Pennsylva?tia 



dom, I believe, exercise. The supreme courts are 

 held twice a year at Philadelphia. There is no 

 Court of Chancery; but the want of it is supplied, in 

 some measure, by the other courts. There is a par- 

 ticular officer called the register-general, appointed 

 by the governor, whose authority extends over the 

 whole province, where he has several deputies. He 

 grants letters of administration, and probates of wills. 

 In cases of dispute, or caveat entered, he may call in, 

 as assistants, two justices of the peace. The gov- 

 ernor can pardon in all cases, except of treason or 

 murder, and then can reprieve till he knows the 

 king's pleasure. 



There is here, as in most of the other colonies, a 

 Court of Vice-Admiralty, held by commission from 

 the Admiralty in England, for the trial of captures, 

 and of piracies, and other misdemeanors committed 

 upon the high seas; but there lies an appeal from it, 

 I believe, to the Court of Delegates in England. 

 •^As to religion, there is none properly established; 

 but Protestants of all denominations. Papists, Jews, 

 and all other sects whatsoever, are universally toler- 

 ated. There are twelve clergymen of the Church of 

 England, who are sent by the Society for the Pro- 

 pagation of the Gospel, and are allowed annually 

 50 I. each, besides what they get from subscriptions 

 and surplice fees. Some few of these are itinerant 

 missionaries, and have no fixed residence, but travel 

 from place to place, as occasion requires, upon the 



[95] 



