308 FOTHERGILL AND PENNSYLVANIA CHAP. 



genius of Montcalm seized for the time much of the hinter- 

 land of the North American provinces. The Quaker 

 opposition in Pennsylvania could not be allowed to add 

 to the perils by which the colonies were confronted. A 

 Bill was drafted for Parliament early in 1756, dissolving 

 the Assembly, and disqualifying Friends for its member- 

 ship by the imposition of an oath, at any rate until such 

 time as laws for armed defence and restriction of the 

 popular powers could be framed by others. This was to 

 break the charter of Pennsylvania. Friends in London 

 got wind of the plan, and a person of high rank, a steady 

 friend to the society and intimate with a leading member, 

 offered his advice ; four Friends waited upon him ; and 

 it became plain that a course which had been in mind 

 for some time must now be taken : the Quakers must 

 retire, for the present at any rate, from the government 

 of the province. The London Meeting after due considera- 

 tion decided to advise this course, and upon its assurance 

 that the Friends should resign, the Bill was stayed, mainly 

 by the good offices of Lord Granville. John Hunt and 

 Christopher Wilson, who were embarking from Bristol in 

 August for Philadelphia on a religious visit, were com- 

 missioned with the message from the home society. 



Fothergill saw the issue which was at stake. Writing 

 on March 16 to Pemberton he shows the necessity of 

 dealing with the crisis in this manner : Every one says, 

 he tells him, that you are unfit for governing : " you 

 accept of a public trust, which at the same time you 

 acknowledge you cannot discharge. You owe the people 

 protection, and yet withhold them from protecting them- 

 selves. Will not all the blood that is spilt be at your 

 doors ? " The province cannot co-operate in defence 

 whilst your Friends have a majority in the Assembly, 

 which your influence and wealth will nevertheless ensure 

 to you, unless you are totally excluded. If it is an 

 infraction of the charter, what is this to the desolation 

 of a province ? What answer, he concludes, can we make ? 



In the meantime the Assembly had voted in the 

 previous November 60,000 " for the king's use," James 



