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thatt if any servant run away from his master into any other of these confoederated jurisdictions thatt in such case, upon the certificate of one magistrate in the jurisdiction, out of which the said servant fled, or upon other due proofe, Be the said servant shall be delivered to his said master, or to O any other thatt pursues, and brings such certifficate or proofe, and thatt upon the escape of any prisoner whatsoever or hr figitive for any criminall cause, whether breaking prison or getting from the officer, or otherwise escapeing, upon the certificate of two magistrates of the jurisdiction, out of which the escape is made, thatt he was a prisoner or such an oft offender att the time of the escape, the magistrates, or some din of them, of thatt jurisdiction where for the present the said prisoner or fugitive abideth shall forthwith grant such a warrant as the case will beare, for the apprehending of any such person and the delivery of him into the hand of the ng officer or other person who pursueth him, and if there be

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help required for the safe retourning of any such offender, d then itt shall be granted unto him thatt craves itt, he paying in the charges thereof.1

IX. And for thatt the justest warres may be of dangerous Er consequence especially to the smaller plantations in these E united collonyes, itt is agreed thatt neither Massacusetts,

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Plymouth, Conectecutt, nor New haven, nor any of the members of any of them, shall att any time hereafter begin, undertake or ingage themselves, or this confederation, or any part thereof, in any warre whatsoever (sudden exegents with the necessary consequences thereof excepted, which are

1 The mischief aimed at by this Article was met by Article IV, Sections 2 & 3, of the United States Constitution. A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice and be found in another State, shall, on demand of the executive authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime.

No person held to service or labour in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation thereof, be discharged from such service or labour, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labour may be due.

allso to be moderated as much as the case will permit) without the consent and agreement of the forenamed eight commissioners, or att least six of them, as in the sixt article is provided, and thatt no charge be required of any of the confoederates in case of a defensive warre, till the said commissioners have mett and approved the justice of the warre and have agreed upon the sums of mony to be leivied; which sum is then to be payd by the severall confœderates, in proportion, according to the fowerth article.

X. Thatt in extraordinary occasions when meetings are summoned by three magistrates of any jurisdiction, or two as in the fift article, if any of the comissioners come not, due warning being given or sent, itt is agreed thatt fower of the commissioners shall have power to direct a warre which cannot be delayed, and to send for due proportions of men out of each jurisdiction, as well as six might doe, if all mett; but nott less than six shall determine the justice of the warre, or allow the demands or bills or charges, or cause any levies to be made for the same.

XI. Itt is further agreed thatt if any of the confœderates shall hereafter breake any of these present articles, or be any other way injurious to any one of the other jurisdictions, such breach of agreement or injury shall be duely considered, and ordered by the commissioners for the other jurisdictions, that both peace, and this present confœderation, may be intyrely preserved without violation.

XII. Lastly. This perpetuall confœderation, and the severall articles and agreements thereof being reade and seriously considered both by the Generall Court for the Massacusetts, and by the commissioners for Plymouth, Conectecutt and New haven were fully allowed and confirmed by three of the forenamed confoederates, namely, the Massacusetts, Conectecut, and Newhaven. Onely the comissioners from Plymouth, haveing noe comission to conclude, desired respite till they might advise with their Generall Court, Whereupon itt was agreed and concluded by the

said Court of the Massacusetts, and the comissioners for the other two confoederates, that, if Plymouth consent, then the whole treaty, as it stands in these present articles, is and shall continue firme and stable, without alteration; Butt, if Plymouth come nott in, yett the other three confœderates doe, by these presents, conclude the whole confoederation and all the articles theof, onely in September next, when the second meeting of the comissioners is to be att Boston, new considerations may be taken of the Sixt article, which concerns number of comissioners for meeting and concluding the affayres of this confœderation, to the satisfaction of the court of the Massacusetts, and the comissioners for the other two confœderates, butt the rest to stand unquestioned. In testimony whereof the Generall Court of the Massacusetts by their Secretary and the Commissioners for Conectecutt and Newhaven have subscribed these present articles this 19th day of the third moneth, comonly called May, 1643.1

1 The General Court of Plymouth duly ratified the action of their Commissioners on August 29, 1643, and these Articles were signed by them on September 7. See New Plymouth Records, ed. by N. B. Shurtleff and D. Pulsifer, vol. ix, p. 8. Boston, 1859.

MR. PENN'S PLAN FOR A UNION OF THE

COLONIES IN AMERICA

[The text is as given in O'Callaghan's Documents Relating to the Colonial History of New York, vol. iv, pp. 296-7. The plan is summarized in Fortescue's Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, 1696-7, No. 694. It was read by Board of Trade Feb. 8, 1696–7.]

A BRIEFE and plaine scheam how the English Colonies in the North parts of America, viz. Boston, Connecticut, Road Island, New York, New Jerseys, Pensilvania, Maryland, Virginia and Carolina may be made more usefull to the Crowne, and one anothers peace and safty with an universall concurrence.

1. That the severall colonies before mentioned do meet once a year, and oftener if need be during the war, and at least once in two years in times of peace by their stated and appointed deputies, to debate and resolve of such measures as are most adviseable for their better understanding and the public tranquility and safety.

2. That in order to it two persons well qualified for sence, sobriety, and substance be appointed by each Province as their Representatives or Deputies, which in the whole make the Congress to consist of twenty persons.

3. That the King's Commissioner for that purpose specially appointed shall have the chaire and preside in the said Congresse.

4. That they shall meet as near as conveniently may be to the most centrall Colony for ease of the Deputies.

5. Since that may in all probability be New York, because it is now the center of the Colonies, and for that it is a frontier and in the King's nomination, the Governor of that Colony may also be the King's High Commissioner during the session after the manner of Scotland.

6. That their business shall be to hear and adjust all matters of complaint or difference between Province and Province. As (1st) where persones quit their own Province

and goe to another, that they may avoid their just debts1 though they be able to pay them. (2.) Where offenders fly Justice, or Justice cannot well be had upon such offenders in the Provinces that entertaine them. (3.) To prevent or cure injuries in point of commerce.3 (4.) To consider of ways and means to support the union and safety of these Provinces against the publick enemies. In which Congresse the quotas of men and charges will be much easier and more easily sett, then it is possible for any establishment made here to do; for the Provinces knowing their own condition and one anothers can debate that matter with more freedom and satisfaction and better adjust and ballance their affairs in all respects for their common safty.

7. That in times of war the King's High Commissioner shall be Generall or Chief Commander of the several Quotas upon service against the common enemy as he shall be advised, for the good and benefit of the whole.

1 In some further heads of things proper for the Plantations, drawn up by Penn in 1700, when he perhaps despaired of his more ambitious scheme being adopted, he proposed: For prevention of runaways and rovers and fraudulent debtors, coming from one Province to another for shelter, it shall be recommended to all the Governments to make a law with the same restrictions and penalties as if the whole were but one Government.' (Headlam's Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, 1700, No. 845, xxxii.)

2 An extreme case of the mischief against which Penn's proposal was directed, may be found in the North Carolina Statute of 1677, which enacted that none should be sued for five years for any cause of action arising out of the country, and that none should receive a power of attorney to receive debts contracted abroad. (Political Annals of the Present United Colonies, by G. Chalmers, p. 525.) We find Lord Bellomont, the Governor of New York, writing in 1699 that he had prevailed on the Governor of Connecticut to seize and send to New York Thomas Clarke of that city, a companion of Kidd the pirate. Clarke, thinking himself safe from Bellomont's power, wrote a very saucy letter bidding him defiance. (Documents relating to the Colonial History of New York, vol. iv, p. 595.)

3 This was no doubt thrown in to placate the Board of Trade. The English Customs Officer, Quarry, had complained greatly of the breaches of the Navigation Act in Pennsylvania.

The various quotas might be more fairly assessed by a Federal Congress than by the Board of Trade at home; but Penn's plan nowhere explains how its decisions could be more effectively enforced.

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