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clause might be at variance with English law, it was
revised by the
attorney-general, and amended by Lord North, who inserted clauses to guard the sovereignty of the king and the commercial supremacy of parliament.
The acts of the future colonial legislature were to be submitted to the king and council, who had power to annul them if contrary to English law. The power of levying customs was expressly reserved to parliament.
The bishop of
London, quite unnecessarily, claimed security for the English church.
The people of the country were to be safe against taxation, except by the provincial assembly or the English parliament.
In other respects the usual franchises of a feudal proprietary were conceded.
At length, writes
William Penn, ‘After many wait-
ings, watchings, solicitings, and disputes in council, my country was confirmed to me under the great seal of
England.
God will bless and make it the seed of a nation.
I shall have a tender care of the government, that it be well laid at first.’
Pennsylvania included the principal settlements of the Swedes; and patents for land had been made to
Dutch and English by the Dutch West India Company, and afterwards by the duke of
York.
The royal proclamation soon announced to all the inhabitants of
the province, that
William Penn, their absolute proprietary, was invested with all powers and preeminences necessary for the government.
The proprietary also issued his proclamation to his vassals and subjects.
It was in the following words:—
my Friends: I wish you all happiness here and hereafter.
These are to lett you know, that it hath pleased God in his
Providence to cast you within my
Lott and Care.
It is a business, that though I never