the French power in America, and the absorption by England of the vast territory there claimed or held by its rival. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685, had deprived the French Protestants of the religious and civil privileges which they had enjoyed since 1598; while the claim of Louis XIV. to the succession of the Palatinate, on the extinction of the male line, for Elizabeth, wife of the Duke of Orleans, the king's brother, was an open menace to the German states. The League of Augsburg, formed in 1686 between the Empire, Sweden, Spain, Bavaria, Saxony, and the Palatinate, was followed in 1689 by the Grand Alliance, in which England and Holland, under William of Orange, joined the powers of the League in resistance to France. The naval battle of La Hogue, in 1692, gave England the mastery of the sea; but in the same year the French took Namur, and defeated the allies at Steinkirk. In 1695, however, William retook Namur, and important military operations on the continent came to an end. At the beginning of the war, William rejected an offer of colonial neutrality, and the colonies of both powers promptly took up arms; but the English colonies in America were weakened by mutual jealousies and serious internal disturbances, while the French were vigorous and alert. The frontiers of New England and New York were ravaged by parties of French and Indians, to whom little effective resistance was opposed. In 1690 an expedition under Sir William Phipps took Port Royal, but a combined land and naval movement against Canada failed; and in 1691 Port Royal was retaken by the

French. In 1696-1697 a French expedition under D'Iberville took Pemaquid, St. John's, Newfoundland, and the fort at Hudson's Bay; but a proposed attack on New England was not carried out. Early in 1697 Louis offered concessions, and in September, after protracted negotiations, a treaty was signed at Ryswick. Only so much of the treaty as relates to America is given here.

REFERENCES. - Text in Chalmers's Collection of Treaties, I., 332-340. The war is treated at length in the general histories of the period; see also Parkman's Frontenac and New France; Winsor's Narr, and Crit Hist., IV., chap. 7. An interesting account of the negotiation of the treaty is given in Macaulay's History of England, IV., chap. 22.

VII. The most Christian King shall restore to the said King of Great Britain, all countries, islands, forts, and colonies, wheresoever situated, which the English did posess before the declaration of this present war. And in like manner the King of Great Britain shall restore to the most Christian King all countries, islands, forts, and colonies, wheresoever situated, which the French did possess before the said declaration of war; and this restitution shall be made, on both sides, within the space of six months, or sooner if it can be done.

VIII. Commissioners shall be appointed on both sides, to examine and determine the rights and pretensions which either of the said Kings hath to the places situated in Hudson's Bay; but the possession of those places which were taken by the French, during the peace that preceded this present war, and were retaken by the English during this war, shall be left to the French, by virtue of the foregoing article. The capitulation made by the English on the fifth of September, 1696, shall be observed, according to its form and tenor; the merchandizes therein mentioned shall be restored; the governor of the fort taken there shall be set at liberty, if it be not already done; the differences arisen concerning the execution of the said capitulation, and the value of the goods there lost, shall be adjudged and determined by the said commissioners; who, immediately after the ratification of the present treaty, shall be invested with sufficient authority for settling the limits and confines of the lands to be restored on either side, by virtue of the foregoing article, and likewise for exchanging of land, as may conduce to the mutual interest and advantage of both Kings.

No. 6. Pennsylvania Charter of Privileges.

October 28/November 8, 1701

PENN returned to Pennsylvania in December, 1699, and at once set himself to reorganize the government and to quiet dissension. In this, however, he was opposed by David Lloyd, the leading member of the Assembly, and also attorney-general; while popular complaint of the frame of 1696 was soon followed by a request for a new constitution. Penn had not assented to the frame of 1696, and now held that the frame of 1683 had been, under Fletcher, only temporarily in abeyance. Early in 1700 he agreed to the appointment of a committee of the council and the assembly to draw up a new frame or charter; but no result was reached. A new committee was chosen by the assembly in October, but did not begin its deliberations until September, 1701. In the meantime, efforts to adjust the differences with Delaware had failed, and there were reports of another movement in England to deprive Penn of his colony. These circumstances hastened agreement, and in October the charter of privileges was signed and accepted. The charter continued in force until replaced by the State constitution of 1776, although the sons of Penn and the legal advisers of the Crown seem not to have admitted its validity, alleging that it granted to the assembly more power than the charter of the province warranted. In 1702 the Delaware counties, availing themselves of a provision in the charter of privileges, established a separate assembly, and so continued until the formation of a State constitution in 1776.

REFERENCES.

Text in Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representa tives of Pennsylvania, I., part II., pp. 1.-III. On the dispute with Delaware, see especially Shepherd, op. cit., part II., chap. 6.

[The document recites the grant of the charter of 1681, the deeds from the Duke of York, and the frame of 1683, together with Penn's promise either to restore the frame to the people of the province, or else to grant them one "better adapted to answer the present circumstances and conditions" of the colony, and continues:]

KNOW YE THEREFORE, That for the further Well-being and good Government of the said Province, and Territories; and in Pursuance of the Rights and Powers before-mentioned, I the said William Penn do declare, grant and confirm, unto all the Freemen, Planters, and Adventurers, and other Inhabitants of this Province and Territories, these following Liberties, Franchises and Privileges, so far as in me lieth, to be held, enjoyed, and kept, by the Freemen, Planters and Adventurers, and other Inhabitants of and in the said Province, and Territories thereunto annexed, for ever.

First,

BECAUSE no People can be truly happy, tho' under the greatest Enjoyment of civil Liberties, if abridged of the Freedom of their Consciences, as to their Religious Profession and Worship: And Almighty God being the only Lord of Conscience, Father of Lights and Spirits; and the Author as well as Object of all divine Knowledge, Faith and Worship, who only doth enlighten the Minds, and persuade and convince the Understandings of People, I do hereby grant and declare, That no Person or Persons, inhabiting in this Province or Territories, who shall confess and acknowledge One almighty God, the Creator, Upholder and Ruler of the World; and profess him, or themselves, obliged to live quietly under the civil Government, shall be in any Case molested or perjudiced, in his or their Person or Estate, because of his or their conscientious Perswasion or Practice, nor be compelled to frequent or maintain any religious Worship, Place or Ministry, contrary to his or their Mind, or to do or suffer any other Act or Thing, contrary to their religious Perswasion.

AND that all Persons who also profess to believe in Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the World, shall be capable (notwithstanding their other Perswasions and Practices in Point of Conscience and Religion to) serve this Government in any Capacity, both legislatively and executively, he or they solemnly promising, when lawfully required, Allegiance to the King as Sovereign, and Fidelity to the Proprietary and Governor, and taking the Attests as now established by the Law made at Newcastle, in the Year One Thousand and Seven Hundred, intituled, An Act directing the Attests of several Officers and Ministers, as now amended and confirmed this present Assembly.

II.

FOR the well governing of this Province and Territories, there shall be an Assembly yearly chosen by the Freemen thereof, to consist of Four Persons out of each County, of most Note for Virtue, Wisdom and Ability (or of a greater Number at any Time, as the Governor and Assembly shall agree) upon the first Day of October for ever; and shall sit on the fourteenth Day of the same Month at Philadelphia, unless the Governor and Council for the Time being, shall see Cause to appoint another Place

Q