owner or master of the sd. shipp do find and maintain the sd. passengers with meat, drink, and necessaries until the sd. shipp be fully ready.

And it is further covenanted and agreed between the said parties that every master of a family among the sd. passengers having a wife and children, or a considerable family, shall pay att the time of their going aboard, ffive shillings encouragement to the Doctor belonging to the said shipp, and all single persons, except servants, pay one shilling apiece.

And also it is agreed by the sd. partys, that the said David Powell and John Morris shall bring to the said owner or master the sd. shipp a positive account of the number of passengers intended for the sd. voyage, by the twentieth day of this instant, March; and it is further covenanted between the said parties that the sd. Owen Thomas will find cellars, free without any hire, for the goods and wages of the passengers to abide until they be sett aboard the sd. shipp.

And finally and lastly, it is mutually covenanted and agreed by and between the said parties, for themselves, their heirs, executors, and administrators, to observe, fulfill, and accomplish all and singular the grants, articles, and agreement herein before specified or mencioned to be observed, fulfilled, and accomplished by virtue of these presents.

first

In witness whereof, both the sd. Partys have hereunto their hands and seals interchangeably sett the day and year above written.

OWEN THOMAS [SEAL].
SAMUEL HAINES [SEAL].

Sealed and delivered in the sight and presence of us.

Evan Powell,

66

5 5

Edward Nicholas, "

Winnifred Oliver,

NOTE. The above agreement was probably carried out in good faith by the captain and owner of the ship, as the passengers named were in Phila

delphia in March, 1699.

Waiter Ingram,

" 1

66

Benjamin Davis,

"2

ROBERT MORRIS.

PRESENTED BY MRS. ARMINE NIXON HART.

(Centennial Collection.)

In presenting a brief memoir of the life of Robert Morris, it is impossible to forget the biting sarcasm and sharp wit of Rufus Choate's memorable toast,-" Pennsylvania's two most distinguished citizens, Robert Morris, a native of Great Britain, and Benjamin Franklin, a native of Massachusetts." It is to portray the life of one of these "citizens" that I have been invited here to-day.

Robert Morris, the Financier of the American Revolution, was born in Liverpool, Kingdom of Great Britain, on the 20th of January, 1733-34, old style, or what would be, according to the modern method of computation, January 31st, 1734. His father, also Robert Morris, came to this country and settled at Oxford on the eastern shore of Maryland prior to the year 1740. He was there engaged in the tobacco trade as the factor of Foster Cunliffe, Esq., of England. His tombstone in Whitemarsh burial ground, Talbot County, Maryland, records, that "A salute from the cannon of a ship, the wad fracturing his arm, was the signal by which he departed greatly lamented, as he was esteemed, in the fortieth year of his age, on the 12th day of July, MDCCL."

Robert, the son, at an early age came to Philadelphia, and entered the counting-house of Mr. Charles Willing, one of the first merchants of his day, and subsequently in 1754, at the age of twenty, formed a copartnership with his son Thomas Willing, which lasted until 1793, a period of thirty-nine years, and the firm of Willing & Morris became the best known and largest importing house in the colonies. In October, 1765, upon the arrival of the "Royal Charlotte," carrying the obnoxious stamped paper for the colonies, a town meeting was held at the State House, to prevent the landing of the stamps,

and a committee was appointed to wait upon John Hughes, the stamp distributor, and demand his resignation of the of fice. On this committee Mr. Morris was appointed, and from Hughes' letters' it would appear that he and James Tilghman were the spokesmen on the occasion. Later in the same year Mr. Morris signed the Non-Importation Resolutions and Agreement of the Merchants of Philadelphia, and in January, 1766, was appointed one of the first wardens of the port of Philadelphia, by the Assembly of Pennsylvania. Upon the formation of a Committee of Safety for the Province, in June, 1775, Mr. Morris was made vice-president, Franklin being the head, and continued in the office until the dissolution of the Committee, in July, 1776.

In

The appointment of Mr. Morris, by the Assembly of Pennsylvania on the 3d of November, 1775, as one of the delegates to the second congress, then in session at Philadelphia since May 10th, was his first entrance into important public life. Soon after he had taken his seat he was added to and made chairman of the Secret Committee, which had been selected in September, to contract for the importation of arms and ammunition. On the 11th of December, he was designated as one of the committee to devise ways and means for furnishing the colonies with a naval armament, and subsequently, on the formation of a naval committee, he was made a member. April, 1776, Mr. Morris was specially commissioned to negotiate bills of exchange, and to take other measures to procure money for the Congress. When Richard Henry Lee's resolution of June 7th came up for final action on July 2d, the day we celebrate, he, with John Dickinson, Thomas Willing, and Charles Humphreys, voted against independence; and afterwards, on the FOURTH, when the Declaration was submitted for approval, he and Dickinson absented themselves from their seats in Congress. His action was of course much commented upon, and John Adams, the most ardent and at the same time the most severe and censorious of his contemporaries, wrote to General Gates: "You ask me what you are to think of Robert

1 2 Hazard's Register, 247.

835

Morris? I will tell you what I think of him. I think he has a masterly understanding, an open temper, and an honest heart; and if he does not always vote for what you and I think proper, it is because he thinks that a large body of people remains who are not yet of his mind." This query was doubtless occasioned by the apparent inconsistency of Mr. Morris's action with his views expressed to General Gates, in a letter written from Philadelphia on April 6th, 1776, in which he says:

"Where the plague are these Commissioners? If they are to come, what is it that detains them? It is time we should be on a certainty, and know positively whether the liberties of America can be established and secured by reconciliation, or whether we must totally renounce connection with Great Britain, and fight our way to a total independence. Whilst we continue thus firmly united amongst ourselves, there is no doubt but either of these points may be carried; but it seems to me we shall quarrel about which of these roads is best to pursue, unless the Commissioners appear soon and lead us into the first path, therefore I wish them to come, dreading nothing so much as even an appearance of division amongst ourselves." Mr. Morris's reason for this course was that he considered the act premature and unnecessary, that the colonies were not yet ready for independence; and that his motives were respected and sanctioned by his constituents, and his patriotism never questioned, are shown by the fact that on the 20th of the same month, he, alone of the members who had voted with him, was re-elected a delegate. On this same day he wrote "From the Hills on Schuylkill" to Joseph Reed: "I have uniformly voted against and opposed the Declaration of Independence, because, in my poor opinion, it was an improper time, and will neither promote the interest nor redound to the honour of America; for it has caused division when we wanted union, and will be ascribed to very different principles than those which ought to give rise to such an important measure. I did expect my conduct on this great question would have procured my dismission from the great Council, but find myself disappointed,

for the Convention has thought proper to return me in the new delegation, and although my interest and inclination prompt me to decline the service, yet I cannot depart from one point which first induced me to enter the public line. I mean an opinion that it is the duty of every individual to act his part in whatever station his country may call him to, in hours of difficulty, danger, and distress. Whilst I think this a duty, I must submit, although the councils of America have taken a different course from my judgment and wishes. I think that the individual who declines the service of his country because its councils are not conformable to his ideas, makes but a bad subject; a good one will follow if he cannot lead." Subsequently, on the 2d of August, when the engrossed Declaration was laid on the table to be signed, he subscribed, with firm hand and unfaltering heart, his signature to our Magna Charta. This act was not inconsistent with his earlier course, for in that brief month great changes had taken place.

He cannot, however, be said to have been, like Sam. Adams, "BURNING FOR INDEPENDENCE," for while he was ever earnest in his exertions to withstand the encroachments of the British crown, he afterwards, on several occasions, expressed his great regret for the act. In October, 1777, after the surrender of Burgoyne, he wrote to Gates::

“Mr. Johnson, and, indeed, all the other Maryland delegates, are at home forming a Constitution. This seems to be the present business of all America, except the army. It is the fruit of a certain premature declaration which, you know, I always opposed. My opposition was founded on the evil consequences I foresaw, or thought I foresaw, and the present state of several of the colonies justifies my apprehension. We are disputing about liberties, privileges, posts, and places, at the very time we ought to have nothing in view but the securing of those objects, and placing them on such a footing, as to make them worth contending for amongst ourselves hereafter. But instead of that, the vigor of this and several other States is lost in intestine divisions; and unless this spirit of contention is checked by some other means, I fear it