voice. By the terms of the charter, Keith discovered that the Council had really only an advisory power, and as they had often delayed and defeated bills of importance by their opposition, he determined to act independently of them. This was strenuously resisted by the Council, and by Logan the Secretary, and was the beginning of a bitter controversy. Finally, in 1722, the Governor having discovered that Logan, as he alleges, had entered upon the minutes of the Council a statement which had not been formally approved, removed him from office, and appointed another in his place; whereupon Logan repaired to London, and laid his grievances before Hannah Penn, now the acting Proprietor. Logan had long enjoyed the confidence of the Proprietor, and that confidence could not now be shaken by the trivial representations of the Governor. She immediately wrote to Keith, sharply reproving him for displacing the Secretary without consulting her, or even his Council, which was enjoined in the charter, and directing him to reinstate Logan in his old position. This Keith refused to do, justifying his conduct, and claiming for himself absolute power in disposing of this matter. This opposition to the will of the Proprietor cost him his place, he being superseded in July, 1726.

Keith may be considered as one of the most successful of the Proprietary Governors, and though charged with craft and subserviency to gain his ends, and command popular favor, which were doubtless founded in truth, yet it appears that he used the power and influence which he thus acquired for the public good, and that the growth and prosperity of the Colony during his administration were unsurpassed nor even equalled by any other American Colony. Though not a Quaker, he secured to that sect privileges which had previously been sought in vain, they being allowed to wear their hats in court, and to give testimony under affirmation instead of oath. So far had he won the popular favor, that he was immediately elected to the Assembly, after surrendering the gubernatorial power, and took his seat in that body; but in his wish to be elected speaker he was foiled, the methods he

adopted to secure this result serving to alienate even his friends. Watson, in his reference to this event, says: "Afterwards, when he [David Lloyd] exerted himself to thwart the ambitious designs of Sir William Keith, whom he wished to supplant as a dangerous political rival, he readily succeeded. In this, such was his management and success, that, although Sir William aimed for the Speaker's chair, and had his support out-doors in a cavalcade of eighty mounted horsemen, and the resounding of many guns fired, David Lloyd got every vote in the Assembly but three." For a year or two after the close of his administration he manifested a most unjustifiable and malicious spirit, creating dissensions in the administration of his successor. But his power and influence rapidly waned. In 1738 he published a history of the Colony of Virginia, with the intention of writing the histories of all the other Colonies; but doubtless abandoned it for want of sufficient encouragement. He died in London in 1749, in poverty. "It may be very little known," says Watson, "that he, who moved with so much excitement and cabal as our Governor in 1726, should at last fall into such neglect, as to leave his widow among us unnoticed and almost forgotten! She lived and died in a small wooden house in Third Street, between High and Mulberry. There, much pinched for subsistence, she eked out her existence with an old female, declining all intercourse with society or with her neighbors. The house itself was burnt in 1786."

CHAPTER VI.

JOHN, RICHARD, AND THOMAS PENN, PROPRIETORS, 1727-46.

PATRICK

ATRICK GORDON, Deputy Governor, July, 1726, to August, 1736.- Patrick Gordon, who had served in the regular army, and who was recommended by Springett Penn for royal confirmation, was appointed to succeed Keith. He arrived in the Province with his family in the summer of 1726, and met the Assembly in August. In his first address, he alluded to the fact of his having been a soldier, that he consequently knew nothing of the crooked ways of professed politicians, and must rely upon a blunt, straightforward course in his communications with them and in his adminis tration of the government. He did not dissemble in making this declaration, for his public career seems to have been characterized by frankness and integrity.

During the first two or three years of his government, his predecessor in office succeeded in fomenting difficulties in the Assembly, of which he was a member, and in the Province; but his utterances were so extravagant, and his plans for personal aggrandizement were so injudicious, that his influence over the party which he had at first led was soon lost, and the discreet and wise policy of Governor Gordon bore down all opposition. George I. died in June, 1727, and was succeeded by his son, George II. At the meeting of the Assembly in October following, a congratulatory address was framed and presented to the new king upon his peaceful and happy accession to the throne.

In 1728, several disturbances occurred among the Indians, chiefly incited by strong drink, which were participated in by worthless bands who had strayed away from the tribes to