1710.] HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY. 229 



Qualified no otherwise than by an affirmacon or, Dechiracon con- 

 trary to a statute made in the first year of your Mat'"' Reign. 



" 2n(lly. Because the act of Assembly of this Province, by 

 which Judges, Jury & Witnesses were pretended to be Qua- 

 lified was made & past the Twenty eighth Day of May, in the 

 first year of your Majestie's Reign, which was after s'^ murder 

 was supposed to be committed; and after another act of Assem- 

 bly of the same nature was repealed by her Late Majesty, Queen 

 Anne. 



" 3dly. Because s** act of Assembly is not consonant to Rea- 

 son, but Repugnant k contrary to the Laws, Statutes and Rights 

 of your Majestie's Kingdom."' 



It appears from the discussion in Council, that the condemned 

 " had for several years appeared at the head of a lawless Gang 

 of Loose fellows, commom disturbers of the public peace." The 

 crime had been committed three years before the trial, during 

 part of which time, the accused being out on bail, behaved in the 

 worst possible manner. The appeal made to the Crown in this 

 case, is perhaps the only instance on record, Avhere any excep- 

 tion has been taken, bj a defendant tried for murder, to the 

 presence of Quakers on the Jury. 



A great alarm from piratical vessels being on the coast pre- 

 vailed in 1718. Under an act of Grace, promulgated by the 

 King, a number of these pirates had surrendered themselves, 

 and had obtained certificates to that eflFect from the provincial 

 authorities; but it was suspected that these repentant outlaws 

 still maintained a secret correspondence with their old associates. 

 Measures were at once adopted by the Governor and Council to 

 rid the Province of persons so dangerous to its peace and safety. 



An act passed in 1718, "for the advancement of justice, and 

 more certain administration thereof, " removed most of the 

 obstacles in the way of Friends participating freely in legisla- 

 tive and judicial concerns." This act was confirmed by the 

 King and Council in the following year. The act " for corro- 

 borating the circular line between the Counties of Chester and 

 New Castle," that had been passed several years previously, met 

 with a different fate; for what reason does not appear. 



''John Wright, Richard Webb, Henry Pierce and Henry Nayle 

 and tlieir associates," now appear as Justices of the ''General 

 Quarter Sessions of the Peace and jail delivery." The August 

 Court was held by John Wright alone. At this Court, for an 



1 Col. Rec. iii. 31. 



* It has been said that the privileges acquired by the Friends, in the passage of this 

 act, " was the inducement for adopting the sanguinary rigor of the Engli.-h penal law, 

 in violation of the humane policy which had previously influenced tlie legislature of 

 Pennsylvania, on the subject of crimes and punishments." — Laics Penna. Bioren's Ed. 

 i. 130. Note. 



