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persons with such an authority, and fund of money, as may tempt
and enable them to betray that trust, &c. That the world may clearly
see what we objected to the bill on this head, we must take the
liberty of mentioning some parts of the bill; which in one part of
it directs, "That Mr. Hyde (in whose hands the money is to be
lodged) shall pay such money to such person or persons as the
trustees so to be appointed as aforesaid, or the survivor or survivors
of them shall, by writing under their hands, order and direct the
same, and not otherwise." And then the last clause in these words,
viz. "And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That
the money arising by the duty aforesaid, shall be applied towards
the payment of an agent to be employed for this Province to reside
at London, in Great-Britain, and to such other uses and purposes,

p. 45

as shall, from time to time, be thought necessary by the trustees
aforesaid, or the survivors of them, and not otherwise." Now let us
consider the duration, power, and temptation, which the trustees
must have had under such a law. First, as to their duration, we
say, they could not have been removed from the trusteeship, during

the continuance of the law; for after the speaker had once executed

his authority of signifying, under his hand, the appointment of the
trustees, there could not be another appointment, before all the
trustees should be dead, because the other parts, and the last clause
of the bill, expressly direct the trust to be executed by the survivor
or survivors. — Secondly, as to their power, it is without bounds;
they might have done either as much or as little as they pleased;
nor is there one thing taken notice of in the bill, as the proper busi-
ness of the trustees, except fingering the money, and making some
application of it (but how much is not mentioned) towards payment
of an agent; so that one would be apt to imagine this bill had been

p. 46

calculated principally to gratify these same trustees. Thirdly, let us
examine how they might compliment each other out of this fund,
without ever being accountable for any embezzlement or misapplica-
tion. The sixpence per hogshead intended to be raised by this bill,
may be calculated to amount, communibus annis, to 700l. sterling
per annum; the salary formerly allowed by this Province to an
agent, used to be 100l sterling per annum; but suppose this to be
increased to 150l. or 200 1. sterling per annum; and in the whole
three years to 1500l. or 1800l sterling, in their hands or power,
which they might dispose of to such uses and purposes as they
should, from time to time, think necessary; so that whether they
applied it to the use and service of the Province, or to their own
use, (which they might judge necessary) they could not be account-
able for more than they might think fit to give their agent: for if
they should have been questioned, upon laying their account before
the house of delegates, what they had done with the money, they
might truly say, that the law was very express, that they should
have liberty of applying the money to such uses and purposes as they