PAPERS RELATING TO QUAKERS AND MORAVIANS.
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accordingly, by Order in Council Sent for down, & Examined in Council & tlieir behavior & Accountof themselves will appear by the Minutes of Council of the day of 174 It did not
appear that they were (nor did they pretend to be) naturalized Subjects of her Majesty, they Cameinto the Province without your Excellencys Knowledge or Permission ; they absolutely refusedto take the Oaths to the Government; And when ordered thereupon to Leave the Province andforbid to Eeside any more amongst the Indians, one of them impudently, replyed, with a Seemingthreatning, that perhaps if they left the province, the Indians would follow them and so Artfullywere these Emissarys, preachers or Teachers, Stationed through this and some neighbouring Colo-nies, at Convenient Distances, that thereby a Line of Communication seemed to be formed for theReadier Correspondence and Dispatch of Intelligence through the heart of several of thesePlantations from one to the other, & so to the Fountain head, the house of the Moravian Brethren at the Forks of Delewarre before mentioned : And, according to Information, messengers were fre-quently Dispatcht backwards & forwards, which ’twas thought high time to put an EifectualChecque to.
This strange surprizing & audacious Conduct of those people and the foregoing or such likeobservations and Reflections, ’Twas thought, gave sufficient umbrage for Jealousie Especially in theTime of War; therefore to Guard against the Subtile Devices of Crafty men, Strangers & aliens,& to frustrate all wicked Practices of Designiug Persons & Papists in Disguise under any Colouror Appearances whatsoever Calculated to delude the ignorant Savages, vailed under the SpeciousShew of Care for their souls, were, as The Com ce conceive, Inducements to the Passing the actreferred to in their Lordships Letter & of the mentioning the Moravians in it, by name.
The Restraints laid by this act upon the Moravian Brethren and such like are conformable towhat his Majesty has been pleased to Enjoin your Excellency, by his Royal Instructions, to Observe*within this Province, with Regard to Ministers and Schoolmasters.
1 st Tis Provided by this act, That Persons residing within this Province shall upon Summonsof the Judges & Magistrates give that Pledge of Fidelity to his Majesty & his Government (which’tis in the Power of Every man to do) viz 1 to take the State Oaths under a pecuniary Penalty, orSix Months Imprisonment in Default.
2 dly That no Place of Religious Worship shall be allowed without it be Certified & Recordedat the Quarter Sessions.
3 d >y That no Person shall reside amongst the Indians under the pretence of bringing them overto the Christian flaith without your Excellency’s Lycence with Consent of his Majesty’s Councill.
An d though this act was Calculated to Continue of fforce for one year only, & is Expired by itsown Limitation, yet it is Conceived to have been a necessary & salutary Law & is Proper to bereceived, & Continued.
All which is humbly submitted
May 1746. Dan l IIorsmanden Chairman.
May it Please your Excellency
We Deputies of the Unitas Fratrum his Majestys Dutifull and Loyall Subjects being duelySensible of the freedom and Liberty of Conscience we Enjoy under the Government of so good andMild a King as also under the Government of your Excellency Hereby beg Leave to acquaint you