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as in the Act of 1676, and from 1692 to 1725, except for a very short
Interval in Governor Hart's Time, Temporary Acts were passed
from Time to Time for Limitation of Officers ffees, with the same
Proviso as in the Act of 1676.
Governor Copley was impowered by his Commission and Instruc-
tions from the Crown, to settle with the Council, the ffees of Officers.
In their Majesties Commission to M.r Blackiston in 1692 to be
Commissary General, he was empowered to receive all Dues, Fees,
Profits and Emoluments, belonging to his Office, as should be settled
by their Majesties, or their Captain General and Council.
Governors Nicholson, Blackiston, Seymour and Hart, the suc-
cessive Governors after Copley appointed by the Crown till Lord
Baltimore was restored, were also respectively empowered to settle
the Officers ffees
In the Province of New York in the Year 1704 the ffees of Officers
were settled by the Governors and Council, and the Regulation, they
established, has been continued to the present Time.
'Tis true that the Power given by the respective Royal Commis-
sions, was seldom exercised, because ffees were regulated, for the
most Part, by Acts of Assembly, but it may be inferred from the
Tenor of the Commissions, that the Prerogative of settling ffees was
claimed by the Crown, and, probably, it was a Power usually inserted
in the Royal Commissions to the Governors of the Colonies.
You have seen that it has been exercised in New York. Shall it
be said that King William, of Glorious Memory, Queen Anne, and
George the First, were "Enemies to the Peace, Welfare and Happi-
ness of this Province, and the Laws and Constitution thereof ?" That
the People of New York have been oppressed, and have tamely sub-
mitted to the Oppression? For a very short Time, during M.r Hart's
Administration, the Act for Limitation of Officers ffees ceased, and
thereupon his Excellency directed the Keeper of the Seal to affix it
to no Paper, till the fee should be paid according to the Rate of
the expired Law, in Cash at the current Price of Tobacco. Those
Precedents considered, must not your Resolves appear extremely
violent?
In the Year 1692, when Governor Copley attempted to regulate
Officers ffees, the Act of 1676 was in full fforce, and there was no
Occasion to exert the Prerogative to prevent Extortion, or for any
other Purpose, the Act being sufficient, and having excluded the
Regulation by Prerogative, so that the Precedent from the Proceed-
ings in 1692, which you represented as decisive, not being applicable,
and the Precedents on the other Side being very numerous, you
ought to be satisfied on your own Principle, that you have been
too hasty.
If the Regulation of Officers ffees be a Tax, which by the Con-
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L. H. J.
Liber No. 54
Nov. 30
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