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EVANS, John; and the NEW CASTLE ASSEMBLY. An impor

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New Castle: October 1708. 4pp, folded sheet (303 x 184 mm). Written in an unknown hand, but likely accomplished for James Logan. Docketed on final leaf. the lower counties assert their independence amidst fears of french privateers on the delaware. Following their 1701 agreement with William Penn for their own self-governance, the Lower Counties occasionally held meetings of its Assembly. At this meeting of the New Castle Assembly, Pennsylvania deputy Governor John Evans addressed the representatives. Evans had become governor in 1704; being an Anglican, he was generally liked within the Lower Counties. His reasons for attending this Assembly seem to have been to persuade the Lower Counties to support a militia for the defence of the colony. Queen Ann's War (i.e. the War of Spanish Succession) had begun several years prior and French privateers had been attacking settlements along the Atlantic. Indeed, to raise awareness of the precariousness of Philadelphia, Evans staged in 1706, with the cooperation of the clerk of New Castle, a pretend attack, with the said clerk arriving into the city proclaiming that New Castle and Lewes had been destroyed by a French ship sailing up the Delaware. Although havoc ensued, the pacifism of the Quaker-controlled Pennsylvania Assembly refused to enact Evans's laws for the raising of a militia for the defence of the river. Addressing the New Castle Assembly on 14 October 1708, Evans calls for his militia bill to be upheld and for the financial support of the government: "...what I shall insist on will doubtless Appear of Weight to You, as the Protection of the People has Ever been looked upon the main Design and End of Government ... I need not tell you, Gentlemen that, the Dangers Continuing and Increasing as ye insults of this Past Sumer at Our Doors too Sufficiently convinces us that I am under an Indispensible Duty still to press to your Serious Consideration the Necessity of Continuing those means." The Assembly's response, occupying the complete second page of this document, follows. But rather than address the specific legislation, the reply, signed by Speaker James Coutts, questions the authority of the Pennsylvania Governor over the Lower Counties. The reply begins by acknowledging the dangers faced by the colony, but continues by asserting that their grievances and demands to William Penn and the Pennsylvania Assembly have not been met and concludes: "And whereas the Raising of men and money for our Defense and Support of Government and Laying Restrains upon our fellow Subjects are Acts of the highest Nature and ought to be Warranted with the greatest Authority, therefore this present Assembly believes it their Duty before they proceed to any further business ... to lay before them the Power of Government..." This was not merely posturing. James Logan would write to Penn regarding this response that "by questioning thy Powers of Government in their Open Assembly had laid a Design to bring a Revolution there" (Papers of William Penn, IV:157). A tone of exasperation pervades Evans' reply, wherein he asserts the legitimacy of his appointment, commission and royal approbation. The final page of this document is a resolution of the Assembly to abruptly cease their meeting: "Therefore finding t[ha]t ye Govt has nothing more to Say to us at P[re]sent & being resolved to keep ourselves Clear of Everything t[ha]t may hurt our Establishmt or Disturb t[ha]t Peace we enjoy, we think fit to Return to our habitations." It is unclear who drafted this contemporary copy of the original documents, but it was likely accomplished for James Logan. Indeed, Logan sent precisely such a document to William Penn, revealing that the Assembly had not simply returned to their homes but had submitted a grievance against Penn to the Lords of Trade. Referring to the Assembly's initial reply to Evans's address, Logan writes: "They then formed their address to the Governour and presented it, of which I herewith send thee a copy, with the other papers, and in it, without taking any notice of what they themselves had for several years been doing, leaped back at once to what two or three of 'em pretended they could remember by head had passed at Philadelphia in 1701." For the complete text of Logan's lengthy letter to Penn which discusses this matter in detail see Correspondence between William Penn and James Logan, pp. 324-333.

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