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Show p E N S Y L V A N I A; two affiftant judges; they have the united authority of the K. rr' Bench Common Pleas, and Court of Exchequer. They mb s ' d · h not only receive appeals, but all ~aufes once commenc~ m t e inferior courts, after the fidl: wnt, may be moved th~ther by a habeas corpus, certiorari, writ of error, &c. The J ud~es of the fupreme court have alfo a ftanding and di!l:inB: commtflion, to hold, as {hall feem needful, courts of oyer and tcrmine:, and general goal-deliveries throughout the province; but th1s power they feldom, I believe, exe~cife. The . fupreme courts are held twice a year at Philadelphia. There IS no Court of Chancery; but the want of it is fupp1ied, in fome meafure, by the other courts. There is a particular officer called t~e regi!l:er-general, appointed by the governor, whofe author.Ity extends over the whole province, where he has feveral deputies. He grants letters of admini!l:ration, and probates of wills. In cafes of difpute, or caveat entered, he may call in, as affi!l:ants, two juftices of the peace. The governor can pardon in all cafes, except of treafon or murder, and then can reprieve till he knows the king's pleafure. There is here, as in mo!l: of the other colonies, a Court of Vice-admiralty, held by commiffi.on from the Admiralty ia England, for the trial of captures and of piracies, and other mifdemeanors committed upon the high feas; but there lies an appeal from it, I believe, to the Court of Delegates in England. As to religion, there is none properly eftabliihed; but Proteftants of all denominations, Papifts, Jews, and all other feels whatfoever, are univerfally tolerated. There are twelve clergymen of the church of England, who are fent by the Society for the Propagation of the Gofpel, and are allowed annually so 1. each, beiides what they get from fubfcriptions and furplice fees. Some few of thefe are itinerant miffionaries, and have ·no fix:ed refidence, but travel from place to place, as oc-cafion P E N S Y L V A N I A. cafion requires, upon the frontiers. They are under the jurifdidion of the bilh?p of London. Arts and fciences are yet in their infancy. There are fame few perfons who have difcovered a tafi:e for rnufic and p ainting; and philofophy feems not only to have made a conliderable progrefs already, but to be daily gaining ground. The library fociety is an excellent infi:itution for propagating a ta!l:e for literature; and the college well calculated to form and cultivate it. This lalt inltitution is ereCted upon an admirable plan, and is by f ar the heft fchool for learning throughout America. It has been chiefly raifed by coutributions; and its prefent fund is about to,ooo I. Penfylvania money. An account of it may be feen in Dr. Smith's (the prelident's) Difcourfes. The quakers al(o have an acad emy for infi:ruding their youth in cbffical learning, and practic.:al mathematics : there are three teachers, and about feventy boys in it. . Befides thefe, there are feveral fchools in the province for the Dutch and other foreign children; and a conliderable one IS going to be eretl:ed at German-town. The Penfylvanians, as to character, are a frugal and induftrious people : not remarkably courteous and hofpitable to ftrangers, unlefs particularly recommended to them; but rather, like the denizens of molt commercial cities, the reverfe. They are great republicans, and have fallen into the fame errors in their ideas of independency, as mofr of the other colonies have. They are by far the mofr enterprizing people upon the continent. As they confifl: of feveral nations, and talk feveral languages, they are aliens in fome refpeB: to Great Britain : nor can it be expetl:ed that they ihould have the fame filial attachment to her which her own immediate otffpring have. However, they are quiet, and concern themfelves but little, except about getting money. The women l1 are +9 |