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Yale University Library

39002070890539

' Public Services
es Logan

BY

IRMA JANE COOPER

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
IN THE
Faculty of Political Science,
Columbia University

New York, igai

I « Y.a.LIEoWIMimil^Sflinf'

1924

The Life and Public Services
of James Logan

BY

IRMA JANE COOPER

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
IN THE
Faculty of Political Science,
Columbia University

New York, 1921

PREFACE.
The subject for this dissertation was suggested to me by
Professor Herbert L. Osgood, under whose direction I began
to work in 1917. After Professor Osgood's death. Professor
William R. Shepherd consented to take charge of my work. I
wish to thank him for reading the manuscript and making
many valuable suggestions. I wish also to express my appre
ciation of the courtesy of the Historical Society of Pennsyl
vania for free access to their manuscript collection from which
most of my materials were drawn.
It has been my endeavor to present from, the manuscripts and
such printed matter as was available, a study of James Logan,
a hitherto rather neglected, albeit extremely important figure
in provincial Pennsylvania. I have tried to touch upon the
various phases of his services to the colony, and at the same
time picture him as a decidedly interesting member of society.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Page
I. Logan as Financial Agent for William Penn  7
II. Logan as Leader of the Proprietary Party against
David Lloyd  17
III. Logan as Leader of the Proprietary Party against
Colonel Robert Quarry  28
IV. Logan and the Governors of Pennsylvania  36
V. Logan as a Friend of the Indians  51
VI. Logan as Chief Justice  59
VII. Logan, the Man  65

LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF JAMES LOGAN.
Introductory.
The school children of the United States are familiar with
the name and story of William Penn. They are attracted by
the spectacle of the young man of wealth and position volun
tarily renouncing both for an ideal. They are further im
pressed by his philanthropic desire to provide an asylum for his
oppressed co-religionists in the land which he had received
from Charles II in payment for money owed Penn's father.
They know of his generous dealing with the Indians; of his
modesty in objecting (as the story goes) to having his prov
ince bear his name. To the majority of school children and
to many of the adult population of our country, the story of
William Penn is the story of the early years of Pennsylvania.
We are, all of us, prone to hero worship. We seize upon
the one whom we conceive to be the man of the hour and
shower him with honors until, like Voltaire, he succumbs to
a surfeit of popularity. We honor the general with a parade ;
we elect Grant to be president ; we present a house to Admiral
Dewey, in grateful recognition of their services to their coun
try. While we do this, we ignore (for we do not forget) the
rank and file who made possible the victory directed by their
leader. The writers of history and biography recognize and
stimulate, perhaps unconsciously, this idealistic tendency.
They have painted for us the life and achievements of William
Penn in fadeless colors. Nor would I minimize his importance.
He was a great man, imbued with a great idea. His "Holy
Experiment" bore the fruit its high minded conception de
served. The world does well to honor its William Penns —
and it usually has honored them. The rank and file have for
the most part passed by unnoticed.

6 The Life and Public Services of James Logan
James Logan was by no means an ordinary member of the
rank and file of the citizens in the early days in Pennsylvania.
For forty years he was one of the leading men of the colony.
He had every position of importance which the colony had
to offer. For ten years longer, although not actively con
nected with the administration of the government, he was
consulted by its officials, and respected by everyone. Upon
his death he bequeathed to the city of Philadelphia his exten
sive library and a fund to be held in trust for its maintenance.
To Logan's fifty years of continuous service in Pennsylvania
we may contrast Penn's four years of-actual residence there.
That this was due to necessity and not to desire does not
detract from the value of the comparison.
Penn's name is known to everyone; Logan's is known to
but few. There has been no extensive biography of him
written. Two volumes of his letters have been published;
there are in the library of the Historical Society of Pennsyl
vania in Philadelphia 45 volumes of letters and papers in
manuscript. He has received brief, but honorable, mention
in all the histories of Penn and of Pennsylvania that have
been written, save the "Review" of Benjamin Franklin. Dr.
Sharpless has accorded him a place in his small volume en
titled "Political Leaders of Provincial Pennsylvania." His
name survives in a suburb of Philadelphia and in some other
local points of interest. The Votes of the Assembly and the
Minutes of the Provincial Council abound in references to him, .
but no one reads them for pleasure. It is my purpose in this
account to present a complete picture of a representative Penn
sylvanian, who was perhaps more closely identified with the
development of the colony during the first half of the 18th
century than was any other single man.^

1 Cf. Sharpless, Political Leaders of Provincial Pennsylvania, p. 115.

LOGAN AS FINANCIAL AGENT FOR WM. PENN.
Of Logan's ancestry and of his early life we have but the
barest outline. We are told that he was born in 1674 at Lur-
gan, Ireland. His family belonged to the middle class, al
though they were rather remotely connected, on his mother's
side, with the Scottish nobility. His father was a school
master and from him James may have inherited his love for
knowledge. At the age of fourteen he abandoned his studies
and was apprenticed to a linen draper. The vicissitudes of
fortune drove the family in 1688 from Ireland to Scotland, and
thence to London, where James taught for a while, having
mastered two modern and three ancient languages, as well as
mathematics. Teaching did not furnish sufficient activity for
his energetic spirit, and he would have gone to Jamaica in
1697 had not his mother objected. He remained in England,
engaged in the shipping trade, two years longer, then set sail
with William Penn in 1699 for America, where he was to
remain, but for two short visits to England, for the rest of
his life.
Arriving in Pennsylvania, Logan took up his residence with
Penn in the "Slate Roof" house, but the proprietor soon moved
to his country estate, Pennsbury, leaving his young secretary
in town to carry out his orders, and those of his good wife,
Hannah. With such various tasks as he was given to per
form, life could not have been monotonous to Logan. One
day he would receive a message from Penn telling him to
"Let me know the last day of John Askew's stay; also if
they will take a couple of tame foxes." Another order read:
"Pray, examine closely about those that fired upon the Indians
and frightened them by Dan Pegg's." Logan carried mes
sages, also, from the proprietor to the council on days when
the former did not feel inclined to leave the charms of Penns-

8 The Life and Public Services of James Logan
bury. He collected rents and other moneys due Penn. If peo
ple objected to the quit-rents which they were required to
pay, Penn referred them to Logan with the assurance that
he would do them justice. Logan was required to "prepare a
nervous proclamation against vice;" also to assist Thomas
Story in planning which laws the Assembly was to keep and
which were to be repealed. From these instructions^ we gain
a picture of Logan, busy and efficient, laying the foundations
for the career in which he was to fill with such success the
offices of mayor, councillor, trustee of the Penn estate, chief
justice of the supreme court, and arbiter in matters of Indian
policy. Frequently Logan's orders came from Hannah Penn, and
these he obeyed as cheerfully and as satisfactorily as he did
those of her husband. Perhaps it was for this that she stood
by him so loyally when in later years he was ousted from his
offices and condemned by Governor Keith. He was frequently
requested to purchase household supplies and send them to
Pennsbury. If new mill-stones were needed, or the supply of
chocolate ran low, or a plumber was required, a note to James
brought quick results.^ One such letter I quote to illustrate
the manifold character of Logan's tasks.^
"Call Betty Webb to thy assistance ; let her send two mops
to wash the house with; four silver salts, and the two handle
porringer that is in my closet; the looking glass that is in
the hall, if it can be carefully put up ; the piece of dried beef ;
and if any ship with provisions come from Rhode Island, I
would have thee buy a firkin, two or three, as price and worth
is, of good butter, also cheese, candles, etc., for winter's store."
In 1702 Penn embarked for England never to return. He
had hoped to remain in Pennsylvania for some time — perhaps
for the rest of his life, but information having reached him
that a bill was before the House of Lords which threatened

1 Cf. Penn-Logan Correspondence, Vol. IX. Penna. Hist. Soc. ; Mem
oirs, pp. S-20.
= Ibid IX, 13.

Logan as Financial Agent 9
to deprive him of his colony, he hastened home to oppose
it. This sudden departure made it impossible for him to leave
all his affairs in Pennsylvania in perfect order. He appointed
Hamilton lieutenant governor, subject to the royal approba
tion, and told him that he might affix the great seal to the
yet unfinished Charter of Privileges within six months unless
he received other orders. Logan received from the proprietor
also a letter of instructions which gives us some idea of the
responsibilities that were to be his. He was to keep a watch
ful eye on Pennsbury, seeing that the servants managed the
estate properly, and that nothing was allowed to decay. At
the same time he was forbidden to spend much money on its
upkeep — a restriction of which he complained to Thomas
Penn in later years. Penn's parsimony extended to a poor
relative named Durant, who was committed to Logan's care
with the admonition that he was to be sparing with her, and
at the same time see to it that she did not come to want.
By the letter of instructions Logan was commissioned as
Penn's financial agent. As such he was instructed to com
plete two mills and run them at a profit ; to have the colony
resurveyed in two years if possible; collect rents, fines, es
cheats. Friends' subscriptions; to sell lands and estimate the
value of the estate; to pay all bills in Penn's name. In par
ticular he was to secure, through the Assembly, the payment
of salaries to the lieutenant governor, and to Moore, the attor
ney general.'
To perform all these tasks meant not only that Logan must
possess untiring energy, but unswerving loyalty as well. We
have Penn's testimony to the second in a letter which he
addressed in 1703 — "To my trusty and well beloved friend,
James Logan, Secretary of the government and propriety of
Pennsylvania, America." Mrs. Penn testified to the same
fact when she rebuked Governor Keith for his treatment of
Logan. Her letter said : "And I must do him the justice to
say that we had long experience of his many faithful services

Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 59 et. seq.

IO The Life and Public Services of James Logan
and of his constant care and zeal to promote and support our
interest in that country."* The magnitude of Logan's task is
fully brought out by the correspondence which passed between
him and the proprietor. Nor was it lessened by Penn's impa
tience, by the discontent of the colonists, fanned into flame by
David Lloyd, by the hazards of colonial shipping or by the
uncertainty of the foreign market.
One of the first things undertaken by Logan in his capacity
as financial agent was the compilation of an exact rent-roll for
Philadelphia. He wrote Penn of this, informing him that
every foot of the ground was measured by his (Logan's) own
hands ; and that when he had completed the city he proposed
doing the same for the entire province. This task was not
completed by 1705, as we perceive from a letter written by
Penn to Logan. In it he complains of having received no
money and no information concerning the rent-roll, although
Logan knows full well his needs. ^ This letter was written at
a time when Penn was well nigh desperate. His creditors
were pressing on every side. The Fords were threatening him
with a law-suit. He was trying, without much success, to
arrange terms with the House of Lords for the surrender of
the government of Pennsylvania. His oldest son was proving
an additional source of trouble. Factional disputes in his
colony had nearly disrupted its government. It is no wonder,
in the face of so many difficulties, that Penn should have used
an unwonted tone of asperity toward his hard-worked financial
agent. The proprietor's greatest need in this time of stress was
ready money. Logan bent every endeavor to collect and remit
money to him, but the natural difficulties which confronted
him made it impossible to provide Penn with anything like
an adequate supply. In a letter written in 1703 he said: "I
am going again into Chester Co. about rents, where I have al
ready sat the best part of two weeks, and received not i20 in
* Votes of the Assembly, IL, 415.
' Penn-Logan Corr. X., 72.

Logan as Financial Agent ii
the whole, money is so exceeding scarce."" Wheat, the people
had in abundance, but there was no sale for it, and with no
money they were unable to pay the quit-rents which they
owed to the proprietor. This shortage of currency troubled
the colony greatly, until in 1722 the Assembly passed a law
providing for the issue of a small amount of well secured
paper. That the measure was conservative, and therefore
safe, was due largely to the efforts of Logan and Norris who
were opposed to paper money, and addressed the Assembly on
its disadvantages. Despite their opposition the bill passed,
though in a modified form. The paper greatly stimulated
trade, and added much to the glory of Governor Keith, who
had advocated its introduction.
A second hindrance to the collection of rents was the un
certainty which existed in the minds of many, as to how long
Penn would retain the government of his colony. It was
well known in Pennsylvania that he was trying to dispose of
it to the crown. Penn seemed not quite sure himself of the
wisdom of such a course. He wrote frequently to Logan ask
ing for advice on this head. Logan gave his opinions as re
quested, but modestly deprecated their worth. It was a dif
ficult subject on which to form an opinion. If the Assembly,
under the leadership of David Lloyd, persisted in its quarrel
some mood, Penn would be well rid of the government. So
Logan thought, and so he wrote Penn. The contentious As
sembly overreached itself, however, and in 1705 the secretary
was able to give the proprietor advice contrary to that offered
previously. A group of friends in Pennsylvania were about
to address Penn, assuring him of their financial support and
of their intention of carrying the Assembly at the next elec
tion. In that event Logan advised that Penn retain his colony.
Such a shifting of opinion rather nettled Penn who complained
to Logan that he was staggering under the diversity of Lo
gan's directions.'^ To this the Secretary made answer that
e Penn-Logan Corr. IX.. 187.
7 Penn-Logan Corr. X., 106.

12 The Life and Public Services of James Logan
he had given his opinion each time according to the circum
stances of the moment, and was not to be blamed if those
circumstances changed.
Penn continued to treat with the Lords and had received a
first payment for the government of Pennsylvania when he
was stricken with paralysis, and his affairs passed into the
hands of his wife. The sale was never completed and the Penn
family retained possession of the land and government of
Pennsylvania. All this bargaining made the collection of
rents which were due the proprietor very difficult. Men ex
cused themselves on the ground that they might pay Penn
to-day and find themselves obliged to pay the crown or some
one else to-morrow.
A third difficulty which confronted Logan, as he went up
and down the colony demanding the money that was owed to
Penn, was the Ford affair. This transaction is too well known
to require more than a passing reference. At the death of
Philip Ford, from whom Penn had borrowed money on his
colony as security, his heirs sued for possession of Pennsyl
vania and presented a bill to Penn which was the result of
much chicanery and juggling of figures. Upon Penn's fail
ure to pay it he was arrested and lodged in Old Bailey. The
court finally settled the affair by requiring Penn to pay the
Fords a sum very much smaller than they had demanded.
This was raised through the subscription of Friends and the
sale of lands, and Penn was free once more. Logan had
tried to prevent the story of the whole transaction from cir
culating in the colony, but had failed because of the activity
of David Lloyd who had been retained as attorney by Bridget
Ford. When Logan saw that he could not suppress the story,
he tried to spread favorable reports of Penn's progress, but
in this, too, he was foiled as "C-opies of all the proceedings in
Chancery, etc., being carefully sent over, are exposed by David
Lloyd, so that until the matter be determined, nobody thinks
himself secure."* As a result the colonists refused to pay
* Penn-Logan Corr. X., 265.

Logan as Financial Agent 13
rents or buy land, or in other ways risk their money until
they were sure of the outcome of the Ford affair.
In addition to the collection of rents, fines, etc., Logan with
three other men had been commissioned by Penn to arrange
for the sale of such portions of Pennsylvania territory as they
were able to dispose of. They had to see to the surveying and
mapping of the colony, investigate titles, settle disputes and
make favorable terms with the Indians. Above all they had to
take care that the proprietor's rights were not neglected.
"Take care also that I have 500 acres in every township that is
laid out, and that the surveyors do me right therein,"^ Penn
wrote Logan. The correspondence of the time abounds in
reference to land sales. Many individual cases which the
commissioners did not feel competent to settle were referred to
Penn who seemed always to remember the details, as though
he were personally acquainted with every settler in his colony.
Penn was very anxious that his children should have exten
sive tracts of land as well as city lots reserved for them. Logan
speaks in one letter of having laid out land for Johnny and
"Thommie," the younger sons of Penn.^" In another he men
tions having refused £1,100 Pennsylvania money for a lot of
Letitia's, but says that he would accept £900 sterling.^^ After
Letitia's marriage to William Aubrey more of her lands had
to be sold to pay her dowry. Aubrey was very impatient,
causing both Penn and Logan some very unpleasant
moments because of his caustic tongue and pen. It grieved
Logan that such unpleasantness could arise between himself
and one whom he had delighted to call "my little mistress."
Although engaged in the transfer of thousands of acres of
land, Logan hesitated to ask Penn for a small tract on which
to build a granary, for fear that his position as a freeholder
might arouse envious feelings in the breasts of other less

8 Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 9.
10 Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 290, 291.
" Ibid. X.. 9.

14 The Life and Public Services of James Logan
favored servants of the proprietor.^^ In 1714 he purchased
500 acres of land in the city liberties next to Germantown,
and fourteen years later built there a country seat named
Stenton after the parish in which his father was born.
Through the painstaking care of the Colonial Dames the
mansion stands to-day, not only as a memorial to the name
of James Logan but as a pleasing example of our best type of
colonial architecture.
The year 1718 marked the death of William Penn. The
transfer of the land office in Pennsylvania to other hands than
Logan's had occurred four years earlier. Logan had been
named in the proprietor's will as one of the colonial trustees
for settling his estate. This new office, added to his duties as
member of the Provincial Council, made it impossible for
him to attend longer to the collection of rents and the survey
and sale of land.
When Logan had collected money for Penn from rents or
the sale of land, his tasks as financial agent were by no means
ended. He had still to get the money safely into Penn's hands
— a truly hazardous undertaking. Money was seldom shipped
directly, but was invested in cargoes the sale of which would
yield a profit. If the venture was a success all was well, but
there were many chances for its failure. The uncertaiaty of
colonial crops and the greater uncertainty of the foreign mar
ket, fluctuation in the value of colonial currency, the pos
sibility of vessels succumbing to stormy seas or being cap
tured by the enemy, were a few of the risks that were run by
a colonial merchant. Logan took all possible precautions to
insure the safety of his ventures, and never shipped goods for
Penn but in joint shares with his own. He said in a state
ment of his accounts that he had suffered no loss nor mis
carriage in any of his negotiations after 1712. By these
means he was able to clear for Penn £922.15 between the
years 1713-1717 in the fur trade alone. According to the cus
tom of the times he bought in Penn's name shares of ves-
" Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 291.

Logan as Financial Agent 15
sels. A letter dated 1702 mentions the purchase of two-thirds
of the brigantine "Hopewell," one-fourth of the ship "In
dustry." As financial agent for William Penn the services of Logan
were invaluable, not only to his master but to the colony as
well. His work in promoting land sales, surveying and clear
ing vast tracts, examining and recording deeds, and main
taining friendly relations with the Indians in the acquisition
of property rights, added much to the development and the
security of Pennsylvania. Settlers were not always satisfied
with his decisions nor pleased by his manner, which according
to several authorities seemed at times to have been rather
brusque. In 1709 a company of Swedish settlers petitioned
the Assembly for redress of grievances against the commis
sioner of property, James Logan, who not only charged them
excessive quit-rents, but also threatened, reviled, and abused
them when he came into their midst. ^'^ This petition Logan
claimed was instigated by his enemies in the Assembly who
were incensed at their failure to reach him through impeach
ment charges.
The chief characteristics exhibited by Logan in this phase
of his career were his integrity, industry and ingenuity. His
accounts were always open for Penn's inspection. He wrote
at one time : "Pray write jointly to the commissioners if thou
suspect anything in my letters — be pleased to consult any from
hence."^* When Mrs. Penn examined his accounts in 1724
she wrote Governor Keith that they proved Logan to have
been an honest and capable servant and a faithful friend. As
to his industry, a letter to Penn says :^^ "Returns are my
care, and if they yield me nothing proportionable to my
trouble. I shall lose the bloom of my youth in vain, and in
time to come shall make of my decayed strength a monument
of folly to instruct those that come after to beware, in short
none in Pennsylvania undergoes the trouble I do."
" Votes of Assembly, II., 33.
''-* Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 141.
1= Ibid. IX., 127.

i6 The Life and Public Services of James Logan
For these services Logan received no remuneration after the
year 1711. Probably he felt that his services were the kind
which money could not entirely compensate. In one letter he
wrote: "But let me intreat thee to consider how great the
charge thou hast been pleased to intrust to me is in many
particulars and how much every small matter must take up
of my time, which is wholly employed in thy service, without
any abstraction of thought which I could not always say or
the least regard to my own interest hitherto for which this
last year much for the sake of the government has been an
anxious one.""

16 Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 159.

LOGAN AS LEADER OF THE PROPRIETARY PARTY
AGAINST DAVID LLOYD.
The most striking thing about James Logan was his versa
tility. He was a capable financial agent, a skillful politician
and party leader, an able judge. He could correspond with
the doctors of the Royal. Society, and converse with Indian
chiefs. In a land where men are few, each individual is called
upon to play as many parts as he can, and of these James
Logan surely took his share. This chapter and the succeeding
one picture him as a politician and a party leader.
The political history of all the American colonies is largely
a record of the struggle between the governor and the popular
branch of the legislature. The latter refused to vote supplies
until the former had granted privileges which they felt to be
their due. In actual warfare the Quakers among the people
of Pennsylvania would not engage, but into this bloodless
struggle for popular sovereignty they entered with zest and
soon became adept. Penn begged them in one letter not to
be so "governmentish." Despite his entreaties they continued
their struggles for forty years, or until the appointment of
Governor Keith. By this time they had attained many of
their demands; but had he not been a man of infinite tact
who realized, as his predecessors had not, the necessity of
adopting a conciliatory attitude toward the Assembly, the
struggle might have gone on indefinitely.
The leader of the popular party in Pennsylvania was David
Lloyd. "The matters for which Lloyd contended were in the
interests of the larger democracy and prosperity of the colony ;
but Penn could not give up his undoubted rights, and Logan
(whose duty it was to conserve those rights) would not yield
one iota to popular clamor."^ Lloyd had been in the colony
1 Sharpless, Political Leaders of Provincial Pennsylvania, p. 97.

1 8 The Life and Public Services of James Logan
from the beginning. Penn had made him attorney general
in 1686. He had also held the offices of clerk of the pro
vincial court, and master of the rolls. In 1694 he became
Speaker of the Assembly and leader of the Quaker party
against the encroachments of Governor Fletcher. Lloyd was
a converted Quaker possessed of all the fervor which Logan
lacked. When Penn arrived in the colony in 1699, Lloyd
was in high favor with the people, particularly those of the
country districts. Penn realized his power and told Logan
to endeavor to gain his support for the new charter which the
proprietor wished to grant the colony. He wrote : "Ply
David Lloyd discreetly ; dispose him to a proprietary plan and
the privileges requisite for the people's and Friends' security."^
Before the proprietor left Pennsylvania the importance of
Lloyd in the colony appeared to have been materially reduced.
On complaint of the judge of the admiralty he had been re
moved by Penn from his various offices. The charges against
him were opposition to the admiralty court, and the more
serious offense of contempt for royal authority.^
If the proprietor thought that this rebuff would silence
Lloyd, he was doomed to disappointment. Logan tells us in
his paper to the Assembly written at the time of the impeach
ment proceedings that no sooner had Penn left the colony
than Lloyd's hostility to proprietary privilege found voice and
action. In a speech before the court of Bucks County he
opposed the appointment of Lieutenant Governor Hamilton
on the ground that he was a Scotchman. With John Moore
he was largely responsible for the confusion of courts which
existed at the time.* Their aim, according to Logan, was to
throw the government of the colony into such confusion that
the crown would be forced to take notice of it, and perhaps
relieve Penn of its control. For the same reason (he believed)
Lloyd opposed the collection of taxes in Chester, and urged
2 Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 53.
3 Penn-Logan Corr. X., 360, 390. Logan's reply to Remonstrance of the
Assembly. * Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 139.

Logan as Leader against David Lloyd 19
the territories (the three Lower Counties on the Delaware) to
separate from the province, as under the Charter of Privileges
they had a right to do. How the people expected to benefit
by a transfer of the colony from proprietary to royal con
trol, if indeed such was Lloyd's aim, is hard to see.
When Governor Evans arrived in Pennsylvania he brought
a commission from the proprietor appointing Logan to mem
bership in the council. That year Lloyd had been again elected
Speaker of the provincial Assembly. The issue was soon fairly
joined between the two. Many people in the colony were
dissatisfied with Evans' commission which gave him the right
to call, prorogue, and dissolve the Assembly. They were dis
pleased to think that Penn had reserved to himself the right
to veto their laws. The conduct of Evans and of William
Penn, Jr., who had accompanied him, filled them with disgust.
Discontented with the sale of land, or the confirmation of
titles, others were ready to join in the protest which was sent
to Penn in the name of the Assembly. A committee of the
House had been appointed in 1704 to draw up the remon
strance, but the session ended before they had composed it.
Lloyd, who had consulted with the members concerning the
main heads of the paper, drew it up himself, signed it as
Speaker of the House and sent it to England, later inter
polating an order into the minutes justifying his act." The
ship on which the remonstrance was carried fell into the hands
of the French, and the paper was captured by Ed. Singleton, a
friend of the proprietor." Thus Lloyd's aim, which was to
publish broadcast in England the fact that discontent was
rife in Pennsylvania, was thwarted. Penn was righteously
indignant at this piece of deception, as was his secretary.
Logan not only wrote Penn a full account of the whole affair
but (backed by the Governor) used every effort at the next
session of the House to have Lloyd undo his mischief. He was
ordered to recall the man who had started with the remon-
5 Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 338.
6 Penn-Logan Corr. X., 64.

20 The Life and Public Services of James Logan
strance, before he left the colony. This Lloyd did, at the
same time dispatching another agent to tell him to pay no
attention to the first order, but to proceed to the boat.
In his efforts to punish Lloyd, Penn returned the remon
strance to Logan with the instruction to force Lloyd to
acknowledge it and thus either "bow him to better manners
and gain him or prosecute to the rigor of the law." The
paper he commanded to be read before the governor and
Council in secret session that they might decide how best
to prevent such intrigues in the future.'^ Unfortunately for
Penn's desires, the paper never reached the colony, nor was
Lloyd ever brought to terms, although the proprietor wrote
several times to Logan urging that he be prosecuted on
charges of having- executed the office of the rolls without
any commission, and recorded deeds that gave away Penn's
property, as well as of having falsified records and minutes.*
"I will have that mischievous man, David Lloyd, brought to
his knees, let his defenders do and say what they will," is the
way that he expressed himself in one letter.® To this Logan
made answer that to prosecute at the present moment was im
possible : " 'Tis in vain, I believe, to attempt it ; he carries
so fair with our weak country people, and those that long
looked upon him to be the champion of Friends' cause in
government matters in former times, that there is no pos
sessing them." His party had the strength always possessed
by the wicked and foolish, Logan added in a somewhat cynical
vein.i" Notwithstanding the strength of Lloyd's following in the
colony which made Logan hesitate to impeach him, the pro
prietor still held a large place in all hearts. This was shown
many times during the period of Lloyd's domination of the
Assembly. The people would follow him to a certain point,
but when he essayed to go beyond it in the crusade against
^ Penn-Logan Corr. X., 17.
8 Penn-Logan Corr. X., 71.
9 Ibid. X., 71.
" Penn-Logan Corr. X., 119.

Logan as Leader against David Lloyd 21
the proprietary privilege they were apt to rally to the support
of Penn and elect a very different kind of assembly. This
happened in 1705.
The next act in the drama was staged the year following.
Lloyd had prepared a bill for establishing courts in the colony.
It provided for a supreme court of appeals of three judges and
for local courts in the various countries. Fines were to be
used to pay the salary of judges, who were to be removable
only by the Assembly. Evans promptly vetoed the measure,
on the ground that three judges were too many and that
fines and the right to remove judges were prerogatives of
the proprietor. In a conference over the bill Lloyd neglected
to stand while addressing the governor. ^^ When called to
task by Evans for this breach of courtesy he made of it a
political question, insisting that the representative of the peo
ple was equal in importance to the representative of the pro
prietor. Evans, refusing to have his position in the colony
thus affronted, left the conference, and Lloyd backed by the
Assembly adjourned its session, first resolving to send another
address to Penn, recounting the grievances which they suf
fered at the hands of Evans and Logan. At the same time
they presented an address to the governor^^ in which they
charged that it was Logan's "pernicious counsel" which had
led Evans to veto the bill for the courts The Secretary was,
they said, an enemy to the governor and government of the
province whom they wished the governor to remove from the
Council. For some time there had been talk of impeaching Logan for
the high-handed way in which he had been managing the af
fairs of the colony. Unable to mold the lieutenant governor
to their desires, the Assembly turned upon the Secretary.
They doubtless felt that if he could be displaced, Evans would
prove more amenable. In their address to the governor they
said : "It is the opinion of this House, N. C. D., that if any
" Penn-Logan Corr. X., 195.
" Votes of Assembly Nov., 29, 1706. Vol I.

22 The Life and Public Services of James Logan
such Magistrate or officer shall be impeached by the Assembly
for official misdemeanor, such Magistrate or officer, upon
proof made of such charges, ought to be displaced at the in
stance of the Assembly." Having delivered themselves of
this dictum the House proceeded to draw up its charges
against Logan. On December 25, 1706, a committee was
appointed and on February 25 following, the House accepted
its report which was laid before the governor on the fourth
of March. Briefly summarized, the more important charges
which the House preferred against Logan were as follows :
1. He had influenced Penn to reserve to himself final de
cision in all laws.
2. He had inserted the clause in Evan's commission em
powering him to call, prorogue and dissolve assemblies,
thus subverting the Charter of Privileges.
3. He had not administered the land office honestly or
justly.
4. He had held two offices at once, viz. : the office of secre
tary of the colony, and that of surveyor general.
5. He had interfered with the legislative function of the
Assembly by concealing .objections of the Lords of
Trade to laws, and by keeping in his own possession
the text of laws passed by the House, so that copies
could not be made.
6. He had interfered in the elections, advising one John
Budd to accept the office of sheriff from the governor
rather than from the votes of the people.^^
Logan was not greatly disturbed by the attack. He wrote
Penn an account of the whole affair, enumerating the charges
which he characterized as both false and ridiculous. The
impeachment he said was simply due to the enmity of Lloyd.
To the Assembly Logan said that he did not understand
the charges, and would not plead until they had been ex
plained to him. This served to delay matters for some time,
as did also the question raised by Evans of his authority to
try an impeachment. Thus the affair hung fire until the
exasperated assembly adjourned May 19, for three weeks.
IS Votes of the Assembly Dec. 25, 1706. Vol I.

Logan as Leader against David Lloyd 23
Upon their coming into session again the governor told him
that he disapproved of their recess, whereupon they adjourned
sine die.
The first round between Lloyd and Logan had ended in a
draw, with the honors slightly in favor of the proprietary
party. Logan's astuteness had been plainly evidenced. While
refusing to plead to the Assembly's charges, even when they
were read to him separately by order of the governor, he
nevertheless complained that the House did not bring matters
to a head, and relieve him of the opprobrium of an impeach
ment. There were waysy he said, in which a defendant could
delay a trial. But of these and of legal procedure in general
he knew little. What he did know was that he was anxious
to stand trial as soon as the House could produce its evidence
against him.
Meanwhile Governor Evans in raising the question of his
right to try impeachments must have discomfited the Assem
bly still further. The opinion of the Council was that the
governor had not the power, which was possessed by the
House of Lords in England. After weeks of discussion the
governor and Council had put the matter up to the Assembly,
remarking meanwhile that they could not see why an Assem
bly that would admit such power to be resident in the gov
ernor's office should object to his right to establish courts
by decree. This was no doubt a bitter pill for the House to
swallow; nevertheless they replied in no uncertain tones that
the governor had the right to try impeachments and that if
he still persisted in denying it they would take care "to un
deceive the world, and place the delay, or rather denial of
justice, where it properly belongs.""
Obliged perforce to drop the impeachment proceedings
against Logan, the Assembly of 1708 quarrelled with Evans
and was prorogued by him until the end of its term. But the
administration of Governor Evans was drawing to a close.
Penn had sent him a rebuke in 1707 exhorting to mend his
1* Minutes 'of the Provincial Council May 19, 1707., Col. Rec. II., 379.

24 The Life and Public Services of James Logan
ways. Here at least the Assembly had scored. A copy of
the rebuke was sent to Logan, as was also the order the
following year for Evans' removal. The charges on which the
lieutenant-governor was forced to retire from office were the
alarming growth of vice during his administration; his in
difference toward the suffering of Friends in the Lower Coun
ties, because of their refusal to bear arms ; and the false alarm
he had raised of the French in the river, hoping thus to rouse
the martial instinct among the Quakers, but causing instead
considerable confusion and loss of property.^'
In March 1709 Governor Gookin arrived in the colony to
take up the task of unraveling the skein which Evans had so
badly twisted. The Assembly lost no time in presenting to the
new governor its side of the controversy. "In the meantime it
is our earnest request, and cordial advice," the members said,
"that thou may not be influenced by the said James Logan, nor
any others to create misunderstanding between thee and the
representatives of the People, which we are satisfied, has been
his subterfuge." They again requested that he be removed from
the governor's Council.^® The governor replied that he wished
to inherit no quarrels from the preceding administration. With
this unsatisfactory answer the Assembly was forced to con
tent itself. It adjourned until fall, and upon meeting again
in September drew up a remonstrance against Logan which
it caused to be placed in the most frequented building in
Philadelphia, the Coffee House. A copy was read to the voters
of Bucks and Chester counties. The appeal to the governor
had failed. The House now proposed an appeal to the people
of the colony who might respond in the election of members
to the Assembly of 1710.
Logan replied at once to the remonstrance. His paper
was a curious mixture of defense and attack. After
placing the blame wholly upon the Assembly for the delay
in his trial, he proceeded to give a history of Lloyd's relations
with the government of Pennsylvania from the time of Gov
t's Penn-Logan Corr. X., 220.
" Votes of the Assembly April 13, 1709. IL, 22.

Logan as Leader against David Lloyd 25
ernor Blackwell. He felt that the attack upon him was en
tirely the work of David Lloyd, who was aiming through him
at the proprietor. In order to bring Penn into disrepute, Lloyd
had charged his agent, Logan, with possessing all power and
authority in the government. He had attacked him for the
administration of the land office, for example, when as every
one knew, there were four commissioners of property of whom
Logan was the youngest. This attack, of course, drew a reply
from Lloyd, who made counter allegations charging the Secre
tary with having cancelled patents, altered records in the rolls
office, and erased the name of one judge from the ballot and
substituted another. The Assembly, which could hardly be
termed an impartial jury, opined that Logan's paper was a
"false and scandalous libel," while Lloyd's was "for the most
part supported by undeniable proof." Summoned before the
House to prove his charges against Lloyd, the Secretary was
unable to produce witnesses. Thereupon it was resolved that
he be committed to the county jail and adjudged incapacitated
from holding any public offices, until he had given satisfac
tion for his past offenses. A warrant was sworn out for his
arrest and the sheriff sent to serve it. At this the governor
was moved to interfere. The Assembly he claimed had no
right to arrest one not a member of their body. Thus aided,
Logan escaped the threatened imprisonment and sailed shortly
for England — a trip which he had long contemplated. The
Assembly pressed the affair no further and the long impend
ing impeachment was eventually forgotten.
Once more the tide of popular opinion turned in favor of
the proprietor. For several years an entirely different sort
of Assembly met the governor each October. Lloyd did not
serve again as speaker until 1714. The bill for courts, the
starting point of the controversy, was dropped and courts
were continued in their old form until the time of Governor
Keith. So far did Lloyd acquiesce in this matter that in 1718
he accepted the chief justiceship of the colony from the
proprietor. In the administration of Governor Keith, Lloyd and Logan

26 The Life and Public Services of James Logan
were again engaged in acrimonious debate over the relative
powers of the proprietor and the people. In that controversy
the governor was the standard bearer of the popular cause.
Lloyd did not enter the contest until it was nearly ended, and
when he did he seemed to be animated mainly by the desire
to revenge himself for his failure to destroy Logan in the
years 1706-1710."
In summing up the qualities exhibited by Logan as leader
of the proprietary faction in Pennsylvania mention must be
made of his zeal, his persistence, and his courage. He shared
with the lieutenant governor the lonely eminence of consti
tuted authority. Both Evans and Gookin were anxious to
help Logan maintain proprietary privileges in the colony
since it was to the proprietor that they owed their appoint
ment and continuance in office. But Evans by his rash acts,
and Gookin by his choleric disposition bordering on insanity
rendered but intermittent assistance to Logan. He wrote
Penn in 1702; "Many are full of talking friendship, but what
ever has to be done lies wholly on me, which makes things
sometimes heavier than I can bear  I much want
further support here ; some day I shall fall by."^^
The situation as he pictured it in 1702 remained unchanged
for many years. His place in the colony was a difficult one
to fill. He was instructed by Penn to make it his business
to "soften and sweeten such as are anyway soured, by thy
self, or such persons and medicines as are likely to influence
them."^' This he was to do while resisting the popular de
mand for courts established by the Assembly, and while ad
vocating that the Council participate in legislation. It is not
surprising that he should have been unpopular, or that con
temporaries and historians should have described him as
harsh, unyielding and arrogant. Difficult though his position
was, he filled it ably and creditably. As a conservative leader
he rendered incalculable service both to Penn and to his col-
17 Cf. infra, p. 45.
18 Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 127.
19 Penn-Logan Corr. X., 69.

Logan as Leader against David Lloyd 27
ony. He exercised a salutary restraint upon an Assembly
that would have seized all at once the reins of popular sover
eignty. In good time it came to possess the rights for which
it had contended under the leadership of Lloyd. In good time
alsq, when the heat of battles was over, Logan received his
reward. He was universally respected and his advice eagerly
sought. From his retirement at Stenton he was as important
a factor in the government of Pennsylvania as he had been
in earlier and more active days.

LOGAN AS LEADER OF THE PROPRIETARY PARTY
AGAINST COLONEL ROBERT QUARRY
As leader of the proprietary party in Pennsylvania, Logan
was called upon to oppose, not only the popular party led
by Lloyd, but also the disgruntled churchmen who found
a leader in Colonel Robert Quarry, judge of the admiralty
court. The contest between Penn and Quarry began when
the latter laid before the Lords of Trade a series of charges
against the proprietor. Quarry said that Penn permitted ille
gal trade, appointed his own water bialifs, encouraged French
Indians to settle in his colony, did not provide a proper de
fense for Pennsylvania even after the money had been granted
him, permitted juries to try cases without having been sworn,
refused to allow appeals from colonial courts to the king's
court, appointed Hamilton as lieutenant governor of Penn
sylvania, who was not properly qualified to fill the office, and
refused the inhabitants of the territories a sight of his deed
for their land.i Penn denied the truth of these charges in a
paper which he presented to the Board of Trade. At the same
time he pointed out the fact that some irregularities in ad
ministering his office might be placed against Quarry's name.
For example, Penn said, so eager was the Judge of the Ad
miralty to extend his jurisdiction, that he demanded the right
to settle disputes which had arisen on the river in places
where it was less than a mile wide. Moreover, he was ad
mittedly ignorant of civil law, yet exercised the right to judge
cases. In the third place Quarry was collector of customs
as well as judge, and paid himself out of the fines he imposed,
1 Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 24. et. seq

Logan as Leader against Robert Quarry 29
which furnished a fine opportunity to enrich himself unduly
at the expense of others.
When Quarry returned to Pennsylvania after presenting
his case to the Lords of Trade, he boasted of the deference
with which they had received him and of his success in
having harmed Penn.^ Logan had been actively engaged in
collecting and forwarding to Penn affidavits to disprove
Quarry's charges. That Penn was really disturbed by the
machinations of Quarry is shown by the means to which he
was willing to resort to combat him. He wrote Logan that
he had received an anonymous letter intimating the existence
of a quarrel between Mrs. Quarry and one Thomas Jones, a
ship captain. He said Jones was "both able, and willing, if
secured his wages, viz. : £700 or thereabouts," to tell what
he knew to Quarry's detriment. Penn urged Logan to write
Jones and pay him his price to get the truth out of him. "If
Quarry's knavery to the company were known 'twould blacken
him here in his surveyorship and render it easier for me to
get him discarded for if I live I will and shall be able to do it."^
That Logan did communicate with Jones does not appear
in any of his papers. Perhaps he decided that it was un
necessary ; for Penn wrote him the next year that the affidavits
he had furnished him had been of such great service that "the
very Lords Commissioners are at last come to dislike his
(Quarry's) busy and turbulent proceedings, and I hope for a
letter next week to send by this or the next opportunity to
New York in 14 or 20 days' time from that board to reprimand
his behavior." "His being an officer in the revenue shall not
exempt him from correction."*
The reprimand was not slow in arriving. Quarry was re
moved from his judgeship and Roger Mompesson a man very
friendly to Penn was appointed in his place. Meanwhile an
opportunity presented itself to Logan to reprimand Quarry
in quite a different way. On one occasion he and Dr. Cox
2 Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 144.
^ Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 169.
* Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 272.

30 The Life and Public Services of James Logan
were enjoying a quiet drink at the White Hart when they
were joined, quite without invitation, by Moore and Quarry.
"Quarry was familiar and pleasant, with much smoothness;
but I gave him as many close rubs as I could have oppor
tunity, without rudeness, which makes him look rather more
asquint than before," was the way that Logan told the story
to Penn.'
Although Logan might treat him thus distantly. Quarry had
his own friends and adherents in the colony who were glad to
follow his advice. These were the Anglicans. In Pennsyl
vania members of the Church of England were in a minority
both in numbers and influence. They resented this inferiority
and insisted that they were being persecuted because they
were not allowed the same place in the colony that they pos
sessed in England. Logan had tried to secure statements
from them to the effect that they were receiving fair treat
ment in Pennsylvania,® but had been unable to do so. They
really were very troublesome. They refused to serve on
juries, yet objected when juries were impanelled from among
Friends ; they would not enlist in the militia, yet complained
that the colony was unprotected because of the pacifist ten
dencies of the Quakers. Their aim was to have the colony
"taken under the Queen's more immediate care," whereupon
with her well known Anglican proclivities, the Churchmen
would come into their own. To accomplish this they were
eager to follow Quarry in his attack on the courts of the
province. The difficulty over the courts arose because of that tenet of
Quaker belief which forbade the taking of an oath. By an
Order in Council dated Jan. 21, 1702, the affirmation allowed
Quakers in England had been extended to Pennsylvania. The
affirmation was not deemed sufficient for the giving of evi
dence in a criminal case, or for serving on a jury. More
over, the order specifically stated that all non-Quakers were

» Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 174.
« Ibid. IX., 65.

Logan as Leader against Robert Quarry 31
to take the oaths prescribed by law.^ Armed with this order
Quarry appeared before the Provincial Council and proclaimed
its proceedings void until the members had complied with it.
For a time consternation prevailed. Lawyers were consulted ;
some of the more timid members refused to attend council
meetings. At last two of them took the required oaths, the
rest made affirmations, and the Council continued its work.^
In his charges against the proprietor before the Lords of
Trade, Quarry had asserted that men had been tried for their
lives before juries who were not on oath — a proceeding con
trary to English law or justice. This was so serious a charge
that Penn wrote to Logan to inquire as to its truth. The
Secretary replied that there had been two instances in the
colony which might properly come under this head. Neither
of them was particularly important. One was that of a priest
who had been burned in the hand for manslaughter, having
claimed benefit of clergy ; another was that of a woman con
demned to death for murder of her bastard child, but the sen
tence had little likelihood of being executed.^ The object of
Quarry and the Anglicans was plainly seen by Logan. "We
are really unhappily engaged here," he had written Penn in
1702, "by lying exposed to such malicious spies, whose sedu
lity to serve a dishonest cause keeps their thoughts constantly
on the tenters, and dresses up each passage in their secret
cabals, into a monstrous shape of malfeasance."
Because of Quarry's insistence in the matter of the courts
the governor, Hamilton, had issued a special commission
of oyer and terminer for such as could take an oath.
Attorney General Moore, a friend and adherent of Quarry,
stated that in his belief such a commission was invalid as
Hamilton had not yet received royal approbation. All church
men who were drawn for the jury were advised not to serve,
and on the day which had been appointed for the court to sit.

7 Minutes of the Provincial Council, Nov. 4, 1716. Col. Rec. IL, 618.
* Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 214 et seq.
9 Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 195.

32 The Life and Public Services of James Logan
Moore mounted his horse and rode out of town.i" The mem
bers of the Provincial Council addressed a memorial to Penn
on this procedure. They were especially grieved that Quarry
and Moore, who owned not a foot of ground in the colony,
should strive so hard to insult and make war on the rights and
privileges of the colonists. They were determined that these
two should not outplay them. Quarry had written Lord
Cornbury that Pennsylvania was in such confusion as to have
no government at all. The Quakers bent all their energies
to disproving that statement. It was with great delight that
Logan was able to report to Penn the opening of the court
session on the day that had been appointed. The magistrates
had surmounted the difficulties placed in their way and the
court had proceeded with every observance of the queen's
order in council. n
Another source of trouble arose from the inability of the
Quakers to administer oaths. After Hamilton's death the
government devolved upon the Council until the next
governor reached the colony. Three under collectors of
the customs were to be sworn in, but the Council would not
administer an oath. The men were referred by it to the
court of quarter sessions. One of the collectors, Sam Low-
man by name, questioned Moore as to the propriety of this
procedure. Moore informed him that there was no quarter-
sessions court, properly speaking, in the colony. The council
he said had at last shown its weakness. For this inquiry
Lowman was praised by Quarry as a most vigilant officer for
the queen's interest. In detailing an account of this affair to
Penn, Logan opined that no one but Quarry had been able
to discern any merit in Lowman.i^ He advised Penn to send
a new commission for the Council, appointing Roger Mompes
son president, with considerable power until a new governor
should arrive. Moreover, he suggested that as many church
men as possible be appointed to membership, so that the at-
10 Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 218.
11 Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 239.
12 Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 242.

Logan as Leader against Robert Quarry 33
tempts of Quarry to overthrow the government might be
frustrated.i^ There seemed to be no limit to Quarry's resourcefulness
during the years 1700-1705. If his object was to overthrow
the proprietary government in Pennsylvania, he was bending
every effort to attain that end. He had been reinstated in his
judgeship, and appointed surveyor-general of the customs.
He was more powerful than before, and felt it his duty to
entertain governors of neighboring states as they passed
through Pennsylvania. Logan naturally desired the honor to
fall to someone of the proprietary party. On one occasion
Governor Seymour of Maryland arrived at night. Quarry
alone had known of his coming and promptly carried him off,
much to Logan's chagrin.^* At another time Lord Cornbury
visited the colony. Quarry and Logan vied with each other
in their efforts to dine and entertain him, but Quarry carried
off most of the honors.i' On this occasion the visitor was
invited to listen to an address by the Christ Church vestry of
which Quarry was a member. The vestrymen felicitated Corn
bury upon his appointment to the governorship of New York
and the Jerseys, and hoped that he might soon add Pennsyl
vania to them. Cornbury replied in a politic vein that he was
ever ready to obey the queen's commands.
When Penn was informed by Logan of the numerous in
dignities the people of his colony had suffered at the hands of
Colonel Quarry, he grew righteously indignant. His letters
of rebuke for their passive submission under extreme provo
cation had little of the pacifist in them. "For your perplexities
in government, methinks you have brought it too much upon
yourselves; for why should you obey any order obtained by
the Lords of Trade or otherwise, which is not according to
patent or laws here, nor the laws of your own country,
which are to govern you till repealed. "i* Thus he wrote them
13 Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 200.
i*Ibid IX., 311.
15 Ibid IX., 224.
i« Penn-Logan Correspondence IX., 247.

34 The Life and Public Services of James Logan
concerning oaths. As to the address of the vestrymen, words
could scarcely express his indignation. He referred con
temptuously to Quarry and his "gang" and scored the Friends
of the colony who would thus tamely hear their government
and their proprietor aspersed. Logan and the proprietary
party were not timid, nor disloyal. They too were furious at
Quarry's attacks. But he was so swift and acted so under
cover of royal authority that he seemed to paralyze their pow
ers of action.
In 1705 he prepared once more to visit England. Evans was
now governor' in Pennsylvania. He and Logan viewed this
projected trip with apprehension. They wondered what new
opposition Quarry was meditating. Although he had assured
the governor that he had no complaints to lay before the
Lords of Trade, both Evans and Lloyd were aware that he
had made a similar statement to Hamilton before his last
voyage. "We all know," Logan wrote Penn, "how far he is
to be trusted." He advised Penn to dissemble and seem not
to suspect anything when Quarry appeared before him, but
at the same time to try to discover what the latter intended
to do.i' To Logan's unspeakable amazement the two men
came to an understanding, and Penn even urged Quarry to
take a seat in the Pennsylvania Council. This Quarry declined
to do, saying that he could be of more assistance to the pro
prietor out of the Council than in it.
To the changed relationship Logan was forced to adjust
himself as best he could. He wrote Penn in a letter dated on
May 5, 1707: "I treat Col. Quarry with confidence in thy
behalf, letting him know I have the greatest dependence upon
his honor and good will to thee, of which he gives me the
deepest assurance and promises I shall never be disappointed
in him; yet be pleased to believe I consider what is prudent
at the same time. I must own he carries very well to me, and
has given me no reason to doubt his sincerity."
Quarry succeeded in time in allaying Logan's suspicions,
1' Penn-Logan Correspondence X., 32.

Logan as Leader against Robert Quarry 35
so that the latter became his advocate even against Penn. In
1708 Quarry wrote a letter to the Bishop of London in which
he spoke slightingly of Quakers and their ways. Penn took
this as a personal affront and wrote Logan in great indigna
tion. To this Logan replied: "I am extremely sorry to find
thee so angry with Col. Quarry. I have been very intimate and
free with him ever since his last arrival, and have found good
service in it."i^ It was this ability to adjust himself to changed
circumstances, to cultivate and use anyone who was willing
to work in the proprietor's interests which made Logan such
an invaluable agent for Penn. With Quarry as an ally of the
proprietor, the Anglicans lost their leader, and ceased for a
time to trouble the colony. Laws were passed by the Assem
bly in 1710, and again in 1715 regarding the right to substitute
the affirmation for the oath, but the matter was not finally
settled until the administration of Governor Keith.

"Logan to Penn X., 313

LOGAN AND THE GOVERNORS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Between the years 1700 and 1750 Pennsylvania was served
by seven lieutenant governors. They were various types of
men and of varying ages. With all of them Logan was
brought into very close contact, both because of his position
in the colony as Penn's agent and because after 1703 he was
a member of the governor's Council. An account of his rela
tions with them, therefore, must of necessity form part of a
narrative whose object it is to recount his life and estimate his
public services.
Andrew Hamilton was appointed by Penn when the latter
left the colony in 1701, but his death came m 1703 before con
firmation of his appointment had been made by the crown.
This lack of confirmation caused so much confusion in the
colony that Logan wrote repeatedly to Penn urging him to
procure it. He notified the proprietor of Hamilton's death
and advised him to appoint someone else as soon as possible,
so as to thwart the enemies of Penn who were ever on the
lookout for some hiatus in the government which would give
them an opportunity to wrest it from his hands. To provide
against such a contingency, Logan urged Penn to send a new
commission for the Council, giving it more extensive powers,
and appointing to membership as many churchmen or jurors
as possible in an effort to propitiate the Anglican party.i
On February 12, 1703, Governor Evans landed in Philadel
phia. Penn had notified Logan of his appointment in these
words : "He will be discreet, advisable, and especially by the
best of Friends and thyself as the best verst and most knowing
1 Cf. supra, p. 32.

Logan and the Governors of Pennsylvania 37
in my affairs as well as engaged in my interest."^ These
were words of prophecy which the future did not fulfill. Penn
was apt to view his appointees through rosy-hued spectacles
and to impute to them the qualities which he wished them to
possess. Logan undertook the task of advising Evans, and at
the proprietor's suggestion found living quarters for himself,
the governor, and William Penn, Jr., in the same house. The
proprietor's eldest son had been sent to the colony by his
father in the hope that a change of scene might effect a
change of heart. Logan was charged with watching over
the young man's amusements and selecting his friends. He
was genuinely attached to young Penn, as his correspondence
shows, and endeavored to fill his father's commands concern
ing him. Unfortunately Penn and Evans became boon com
panions. Both were young, impetuous and rather boisterous
in their pleasures, thereby causing much scandal in the staid
Quaker town. Finally Penn was haled before a magistrate
for having been in a company of roistering youths who had
beaten up the watch. This proved too much for his dignity,
so abandoning Friends and their colony he sailed for England.
After his departure Evans and Logan continued to live to
gether for a time. A dispute arising over his share of the
expenses, the governor moved out leaving the entire burden
on the shoulders of Logan. This greatly troubled his thrifty
soul as the expense of the governor's single establishment
troubled Penn.
The chief events in the administration of Evans were the
alarm that he caused to be raised of a French fleet in the
river, and the building of a fort at Newcastle. In both of
these Logan was concerned in upholding the interests of the
proprietor. Evans was eager to have the colony arm itself against
a possible French invasion. When he found it impossible
to arouse any enthusiasm for militaristic preparations in that
pacific community, he resolved to resort to a ruse. Accord-
2 Penn-Logan Correspondence IX., 206.

38 The Life and Public Services of James Logan
ingly on fair day when the city was crowded with people he
had the alarm spread that six French vessels had been sighted
in the river, near Newcastle. The report naturally caused
the greatest consternation. People threw their goods into
wells, women became ill; and the payment of rents which
was always made on fair day was quite forgotten in the ex
citement which ensued. Report has it that Friends generally
were the calmest of the populace, proceeding with their meet
ing as though nothing had happened. Evans had produced an
effect which must have met his expectations. He had achieved
his result by means of a letter ostensibly written by the gov
ernor of Maryland to the sheriff of Newcastle, apprising
him of the fleet. While the excitement was raging in the
city, Logan sailed down the river, learned the truth, and upon
his return tried to calm the people.^ He was too late to undo
the effects of Governor Evans' rash and dishonest method of
effecting what he deemed to be a perfectly legitimate end,
viz.: awakening the colony to a realization of the danger to
which its unarmed state exposed it.
A second event in Evans' administration with which Logan
was intimately concerned was the building of a fort at New
castle. The governor employed Rednap, the queen's engi
neer, to plan and build the fort under his supervision. It was
his intention to have all Pennsylvania vessels that passed the
fort pay a tax of a quarter of a pound of gunpowder, while
strange vessels were to pay half a pound. A law to this effect
had been passed by the Newcastle Assembly, which was hold
ing its session apart from the Assembly of Philadelphia.
From the time of the granting of the Charter of Privileges
in 1700, there had been steadily increasing dissatisfaction in
the three Lower Counties. They had not been included in the
Charter, but had been promised by Penn a charter of prop
erty "suitable to our relations to one another, if they require
it from me."* Permission had been granted them to separate
3 Penn-Logan Correspondence X., 124.
* Penn-Logan Correspondence IX., 59.

Logan and the Governors of Pennsylvania 39
from Pennsylvania if they desired. When they sought to make
use of this permission, however, Penn was greatly disturbed.
It proved especially disconcerting to him at a time when he
was trying to prove to the Lords of Trade his fitness to main
tain order and harmony within the colony. The Lower Coun
ties felt that they were regarded merely as an appendage to
the province. They demanded the consideration which they
felt to be their due. Evans had tried upon his arrival in the
colony to heal the breach, but had failed. In passing the bill
for a fort at Newcastle, they threatened to ask for a governor
of their own if the one at Philadelphia did not confirm their
laws.^ Logan was of the opinion that the Newcastle assembly
had no legal justification for being. He advised Evans, how
ever, to proceed cautiously with the members of it, because of
their penchant for separation, until the proper relationship of
the Lower Counties to the colony could be determined.^ To
ward the projected fort neither he nor the merchants of
Philadelphia were well disposed.
Upon completion of the fort an effort was made to test the
law which had created it. A certain Philadelphia merchant,
Richard Hill, sailed down the river, and failing to stop at the
fort, was fired upon and pursued by the governor and men
whom he had posted to intercept him. Escaping his pursuers,
the captain put into port at Salem, N. J., where he sought
counsel from Governor Cornbury. Logan also consulted
Cornbury as well as Quarry in this affair. The opinion of
Cornbury was that Evans had affronted his majesty's govern
ment by laying violent hands on men under the protection of
her flag. He promised to take up the matter with the Board
of Trade. This Logan deprecated as he feared it would give
them an additional argument against Penn's ability to control
his colony.'
Urged by the merchants of Philadelphia, the Assembly and
the Council protested to Governor Evans that the law for
5 Penn-Logan Correspondence X., 180.
8 Penn-Logan Correspondence X., 209.
^ Penn-Logan Correspondence X., 211 et seq.

40 The Life and Public Services of James Logan
the Newcastle fort was contrary to royal charter and to the
common and statute laws of England. In the face of these
many protests the governor grudgingly agreed to suspend the
execution of the act. He summoned the Newcastle Assembly
in order that the members might repeal it; then failed to
appear at their session. After having waited three days for
him, the members went home more than ever convinced that
their best interests would be served by severance from Penn
sylvania.* This they attempted to effect the following year.
Having heard that Evans was to be superseded in Pennsylva
nia, they begged him to apply to the queen for a commission
to rule them apart from the province.® He had always desired
to establish friendly relations between Newcastle and Phila
delphia. Instead of paying heed to their request he attempted,
with Logan's help, to reason them out of their project of dis
union. Finding remonstrance to be of no avail, the two men
resolved to break up the session of the House by persuading
several members to go home. It was sharp work — sharper
than he had ever done, Logan said— but it accomplished the
end desired, and preserved for the time the union between the
province and the territories.
Grave as were the faults of Governor Evans, he would prob
ably not have been recalled, had it not been for the protest
of the Assembly directed at the same time to Penn, and to
three prominent Londoners who had the ear of the Lords of
Trade. Forced to make a decision quickly, Penn hit upon
Colonel Charles Gookin who was sent to Pennsylvania in the
spring of 1709. To Logan, Penn sent instructions concerning
the new governor. He desired that the secretary and other
Friends advise him; that he be told to keep a diary and to
correspond with the governors of the neighboring states.i"
Gookin was speedily informed by the Assembly of their earn
est desire that he be advised least of all by James Logan and'
that he dismiss him from the Council. But the Secretary's
8 Penn-Logan Corr. X., 232.
9 Penn-Logan Correspondence X., 303.
1" Penn-Logan Correspondence X., 323.

Logan and the Governors of Pennsylvania 41
departure for England coupled with the election of an Assem
bly not dominated by David Lloyd, made smoother than they
had been for some time the troubled waters of Pennsylvania
politics. Logan returned to Pennsylvania in 1711 and resumed his
seat at the council board. It did not take him long to realize
that Gookin, whose instructions had been to pass no laws
without the Council's consent, now seldom called a meeting
of that body. Governor Evans had often failed to agree with
his Council and had frequently acted contrary to its advice,
but Gookin ignored it completely. Logan believed the Coun
cil to be an integral part of the government in Pennsylvania.
He had on several occasions urged Penn to increase its powers.
In 1715 he joined the other members in a protest to the
proprietor, in which they recited the fact that the governor
had held no Council meeting for six months. Moreover,
they said that in scorning their advice he had preferred to
listen to "groundless whispers of those who ought to be below
his notice," referring to a clergyman named Phillips, with
whom they said no decent person would associate. In the
category of Gookin's mistakes they included his refusal to
commission judges in Newcastle County, and complained of
his inflexibility and irreconcilable temper as militating against
a satisfactory administration in Pennsylvania.n Gookin in
turn attempted to strike at his enemies by accusing Logan
and Richard Hill of treason. They had urged him, he said,
to proclaim the Pretender on the death of Queen Anne. This
charge he refused to substantiate when ordered to do so by
the Assembly, and when Keith, his successor, pressed him for
proofs, Gookin replied that his accusations were but the result
of his passions. He offered his doctor's statement as evidence
to prove that he suffered frequent disorders in body and brain
which rendered him unaccountable.i^
William Keith was chosen to succeed Gookin through the
efforts of Logan and other members of the Council. They
had approached him on the subject promising their support if
11 Logan Manuscripts, Vol. II. Aug. 11, 1715.
12 Minutes of the Provincial Council, June 26, 1717, Col. Rec. III., 16, 17.

42 The Life and Public Services of James Logan
he would apply for the position. Having received his assent,
they wrote Mrs. Penn recommending that she appoint Keith
governor of Pennsylvania.^* He was well known to the
colonists, having served as surveyor general of the cus
toms since the death of Quarry in 1714. He reached Phila
delphia in 1717 and remained in office until recalled by Mrs.
Penn in 1726. Thus the governor had once more been changed,
but James Logan remained as Secretary, member of the Coun
cil and representative of the Penn interests in Pennsylvania.
The importance of the Council in government, which he had
fought to maintain during the administration of Gookin, con
tinued to be a controversial question under Governor Keith.
The year following Keith's appointment, four men, namely
Norris, Hill, Dickinson and Logan, withdrew from a meet
ing of the Council in protest against the governor's attitude
toward it. Keith claimed that the Council had no legislative
function, either by royal charter or the Charter of Privileges.
He was willing to allow it merely formal assent to bills pre
pared by the Assembly and signed by the governor.
Keith had realized that the Assembly was a force to be
reckoned with. The Council, he felt, could safely be ignored.
His speeches to the House were models of careful phraseology
designed to attach the members to his service. "Gentlemen,"
he said on one occasion, "the considerable advantage which
we daily reap from unanimity and a perfect agreement between
the governor and the Assembly must certainly make the con
tinuance of it dear to everyone that bears a true affection
to this province and its interest; and this rule, when duly
applied, will ever afford us in the best touchstone or proof to
distinguish Pennsylvania's real from her pretended friends.""
The Assembly, rejoiced at this suggestion of equality, felt
that Governor Keith was indeed their friend and the friend of
Pennsylvania. As for Logan, he soon realized that the governor was not
" Pa. Mag. of History, XII, 8.
"Votes of the Assembly II., 267.

Logan and the Governors of Pennsylvania 43
his friend, and became convinced that he was likewise opposed
to the best interests of the proprietor. In 1722 Keith, hearing
of an unclaimed copper mine beyond the Susquehanna, made
a trip thither in company with the surveyor general of the
province, who surveyed there a large tract of land for Keith.^^
This act was the more flagrant in the eyes of the Council be
cause Keith had himself just issued a commission to one
Joseph Pidgeon, ordering him to restrain anyone who at
tempted to settle, or survey the land west of the Susque-
hanna.1* Having issued the command he complained to the
trustees of Penn's estate of whom Logan was one, that they
had violated it in allowing James Steel, in their employ, to
survey there. The trustees replied that it was their business
to survey land and hold it for the proprietor. The whole affair
caused a deal of bad feeling in the Council which felt obliged
to censure Keith. Logan, in fact, wrote this censure into the
minutes of April 16, 1722. Three years later the governor
accused Logan of having falsified the minutes by inserting the
censure which he said had not been part of the Council pro
ceedings, nor could it now be substantiated by any member
who had been present at the meeting in question. Logan
maintained that what appeared on the books was a true ac
count of what had been said at the meeting. Contrary to
Keith's expectation, four members of the Council verified
Logan's statement. To mollify the governor, the Council
voted to strike out the censure from the minutes."
In a letter to Joshua Gee, dated October 8, 1724,i* the Secre
tary cited as further illustration of the governor's disregard
for the interests of the proprietor, his attitude toward the
three Lower Counties on the Delaware. He had encouraged
them in their revolt, even going so far as to urge them to
issue their own paper money, entirely separate from that of
Pennsylvania. He had approved the application of the Earl
i" Logan Manuscripts, Vol. X., Nov. 12, 1722. Logan to Springett Penn.
1' Minutes of the Provincial Council, April 16, 1722, IIL, 161.
" Minutes of the Provincial Council, March 15, 1725, III., 245.
18 Logan Manuscripts, Vol. X., Oct. 8, 1724.

44 The Life and Public Services of James Logan
of Sutherland for a direct grant of Delaware from the crown.
He had issued a charter of incorporation for Newcastle, and
had promised the people of the territories that he would de
clare void all their arrears in quit-rents, if he could secure
the consent of the commissioners of property. Such an as
sumption of power coupled with his disregard of the council,
his seizure of land beyond the Susquehanna, and finally his
personal affront upon the integrity of the Secretary con
vinced the latter that some action must be taken.
In view of the state of affairs in Pennsylvania, Logan felt
it necessary to sail for England. Here he submitted his case
to Mrs. Penn, and received from her a letter to present to
Keith, wherein the latter was reminded that he was still in
the employ of the Penn family who retained the high regard
which they had always felt for James Logan. Keith was
ordered to reinstate Logan in the Council and office of Secre
tary from which he had removed him. As to the Council,
Mrs. Penn ordered Keith to take its advice at all times, and
to send no messages to the Assembly which had not been
approved by the Council.
Upon receipt of this message Keith turned for support to
the Assembly whose good will he had so consistently cul
tivated. He was very loath to take orders from a woman,
and believed that with the assistance of the House he might
safely defy Mrs. Penn. In laying before them her letter
of disapprobation he told them that it had been written under
the direction and doubtless by the hand of James Logan. He
maintained that in some points its instructions to him con
travened the Charter of Privileges. Indeed the whole letter
was so inconsistent as to show that Logan must have been
imbued with the strongest of passions and prejudices against
Keith, or "he would have been ashamed to have exposed so
much want of skill in the affairs of government as appears by
his draught of these last instructions prepared for you to
sign." These words were from Keith's reply to Mrs. Penn,
which he also laid before the Assembly."
19 Votes of the Assembly, II., 417.

Logan and the Governors of Pennsylvania 45
Logan, amazed at the governor's course, prepared a paper
entitled a "Memorial," in defense of his own actions. This
paper he too submitted to the Assembly. It was immediately
answered by David Lloyd, eager no doubt to enter the lists
against his old adversary. Lloyd, then chief justice of Penn
sylvania, had been restored to his former importance as leader
of the popular party. Moreover, he was now in accord with
the governor, so that his position was even stronger than it
had been in earlier years. Lloyd's paper was called a "Vin
dication of Legislative Power."^" It expressed his political
creed. His main thesis was that the Council had never been
granted legislative jDower ; that its only function was to ad
vise the governor. The real powers of government were
vested in the Assembly and the proprietor. If he appointed
a deputy, that person became at once empowered to do all
that his principal might do in administering the government.
From this general argument, completely at variance with
Logan's views as expressed in the "Memorial," he passed to
a personal attack on Logan, whom he accused of having raised
quit-rents which Penn had intended to be 12d. per annum
for 100 acres, to half a crown or a crown for a city lot. Logan
could not let this challenge pass unnoticed. His reply was so
bitter as to call forth a sharp rebuke from the Philadelphia
monthly meeting of Friends. He replied that few things in
his life had given him more uneasiness than this publication
against another of the same faith. He admitted that his act
had been contrary to good order and discipline among Friends,
but felt that the circumstances had warranted his publica
tion of the reply. Lloyd's paper had been written "as if his
whole design had been to throw a contempt on the memory
of that great and good man (Penn), and to raise among the
people an odium against me who for many years had served
him."2i The pamphlets issued by Logan, Lloyd and Keith served no

29 Votes of the Assembly, IL* 444 et seq.
21 For rebuke and Logan's reply see Logan Manuscripts, Vol. X.

46 The Life and Public Services of James Logan
better end than to draw more sharply the alignment between
proprietary and popular interests. Logan repented having
started it by writing the "Memorial," which had given the
other party "a handle to work up to themselves a kind of
merit among the weaker sort, that is, the great number of
the people."''^ At last, Mrs. Penn, incensed by Keith's con
tumacious behavior, ordered his recall, appointing in his
stead an elderly man named Gordon. The Penns were still
contending among themselves over their father's property.
Springett Penn favored Keith and refused to consent to his
dismissal, while John Penn had acted with his mother in the
matter. Logan having seen twenty-five years in the service
of the Penn family, years that had been filled with struggles
and controversies, now sought release. He wrote John Penn
that he had entered Penn's employ before John's birth and
had continued in it until John was older than Logan had
been when he came to Pennsylvania.^^ In another letter, writ
ten three months later, he complained that Pennsylvania was
no longer a fit place to live in and that he contemplated re
turning to England until some of the difficulties had been set
tled. The trouble with Keith had been bad enough, but if the
Penn family continued to quarrel among themselves, life there
became unbearable. "For my own part," he said, "I am quite
tired with standing the public butt to all your enemies."^*
John wrote a conciliatory letter to Logan, but it was of no
avail in inducing him to continue longer in the office of Secre
tary. "As to affairs of property," he wrote, "I have repeatedly
told you that 'tis impossible to serve you with effect until
your controversy is decided." ^^ He remained in the Council
until 1747, when he resigned and his son was appointed in
his place. He continued, despite his objections, to serve as
trustee for the Penn estate, and in 1731 was appointed chief
22 Letter to Mrs. Penn from Logan manuscripts. Quoted in Pa. Mag.
of History, Vol. 33, p. 347.
23 Logan Manuscripts, Vol. I., p. 199, July 15, 1725.
21 Ibid, Vol. X., Oct. 8, 1725.
25 Ibid, Vol. X., June 23, 1726.

Logan and the Governors of Pennsylvania 47
justice of Pennsylvania. Thus his activities were as great as
before, but with the succeeding years his tasks grew lighter
because he no longer had to contend with a headstrong
Evans, an unbalanced Gookin, or an egotistical Keith.
Of Gordon's ability to govern the people Logan had not a
very flattering opinon. With his advancing age and years of
service he had grown more outspoken. In 1727 he wrote:
"Our governor appears to have a true sense of humor, but
you could not but perceive that his understanding is in no way
above the business he was bred to, and you are sensible that
government requires a turn of thought very different from
what is necessary to qualify a soldier for anything but a
supreme command, or something near it; besides he is really
impaired by age which sensibly appears in the decay of his
memory."^^ His appointment Logan regarded as particularly
unfortunate following the administration of one so able and
so skillful as Keith. The fact that the late governor had
remained in the colony, the leader of a rebellious faction,
made Gordon's position doubly hard, and emphasized still
further his weakness.
As a consequence of Keith's actions the colony was kept
in an uproar for two years longer. He had the approval of
Thomas Penn and of a portion of the Assembly, so felt able
to bid defiance to Logan, Gordon, and Mrs. Penn. Logan
disliked all evidences of lack of harmony among the Penn
heirs. He was particularly grieved to think that Thomas Penn
should condone the audacity of Sir William Keith. He wrote
Thomas a chiding letter informing him that his friends in
Pennsylvania were loath to believe the stories of his intimacy
with Keith, and could account for it only on the grounds that
Harlan, an agent of Keith, had been warping his better judg
ment or else that Keith had offered Penn his services in the
Maryland controversy. If the latter, Logan warned him to
beware lest Keith should persuade him to accept 40 degrees
as the boundary line which would entail a loss of most of
2s Logan Manuscripts, Vol. I., Logan to John Penn, Oct. 20, 1726.

48 The Life and Public Services of James Logan
Conestogoe Manor, half of Lancaster County, and consider
able of Chester.
The next year, 1732, Thomas Penn came to Pennsylvania,
followed in 1734 by John. Logan had long hoped in vain for
their arrival. In 1721 he had written Mrs. Penn suggesting a
match between John and Hannah Hill, a Pennsylvania dam
sel of sixteen years, who lacked nothing which could reason
ably be desired in a wife.^^ John had been born in America,
therefore, his presence in the colony seemed peculiarly fitting.
Nothing came of this proposal. Then Logan wrote of the
Indians who were hungry for a glimpse of the proprietor's
family, of the troubles in Delaware, and of the Maryland
boundary line, all of which needed the personal attention of
the Penns. Squatters, mainly Scotch-Irish, had settled on
acres of land in Conestogoe Manor, which was the best land
in the province. "In short, if speedy measures are not taken,
you may give up the country. This is the most audacious at
tack that has ever yet been offered. "^^ At last his letters had
the desired effect. John Penn's stay in the colony was brief,
but Thomas remained for nine years.
The government ran along smoothly under the guidance of
Gordon and Logan, for Thomas Penn although his name ap
peared at the head of the minutes of the Council, took little
actual part in the administration. Logan having refused to
retain the office of secretary or take charge of the lesser seal,
had retired to his country house at Stenton to indulge him
self in books and experiments with plants. Nevertheless, he
continued to give advice to the new secretary, Richard Peters,
and to serve as member of the Council. Toward the close
of Gordon's incumbency the question of the establishment of
a court of chancery was revived. Gordon held that the court
as established in 1720 was illegal. Logan wrote an opinion
on the subject in the name of the Council and submitted it
to the governor. He maintained that the court, consisting of
27 Penn Manuscripts, Vol. I., May 28, 1721.
28 Logan Manuscripts, Vol. I., Dec. 18, 1730.

Logan and the Governors of Pennsylvania 49
the governor and Council, had been established by Keith only
after a careful consultation of the best legal minds in Penn
sylvania. He assured the Assembly, which had raised the
question of the court's legality, that the Council had no par
ticular desire to sit as a court, but inasmuch as it had been
so constituted he could see no good reason for objecting to it.^°
Upon Gordon's death in 1736, the government devolved
upon Logan as president of the Council. For two rather
uneventful years he occupied this post, though not without
protest. The minutes of the Assembly contain an account of
the trouble he had with Maryland over some German settlers
in Lancaster County. It is a record of letters exchanged with
the governor of Maryland, of night raids on unprotected famil
ies, whose only crime lay in their having settled so close to
the boundary line that their allegiance and their taxes were
claimed by both governments. Logan had been a command
ing figure in Pennsylvania politics for so long that the nominal
headship of the provincial government could bring him no ad
ditional renown. He continued to urge the Penns to relieve
him of the government. In 1738 they appointed Governor
Thomas, but upon his death nine years later, they would
again have had Logan, then in his 73d year, take upon him
self the burden of the administration. Logan, who had once
whimsically written to a relative of the Penns, "I have some
times thought of begging leave of thy cousins to die when
my time comes, since no other disability, not even this sur
prising providence will avail to discharge me," declined the
appointment. His death came four years later, in 1751.
For half a century the name of James Logan had been in-
dissolubly linked with the development of the province of
Pennsylvania. Whether his influence in provincial politics had
been for good or for evil, it had been wonderfully potent.
One author says that Logan was the power behind all the
governors from the day of his arrival until his death,89 a broad
3° Armor, Governors of Pennsylvania, p. 438.
29 Minutes of the Provincial Council February, 1736. Col. Records,
Vol. IV., p. 27 et seq.

50 The Life and Public Services of James Logan
statement, but one which seems amply justified by facts. Of
all the historians by whom Logan is mentioned but one de
nounces him, or imputes to him any but the purest of motives.
A book was published in 1759 by Benjamin Franklin, under
the title, "Historical Review of the Constitution and Govern
ment of Pennsylvania." Franklin has usually been accredited
the author of it, but Edward Armstrong says in his preface to
the Penn-Logan correspondence that he denied having writ-
ten^i the book. Though it speaks of Logan in a most un
complimentary way, it does not minimize his power. Gov
ernor Evans, the author tells us, was Logan's screen ; his suc
cessor, Gookin, became Logan's tool. To quote a sentence:
"The first (Gookin) had the name; the latter (Logan) had
the power; and by the help of the Council spurred him on, or
reined him in, as he pleased. "^^ Even Keith, powerful and
clever though he was, had to bow before the "all sufficient
secretary." Logan himself said of Governor Gordon : "In
affairs of government he lies almost as a dead weight on me,"^^
and admitted that for at least six years after his appointment
every official document that appeared with Gordon's name on
it had first passed through Logan's hands.^*
Perhaps his achievements in the field of Pennsylvania poli
tics are best summed up by Dr. Sharpless who says : "As
Secretary and agent of the Penn family, trustee under Penn's
will, Secretary of the Council, Mayor of Philadelphia, Chief
Justice of the Province, and for a time acting lieutenant gov
ernor, he was for fifty years a most potential, perhaps, the
most potential influence in provincial affairs."^^

31 Penn-Logan Correspondence, Vol. IX., p. x.
32 Franklin, Op. cit, p. 71.
33 Logan Manuscripts, Vol. I., letter to John Penn, Oct. 20, 1726.
34 Ibid, letter to John Penn, 1734.
35 Sharpless, Political Leaders of Provincial Pennsylvania, p. 115.

LOGAN AS FRIEND OF THE INDIANS.
The annals of many of the colonies are stained with the
blood of Indian warfare. The general attitude of the Anglo-
Saxon settlers, in contrast to their French neighbors, was
that the Indian was an inferior being who might be ignored
and treated with contumely; or that he was an ignorant
child-like savage to be made drunk with "fire water" and
recompensed for acres of his hunting grounds with a few
beads or scarlet coats.
The story of Penn's treaty with the Indians upon his arrival
in America has been too frequently the theme of history and
of painting to need repetition here. The historic spdt is pre
served by a park and a tablet; and surmounting the dome of
the city hall of Philadelphia a majestic figure of the pro
prietor faces the scene of the only "treaty never sworn to,
and never broken." For "Onas" the Indians conceived an
eternal respect which extended to the family and servants of
the great proprietor.
Especially did their esteem rest upon James Logan, not
only for the relation which he bore to Penn, but also for his
own fair and brotherly treatment of them. Logan explained
their regard for him in a letter to Governor Hamilton. "The
proprietor himself at his leaving in the year 1701 having in a
most solemn manner at a great meeting with them recom
mended me to them as the person particularly intrusted to
take care of them in his behalf, and likewise them to me, from
whence they distinguished me so far, that I had often dif
ficulty to oblige them to consider the governor in his station
as became them."i So great was their affection that the story
1 Logan Manuscripts, Vol. II., p. 65. Undated except year, 1747.

52 The Life and Public Services of James Logan
is told of one Indian who wanted to change names with
Logan. The tactful Secretary replied that he was quite will
ing for the Indian to bear his name, but that the Indian's name
might better be given to a stream in the vicinity which would
be a memorial to him long after James Logan had died and
been forgotten. This reply seemed to satisfy the Indian who
adopted forthwith the name of Logan. The testimony of one
Hockanootamen in 1703 voiced the regard of the natives.
The paper read: "Hockanootamen says thus: James Logan
is my brother and friend and he shall have my land on Sakung
Creek, and the Dutch folks . and other people settled on it
without his leave or my leave shall not have it. Old William
Penn was my brother. I have seen him often, and his chil
dren are my children. So says Hockanootamen."^ To this
document the Indian put his mark and delivered it into the
hands of the Secretary.
The esteem in which Logan was held by the Indians de
pended as much on his personal qualities as on his relations
to Penn. From the time that he arrived in the colony to
practically the day of his death, he was in communication
with them. In 1701 he was ordered by Penn to "examine
closely about those that fired upon the Indians and fright
ened them by Dan Pegg's." In 1748 Conrad Weiser, the
official Indian agent in Pennsylvania, prepared a message to
the red men, but sent it first by his son to James Logan for
his approval.^ These are not chance or sporadic instances, as
"For fifty years he conducted most of the transactions with
the red men with great success."*
Logan's services to the Indians, and to the colony were
various. First may be mentioned his hospitability. While
Penn was in the colony the dusky sons of the forest loved to
gather in large numbers at Pennsbury to feast with the gov-
vernor and pay him their respects. After Penn had left the
colony, and his estate had fallen into decay, Logan enter-
2 Logan Manuscripts, Vol. XL, July 7, 1730.
3 Logan Manuscripts, Vol. XL, March 29, 1748.
* Sharpless, op. cit., p. 121.

Logan as Friend of the Indians 53
tained the Indians at Stenton. The minutes of the Council
record upon one occasion a company of 100 men who were
entertained there for three days, the Council coming out from
the city to hold its meeting in their midst. In a speech to
the council the leader of the Indians said that they had merely
stopped to rest and refresh themselves at the home of their
friend, James Logan, before proceeding to the city.^
Logan realized the importance of maintaining friendly re
lations with the Indians, inasmuch as their colonial rivals,
the French, Were particularly careful to do so. In 1703 he
wrote Penn : "I design next month for Conestogoe, God will
ing, to treat with the Indians there and confirm them; for
we have many lying reports about the attempts of the French
to debauch all."^ He believed that courteous treatment and
suitable presents were excellent investments for Pennsylva
nia. For the Indians to ally themselves with the French
whether in peace or in war meant that the English trade would
be diminished and the purchase and sale of land in Pennsyl
vania hindered. On the other hand a proposal for an alliance
of the English with the Indians, Logan felt to be worth
the consideration of Penn and of all the kingdom. ^ A letter
written by Logan to a prominent Indian chief named Allu-
mapes expresses fully his desire and his ability to win their
esteem. He said:
"I am glad to hear our brother has a son born to
him in his old age. I hope he will grow up as a young
flourishing tree, and become as a plant to his fath
er's house, for good sons are the crown and glory to
old years ; but I am sorry to hear our brother is weak
and not very healthy this winter. I have sent him by
William Clark's servant to J. Smith a bottle of the
richest wine to comfort his heart, of which I would
have him to have one small dram at once when he is
5 Minutes of the Provincial Council, Sept. 27, 1736, IV., 79.
« Penn-Logan Correspondence, IX., 179.
' Ibid IX., 89.

54 The Life and Public Services of James Logan
weakly and no more at one time. 'Tis canary wine, a
great comforter to sick hearts, for so I have found it.
I also send two planting hoes and I hope my friend
will be in good health to see them used in the spring.
Thy affectionate friend and brother, J. L."8
"Confirming the Indians" had to be repeated many times.
Some slight to their dignity, the insidious counsel of other
tribes or of the French, enhanced by valuable presents, was
often sufficient to turn them from their allegiance. The Iro
quois rather gloried in their neutrality and independence.
They told both French and English that they were vassals of
neither, but would be faithful to whichever nation most valued
their friendship. In 1731 traders returning from the Ohio
reported that the Shawnees, hitherto friends of the English,
had raised the French flag. Logan was greatly troubled at
this intelligence. He wrote Conrad Weiser, directing him to
go to the Shawnees and say in a most casual manner to their
chiefs that the English hoped the Shawnees would come back
to live with them as their friends; that they would be good
and honest, and join with the five nations.^ He insisted that
Weiser be careful to give this advice as an afterthought when
his real message had been delivered, lest the Shawnees feel
that the English were claiming too much control over their
action. Logan's ability in Indian affairs was known beyond the
bounds of Pennsylvania. In 1736 Governor Gooch of Vir
ginia communicated with him, requesting him to urge the
Iroquois to make peace with the Catawbas and Cherokees.i"
Logan sent Weiser to Albany to lay the matter before the
authorities of New York, suggesting that it be proposed to
the Indians when they gathered at Albany the following
August for their annual visit. He drafted the proposals to
be placed before the Iroquois at that meeting. Gooch had
8 Logan Manuscripts, Vol. II. , Feb. 1, 1730.
'Logan Manuscripts, Vol. IL, Dec. IS, 1731.
19 Logan Manuscripts, Vol. IL, Jan. 22, 1737.

Logan as Friend of the Indians 55
complained of an Iroquois who had killed a southern Indian.
Logan apprehended the culprit and sent him south for trial.
Despite his efforts, the Iroquois were unwilling to bury the
hatchet with the Cherokees and Catawbas, so negotiations fell
through.*^ With the five nations residing in Pennsylvania, he was
more successful. He had frequently to treat with them re
garding the sale of land. One transaction of the year 1736
was particularly successful. Weiser was sent with £15 and
two strings of wampum to announce the death of Governor
Gordon and to assure the Indians that it would make no dif
ference in their relations, as "their old true friend and father
William Penn's own son is here, and so is James Logan, whom
their said father, William Penn, when he was last here about
thirty-five years ago, left in his stead to take care of his
brothers the Indians. Tell them further that my house is in
their way to Philadelphia, and that I expect they will stop
and rest themselves there, and that Thomas Penn and John
will meet them and speak with them and there we will know
one another."!^ Weiser was further instructed to tell the
chiefs of the five nations of a dispute which had arisen between
a Jersey Indian, Nootomis, and the Pennsylvania authorities
regarding land. Logan had produced a deed for the land,
but Nootomis was unconvinced that it was no longer his
property, and resolved to apply to the five nations for aid.
Logan wished Weiser to obtain from the Iroquois a treaty
which would state that they controlled no land on the Dela
ware, thus forestalling Nootomis. He desired also a promise
on their part to sell no land in Pennsylvania to anyone white
or Indian save to the proprietor. This was a delicate request
to make of the haughty Iroquois. Weiser was told to address
them thus : "Tell them the five nations are our brethren,
honest, wise, discreet and understanding men, and we can
treat with them with pleasure, but the others are weak and

"Logan Manuscripts, Vol. II., Logan to Gooch, Sept. 24, 1739.
12 Logan Manuscripts, Vol. II., Oct. 17, 1736.

S6 The Life and Public Services of James Logan
too often knavish." Other Indians would be protected by
Pennsylvania, but with the five nations alone would the colony
treat ; for them alone was the fire kept.^^ The appeal to their
vanity was successful and they promised Weiser that hence
forth they would sell their land in Pennsylvania only to Penn
or his agents."
Logan desired to hold for Penn not only a monopoly of
Indian lands, but sole trading rights as well. A law was
passed by the Assembly forbidding any to trade with the In
dians save those who had been licensed by the government.
This restriction irked the Indians who naturally wished to
obtain their muskets and matchcoats in the cheapest market.
To soothe their irritation, and win them to his point of view,
Logan addressed a letter to Shekallamy, one of their leaders.
He explained to him that the law had been passed for the
advantage of the red men, that none save those whose con
duct was vouched for by the government might trade with
them. He urged Shekallamy to persuade the Pennsylvania
Indians to drive out, or take prisoner any strange Indians
from New York or New Jersey who sought to obtain their
lands or engage in illicit trade with the white men.i*
One of the most potent causes for trouble was the occasional
murder of a white by an Indian, or vice versa. If the Indian
was the aggressor the whites were eager to rise and wipe out
the entire Indian settlement. If, however, it was an Indian
who had suffered they were not especially anxious to prose
cute the offender. In Pennsylvania an attempt was made
to mete out justice to both races. A law of the Assembly
for which Logan is said to have been responsible provided
that anyone killing, wounding, beating or abusing an Indian
was to be punished just as though he had mistreated an
Englishman, and was to be fined besides. Anyone spreading
stories which might alienate the minds of the Indians was to
be heavily fined. £50 also was to be voted annually for the
"Logan Manuscripts, Vol. X., Oct. 18, 1736.
1* Logan Manuscripts, Vol. I., p. 103. Undated except year, 1731.

Logan as Friend of the Indians 57
purpose of carrying on negotiations with the Indians, and pro
viding presents for them.
In 1720 two brothers named Cartelege, were accused of hav
ing murdered an Indian at Conestogoe. The Indians had
promised to submit such cases to the Pennsylvania authori
ties by virtue of the law mentioned above, instead of them
selves taking vengeance on the whites. Consequently they
sent messengers to Governor Keith to demand justice. Keith
was very successful in his dealings with the Indians — so suc
cessful as to draw from Logan a letter of commendation to
Mrs. Penn in his behalf. When he had listened to the com
plaint of the Indians he dispatched Logan and Col. John
French to investigate the murder on the ground where it had
been committed. The two men conducted the investigation
with such success that they not only satisfied the Indians,
but won from the Assembly a vote of approval (which was
at the same time a speech of thanks to Keith) as follows :
"The impowering two gentlemen of his council, so able and
prudent, in an emergency of such importance, whose wise
conduct therein is very conspicuous from their report; which
at the request of the House the Governor has been pleased
to communicate to us, is satisfactory."i'
When word reached Logan of the contemptuous way in
which Governor Clinton had treated the Mohicans whose
alliance the French were courting, he wrote in great indig
nation to Richard Peters, secretary of the colony. Logan
had ceased playing an active part in the government, but
his mind was so less vigorous than of yore. He had written
Governor Gooch in 1738: "During the 38 years and upwards
that (two voyages to England excepted) I have resided in
this province, I have on all occasions taken pains to pre
serve and cultivate a good understanding with and amongst
the natives of all nations near us."i* Now, in 1745, he was
still sufficiently interested in maintaining their friendship to
15 Votes of the Assembly, Apr. 28, 1722, IL, 314.
1* Logan Manuscripts, Vol. II. May 11, 1738.

58 The Life and Public Services of James Logan
express to Peters the hope that the ministry at home might
learn of Clinton's neglect of his duty, and reprimand him
for it."
The best evidence of Logan's service to the province of
Pennsylvania in Indian affairs comes from the testimony of
the Indians themselves. In 1742 the chief of the Onandagas,
addressing Governor Thomas, said of Logan: "He is a wise
man and a fast friend to the Indians, and we desire when his
soul goes to God you may choose in his room just such an
other person of the same prudence and ability in counseling
and of the same tender disposition and affection for the In-
dians."i8

17 Logan Manuscripts, Vol. IL, Oct. 10, 1745.
18 Cited in 'Wescott, Historic Mansions, p. 149.

LOGAN AS CHIEF JUSTICE.
For eight years, from 1731 to 1739, James Logan was chief
justice of Pennsylvania. Of his contributions to judicial pro
cedure, of the cases he heard, and the decisions he rendered,
no record remains. The documents relating to the early pro
vincial courts were destroyed years ago by people who con
sidered them to be of no importance. Scattered references
in the minutes of the Provincial Council and the proceedings
of the Assembly throw what light is to be had on the courts
and judges.
As has been described above, a quarrel arose in the admin
istration of Governor Evans between him and the Assembly
over the establishment of courts, which resulted in the im
peachment of Logan.i After matters had reached a dead
lock, Evans established courts by ordinance, taking as his
authority for so doing a provision in the Charter of Privileges
which authorized wholesome ordinances for the preservation
of peace and the better government of the people. In this
ordinance the term, "Supreme Court" is used for the first time.
In 1710, after Evans had been replaced by Gookin, the As
sembly passed and the governor signed an act embodying
most of the principles for which that body had earlier con
tended in vain. This act provided for four judges to be ap
pointed by the governor to hear appeals at law, or in equity.
All capital offenses were to be tried before special commis
sions of oyer and terminer. The act was repealed by the crown
in 1713, but was re-enacted in practically the same form and
remained in force until 1719.
The administration of justice in Pennsylvania was com-
1 Cf. supra, p. 22.

6o The Life and Public Services of James Logan
plicated by the fact that the Quakers would neither take nor
administer an oath, a circumstance that made it difficult for
them to serve on juries or to fill judgships under existing laws
in England.^ In the administration of Governor Keith, legis
lation on the subject of courts was again enacted, and laws
were passed in England extending to Quakers in America the
privilege of substituting the affirmation for the oath in most
cases. The provincial courts established by law in 1722 were :
county courts of quarter sessions, the judges to be appointed
by the governor, county courts of common pleas, and a supreme
court to sit twice a year at Philadelphia and to have general
appellate jurisdiction and original criminal jurisdiction in
capital cases. At the same time the penal code was revised
and many more offenses were termed capital than had been
under the more humane code of William Penn. After taking
the advice of the Assembly and of the attorney general, Keith
had established in 1720 a court of chancery to consist of the
governor and council. This was to be the storm center of
discussion between governor and Assembly fifteen years later.
In 1735 the House passed a resolution to the effect that a
court of chancery so constituted was a direct violation of the
Charter of Privileges. Governor Gordon asked the Council to
give him its opinion of the legality of the court. The paper,
written by Logan and signed by the Council, argued that the
court had been established to fill a great need ; that it was not
in violation of the Charter and that if it had been, surely
members of the Assembly of 1720, many of whom were in that
body in 1701 when the charter was granted, would have then
protested. Despite Logan's reasoning the Assembly persisted
in declaring the court illegal, comparing it to the Star Cham
ber of Tudor days, and it was abandoned.
James Logan was not a lawyer, but he had a broad educa
tion and possessed an analytical mind which more than com
pensated for his lack of legal training. This lack he shared
with most of the judges of the time, David Lloyd his pre-
2 Cf. supra, pp. 30, 32.

Logan as Chief Justice 6i
decessor as chief justice being a notable exception. Most men
attained the higher judicial position after an apprenticeship
in the minor courts. Logart had sat in the orphans' court, the
quarter sessions, and the court of common pleas before he was
made chief justice.
For many years there were no public buildings in Philadel
phia. The court sessions were at first held in an ale house.
Later a two-story building was erected at Second and Market
streets which served not only for all court sessions, whether
city, county or supreme, but for the meetings of the Assembly
as well. Near this building were the stocks, pillory and whip
ping-post so essential to the application of provincial justice.
For picking pockets, a woman, Frances Hamilton, was sen
tenced to be exposed for two hours on the court house steps
facing the pillory, then to be publicly whipped.^ At one quar
ter sessions in Philadelphia, held in 1733, thirteen men and
one woman were convicted of grand larceny and sentenced to
be whipped.* The severity of the punishment did not deter
the frequent repetition of the offense. Contemplating this
condition of affairs, Logan wrote his verdict upon man as
follows : "Man the only visible creature that we know capable
of considering or contemplating that beauty (of the well or
dered universe) is of all creatures the most irregular and dis
ordered in his pursuits, the most wild and extravagant in his
views. "^
Logan was by no means anxious to accept the highest
judicial honor which the colony had to offer. Isaac Norris had
been approached by the governor, but had declined the ap
pointment. Logan felt that it did not pay enough to make it
worth his while to accept it ; moreover, his health at this time
was far from good and he had suffered an accident in 1728
which made him lame. Writing to Thomas Penn of his ap
pointment, he said that he had been "prevailed on with utmost
3 'Watson, Annals, Vol. Ill, p. 163.
= Logan to John Hoop, May 15, 1729, Deborah Logan's Selections, Vol. V.
* Ibid, Vol. I., p. 309.

62 The Life and Public Services of James Logan
reluctance to mount the bench on my crutches," when every
one else had refused.*
There were two associate justices who served with Logan
and who went on circuits through the colony. The court had
a spring and a fall term following procedure in England. A
brief glimpse of the cases which came before it, and which
were referred to the governor and Council for mercy, on rec
ommendation of the chief justice appears in the records of the
Council. Thus in the minutes for April 29, 1735, we read that
Logan had held a court of oyer and terminer and general jail
delivery at which two men, Cornelius O'Brian and Edward
Fitzgerald, had been convicted of burglary and sentenced to
death. They had presented a petition for pardon to the gov
ernor and Council who, upon Logan's testimony, decided to
reprieve Fitzgerald and banish him from the colony. O'Brian
as the more practised in crime, they declined to pardon. But
upon Logan's further plea in his behalf, he too was ordered to
leave the country. Such a method of exposing the other colo
nies to the undesirable citizens of Pennsylvania seems to have
been a common mode of procedure. The minutes of the Coun
cil show that in 1737 a negro was condemned, on his own plea
of guilty, to instant execution for having set fire to a house
in Philadelphia. The associate justices were inclined to show
him mercy because he had confessed his guilt. Logan was
placed in a difficult position because it had been his house that
the negro had burned. Moreover, the negroes were becoming
so unruly in the colony that he felt that an example should
be made of one of them. At last he relented and on the advice
of the rest of the council the master of the negro was or
dered to give bond for transporting him, not merely without
the bonds of Pennsylvania, but outside any English colony.^
The minutes of the Council for June 23, 1737, tell of several
men who had been sentenced to death and whose sentence had
been passed upon by the Council, according to custom. After
8 Logan Manuscripts, Vol. Ill, p. 345.
' Minutes of the Provincial Council Sept. 3, 1737, Col. Records, Vol. IV.

Logan as Chief Justice 63
due consideration it was decided to spare the youngest of the
condemned persons on account of his extreme youth. In or
der to strike terror to his heart and restrain him if possible
from further crime, the Council ordered that he be taken with
the others to the place of execution, then reprieved as he
mounted the gallows.
Such is the meagre record of cases that came to the court
of Chief Justice Logan. As his elevation to the bench had
not been of Logan's seeking, neither did he enjoy the eminence
which he had attained. His lameness and his desire to enjoy
uninterrupted the solitude of Stenton, and his beloved books
made him anxious to lay aside the judicial ermine as soon as
possible. But more important than these was the uneasiness
which he felt at being obliged to pass a sentence of death on
a fellow creature.8 He had hoped in 1735 that someone else
might be prevailed upon to fill the place. Therefore he had
taken more than ordinary care in composing the address which
he delivered that year to the grand jury, expecting that it
would be the last one he would be called on to make. He
sent a copy of his address to his friend Thomas Story in Lon
don, begging his criticism and comment. He hoped in this
address to leave as a memorial of his chief-justiceship some
thoughts that would instruct and edify the people. Courts
only punish offenses ; they do not inquire into the causes of
crime, said Logan. Therefore he aimed in this charge to
examine and explain these causes so that his hearers, properly
informed, might avoid crime themselves, and so disseminate his
deductions that society at large might be bettered. Then
followed an inquiry into the order of the animal world, and
the ways by which man has misused, or failed to use the
reason which God has given him, and which should if prop
erly directed enable him to live a good life. He concluded his
address with a eulogy of the English constitution, the best
in the world because of that institution (one of many ex
cellent ones) known as the grand jury. All members of a
* Armistead, Memoirs, p. 117, Letter to Thomas Story, June 12, 1736.

64 The Life and Public Services of James Logan
community are thereby held in a common bond, and charged
with the duty of apprehending offenders and bringing them to
justice.^ For four years after he had delivered this charge Logan re
tained the office of chief justice, during part of which time
(1730-8) he was also acting governor. With the arrival of
Governor Thomas in 1738, and his retirement from the bench
in 1739, Logan gained a long sought release from active par
ticipation in provincial administration.

9 Charge to the Grand Jury. Given in full by Armisted, op. cit., pp.
120-133.

LOGAN, THE MAN.
It is impossible to form a proper estimate of James Logan,
the public servant, without knowing something of James
Logan the private individual. He was by no means merely
a capable public functionary, although he more than earned
that title. His versatility is shown by the fact that he was
able in the persistent round of public duties, to amass and
enjoy a library, correspond with some of the leading minds
of England and the continent and engage in scientific and
literary pursuits. By his marriage in 1714 to Sarah Reed,
whose father Charles Reed was a man of importance in the
colony, he became more closely bound to Pennsylvania. The
home life of the Logans was a wholesome and happy one.
There were four children, two sons and two daughters who
grew to maturity ; three children died in infancy. The oldest
son, William, was sent to Bristol to be educated, after the
fashion of the time. Letters which passed between the boy
and his father reveal the tender admonishing spirit of the
latter. He wrote : "Thou sayst my friends there are very
kind to thee for which I am obliged to them. But I charge
thee; value not thyself, nor be in the least elated upon it,
for since it is not on thy own account, but mine, it would be
extreme folly." In another letter William was warned that,
if he did not behave himself, he could hope for nothing but
infamy among men (his father included), and certain destruc
tion both in this world and hereafter. He had always been
addressed "Dear Child," but wishing him now to feel the
responsibilities of approaching manhood, his father wrote:
"Dear Son, As thou art now past fourteen and therefore thy
years should admonish thee, it is time to wean thy mind
from all childest thoughts and entertain it with such as are
more manly, so I change my appellation to thee."

66 The Life and Public Services of James Logan
Logan took a lively interest in his son's studies. His edu
cation was to be tlie sole, capital that he would receive from
his father, just as it was all that Logan had received from his.
Following the accepted standards of what constituted an edu
cation, Logan wrote his son that he was to study Greek,
familiarize himself with Latin as though it were English, ac
quire a small, running handwriting, and learn all the arith
metic that was to be taught, although after he had mastered
division, all future processes depended on reason. To improve
his Latin he was to write verses and letters, especially all
those which he addressed to his father. Of one of his Latin
epistles Logan wrote: "Thy Latin letter to me was accept
able, but I plainly see thy master's hand in it, and therefore
cannot from thence form any judgment of thy proficiency."
Loving messages from his mother and sisters, bits of news of
the community, an occasional gift of spending money, were
sent to William in far off Bristol. Logan was not extra
vagant, and he had not the least intention that his son should
acquire that vice. With a present of three shillings went the
admonition to use it sparingly, as his father's income was a
limited one, whatever William might hear to the contrary. i
The girls were educated at home under the careful eye of
their parents. Their training was not so extensive as their
brother's, but it did enable them to read sermons aloud to their
father and mother, "an employment on their part that they as
well as their hearers, were very well pleased with," as Logan
wrote Thomas Story who had sent him the sermons.
Another letter to Story throws interesting light on the
training of the oldest daughter. "Sally, besides her needle,
has been learning French, and this last week has been very
busy in the dairy at the plantation in which she delights as
well as her spining." In a later paragraph, Logan mentions
the instruction in Hebrew which he had given her with such
success that she was able to read it after two hours' study.
This he did as an experiment of her ability for his own diver-
1 For letters from Logan to his son see Logan Manuscripts, Vol. II.

LocAN, The Man 67
sion, for as he said, "I never design to give her that or any
other learned language, unless French be counted such."^
Patrick Logan, the father of James, had adopted the Quaker
belief, and his children had grown up in that faith. It was
doubtless the common religious bond which had brought
Penn and Logan together, and had determined that the destiny
of the latter should be wrought in Pennsylvania. Logan was
sincerely religious, but he had not the fervency which distin
guishes the convert. He lived and died a member of the
Friends' Society, though never taking a very prominent part.
Indeed he was several times rebuked by them for his "un
friendly" conduct. With their doctrine of non-resistance
Logan was not in absolute accord. He believed that aggres
sive warfare was wrong, but to fight on the defensive was
quite another matter. When the war of the Austrian Succes
sion was impending he expressed his views on the subject to
the Yearly Meeting in Philadelphia. He held that it was as
justifiable to attempt to hold property as to acquire it. But
Friends were so inconsistent. They refused to bear arms be
cause they believed it to be contrary to the teachings of
Jesus, yet did not scruple to break other equally binding pre
cepts such as not laying up for themselves treasures on earth.
No consistent Friend, he said, could take part in government,
as all government was founded on the idea of force. Yet they
did administer the government of Pennsylvania, and main
tained their right to impose their doctrine of non-resistance
on the non-Quakers who were now a majority of the citizens.
A better course, he felt, would be for all those opposed, in
defiance of the will of their mother country, to a defensive
war to refuse election to the Assembly. It was deemed best
by those who read this letter not to give it to the Yearly
Meeting. Perhaps they feared the effect of a statement so at
variance with the orthodox view, issuing from the pen of one
so prominent as Logan. He was indignant at their refusal to
make public his letter, and prepared thirty copies of it for dis
tribution, then thought better of it.
2 Armistead, Memoirs, pp. 94-96.

68 The Life and Public Services of James Logan
Other illustrations are not lacking to show that James
Logan was frequently in opposition to the leading Quaker
minds in the colony. Writing in this strain to Penn he said:
"Travelling Friends will give no good account of my strict
ness. I am willing all should know that I neither am, nor ever
was a strict professor and I will make my outside appearance
agree with what I really know myself to be."' This explained
his habitual use of "My lord," ih addressing Lord Cornbury,
or other notables of rank with whom he came in contact. One
story relates how on his voyage to Pennsylvania the ship
was attacked by pirates. Penn retired to the cabin to pray ;
Logan armed and went to the assistance of the crew. After
the danger had passed, Penn rebuked him for his readiness to
fight. Logan replied with perhaps a shade of malice in his
tone, that Penn had not sought to dissuade him while the
enemy threatened.* On another occasion he accompanied the
sheriff of Philadelphia in an expedition to dislodge by force
one Daniel Cooper who had taken possession of some islands
in the Delaware. When rebuked by the Friends' Monthly
Meeting of Philadelphia for having borne arms, Logan ex
pressed his regrets and said that he would not have done so,
could he have foreseen the consequences. The consequences
to which he referred consisted apparently in the fact that the
matter had attracted the notice of the Meeting.'
"besides an "Address on Defensive Warfare," Logan pub
lished other works in Latin and in English. Several were
controversial pamphlets which stated his views on proprietary
government. Of these the best was "The Antidote," an an
swer to Lloyd's "Vindication of the Legislative Power."
Logan alsp was the author of "Cato's Moral Distiches En
glished in Couplets." He was interested in new accomplish
ments in the realm of science, and this interest found ex
pression in his ready pen. He experimented with Indian
3 Quoted in Sharpless, op. cit., p. 118.
* Cited in Keith, Provincial Councilors of Pennsylvania, 1733-1736,
p. 6.
5 Pa. Magazme of History XXL, p. 122. Letter from Logan to Monthly
Meeting, Dec. 25, 1722.

Logan, The Man 69
maize in an effort to determine sex relationship in plants,
then wrote a treatise in Latin and in English, embodying his
conclusions. The treatise was called "Experiments and con
siderations on the generation of plants." He was a patron
both of Godfrey and of Franklin. In behalf of the former he
wrote:. "An Account of Mr. Thomas Godfrey's Improvement
of Davis' Quadrant, transferred to the Mariner's Bow." This
paper, together with one on algebra, he communicated to the
Royal Society in England. Of algebra he was a great ad
mirer, writing to Penn in 1706 that inasmuch as it was wholly
employed in the finding of equations, he considered it to be the
best rule to be transferred to the conduct of life.®
His taste for literature was reflected in his library of over
3,000 volumes. It represented the patient selection of fifty
years, and was as complete a collection of classical and scien
tific works as could be found in the new world. In nothing
did Logan take more keen delight than in his books. In his
will he bequeathed his library, a room in which to house it,
and £25 a year to secure the services of a librarian, to the city
of Philadelphia. The entire bequest which he valued at £2,000,
he said was "solely designed for the use of the public in order
to prevail on them (having such assistance) to acquaint them
selves with literature."
Logan had a keenly analytical mind which delighted in
formulating rules and discovering basic principles. He read
the works of the best natural philosophers, but reserved to
himself the right to disagree with their conclusions. He took
issue with Hobbes for example as to the natural end of man.
In 1731 he retired to his country home at Stenton, withdraw
ing from the busy whirl of politics to indulge himself in the
luxury of books and quiet contemplation. As he looked back
over his thirty years of active service in the colony, now
happily about to terminate, he was moved to consider man and
his capabilities. Like the painstaking worker that he was, he
arranged his ideas in written form, although so far as is
* Penn-Logan Correspondence X., 139.

70 The Life and Public Services of James Logan
known he did not intend to publish them, nor to present them
to other eyes. This paper, together with a letter written in
1729 to a friend, John Hoop, and his charge to the Grand Jury
in 1735 summarize Logan's philosophy. As to his methods of
procedure he said : "It has been, and is, my rule and method
to investigate the truth and reality of things abstracted from
all prejudices whatever with the utmost care and application."'
All knowledge, he said, consists of truth. Truth or knowl
edge may be classified as:
1. Metaphysical — or knowledge of the universe, which is
beyond our comprehension.
2. Physical — or knowledge of nature. Here our knowl
edge consists merely of the agreement of our ideas
with the object affecting them.
3. Moral truth which is concerned with the conformity
of our actions to external forces.
4. Verbal truth — the agreement of speech with thought.
Man greatly overrates his capacities and abilities because he
has the power of reason. An analysis such as the foregoing
should convince him that he can no more scale some mental
heights than he can fly in the air, or breathe in the sea.^
Vol. V.
The thesis on knowledge was left unfinished. In his letter
to Hoop, and his charge to the Grand Jury, Logan discusses
the "rational end for the formation of man." Man by his
perverse use of his reason and his free will has deviated from
the principles of right, so that government has been found
necessary to restrain him. Yet man, imperfect and vain
though he be, has implanted within him the seeds of all the
social virtues, which combined with his power to reason en
ables him to imitate but never to attain the order and per
fection of the universe. The true end of man is the union of
his soul with God. Tn seeking to attain this end he must
not rate reason too highly. Reason distinguishes but it rarely
^ Armistead, Memoirs, p. 136.
8 Deborah Logan's manuscript selections of James Logan's papers,
Vo). V.

Logan, The Man 71
incites the soul to higher things. It is only when combined
with affection that reason contributes to virtue.^
Logan was a very modest man. He had no wish to appear
didactical ; no desire to pose as an authority. His discourse to
Hoops was ended thus : "Thou wilt think perhaps, my friend,
by this that Saul is got amongst the prophets, but I am neither
prophet, nor prophet's son." On one occasion, soon after he
had come to Pennsylvania, Logan upheld the doctrine of non-
resistance in a discussion with Lord Cornbury, Sir Thomas
Lawrence, and others. He changed his views somewhat as
he grew older, but in 1703 he was convinced that those who re
fused to fight would never need to do so. In writing to Penn
of the discussion he said : "But this discourse will come very
unexpectedly from me, I suppose it is beyond my business. "i"
Asked by Penn for his opinion on the transfer of Pennsylvania
to the crown he replied : " 'Tis a task," I am sensible, that
would require a much abler head and hand."-'^
If Logan was modest, he was at the same time capable of
forming very decided opinions, nor was he lacking in courage
to voice these opinions when he felt that the occasion required
it. He had condemned the short-sighted policy of Governor
Clinton in dealing with the Indians. In 1731 he wrote a
letter to a friend in England (his name does not appear on the
manuscript), in which he compared the activity of the French
and English in building forts, and allying themselves with the
Indians. He was of the opinion that the French would like
nothing better than to obtain the English colonies, and com
plained of the fact that they had been allowed, in 1700, to
make accurate soundings of New York harbor. He placed the
blame for this lax administration on the Board of Trade,
claiming that "when the truth is known it will be found that
the Board has been more injurious than beneficial to ye British
interest in America. "i^
9 Charge to the Grand Jury, Armistead, op. cit. p. 120-13.
1° Penn-Logan Correspondence, Vol. IX., pp. 228, 229.
ii/6»'(f X., p. 40..
12 Logan Manuscripts, Vol. II., pp. 16, 17.

72 The Life and Public Services of James I>ogan
In nothing is Logan's conservatism more apparent than in
his views of the desirability of paper money. Pennsylvania
had suffered from a lack of a medium of exchange. Logan had
found it difficult to collect rents from the colonists, since
although they had plenty of wheat or other produce, they had
no ready cash.^^ In the administration of Governor Keith
a bill was proposed for the issue of paper money. Logan and
Norris presented their dissenting opinions to the Assembly.
Their argument rested upon the inexpediency of adopting
a scheme which could only operate five years at most without
royal approbation, the impracticability of paper which would
have to be constantly renewed, and surety that paper would
depreciate in Pennsylvania as it had elsewhere, thereby aiding
the debtor and injuring the creditor class of the colony.i*
These arguments did not prevent the issue of paper money ;
the demand for it was too widespread for that. They did serve
to convince the legislators of the necessity for a very con
servative measure, which was perhaps all that Logan and
Norris had expected of them. The bill as it was finally passed
provided for an issue of £15,000 to last for eight years. It
might be loaned at 5% on the security of from two to three
times its value in houses and land.^^ After two years' trial
Logan was still averse to paper money. He wrote Mrs. Penn
that it had so changed the course of trade in the colony as
to give him more difficulty than before in finding a market
for goods, the sale of which furnished the remittances due
the proprietor's family. i" The majority of the colonists were,
however, very much pleased with the measure. The House
voted to send a letter to the proprietors extolling Keith for
thus promoting the prosperity of the colony.i' Paper money
in Pennsylvania was a success, but if the credit is largely due
to Keith who proposed it some measure of gratitude also be-

is Cf. supra, p. 11.
1* Votes of the Assembly, IL, pp. 339-341.
15 Ibid IL, 344.
"Logan Manuscripts, Vol. X, July 30, 1724.
" Votes of the Assembly, Dec. 7, 1725, IL, p. 483.

Logan, The Man 73
longs to Logan and Norris, whose efforts to restrain the
House resulted in the passage of so conservative a measure
that the paper never depreciated to the extent of the issues in
practically every other colony.
Had Logan been unhampered and unchecked by David
Lloyd and other champions of democracy, his conservatism
might have proved a decided hindrance in the development
of free institutions in Pennsylvania. Logan believed that
participation in the government was a privilege and not a
right. The functions of government were to be exercised by
those best fitted by birth, education, and experience. In ex
plaining to Penn the situation in Delaware, where is "nothing
but trouble following trouble, as waves roll after waves in the
sea," he said that one of the main reasons for the disaffection
there was "heaping privileges on a people who neither knew
how to use them nor how to be grateful for them.i^ Such
sentiments, combined with a manner naturally haughty, cost
him the good opinion of many, and can not but be reckoned as
faults in a summing up of Logan the man. On one occasion
the Assembly issued a formal protest against his supercilious
and overbearing mode of address, resenting it as a breach of
privilege; on another a petition of Swedes to the Assembly
prayed for relief from his insults. Yet his speeches to the
Indians and his correspondence with his friends and his secre
tary, Edward Shippen, show him to have been both courteous
and considerate. Doubtless the reports of his disagreeable
manner were exaggerated by his political enemies who could
see nothing but arrogance in the uncompromising devotion
with which he served Penn.
Logan did have a directness of speech, however, which made
him appear at times very blunt. He wrote Penn in 1705 :
"In any letter thou writest to Friends, pray be pleased not
to set such a value as thou dost upon the charter granted,
for most are of opinion it is not worth so many pence, and
18 Pa. Mag. of Hist., Vol. 33, p. 347, Letter of Logan to Hannah Penn,
January 1, 1726.

74 The Life and Public Services of James Logan
if mine were asked, I should rate it still lower."" In 1731
he wrote Thomas Penn on the condition of affairs in the
colony. After going into some detail on the questions of the
Indians, Keith, and the Maryland boundary, he said: "You
have been abundantly furnished by me with all necessary
information on these heads, how far you have regarded them
you may perhaps have occasion to consider." He became
even more blunt as he continued to outline in detail the history
of the relations between Pennsylvania and Delaware. He
wrote that Penn had heard all this before ; "Yet as I have
had some instances of your forgetting at least what I have
divers times in very plain terms represented to you, I shall
here once more give you a succinct history of them as follows.^"
Logan did not hesitate, also, when meeting Quarry and Moore
at the White Hart tavern, to give them "as many close rubs
as he could without rudeness." '^ This was his version of
the conversation, but to the gentlemen in question his "close
rubs" may have seemed quite rude. He was not without tact
on most occasions. Yet he wrote to Penn to thank him for
a hat and wig which the latter had sent from London, and
remarked that the hat was too large so he had given it to
Caleb Pussey, and the wig would do him no service as he was
now wearing his own hair. ^^
If Logan had another fault worth considering it was his
regard for money. When he arrived in Philadelphia he was
a young man with his own way to make in the world. Ac
cording to his own statement he received nothing from his
father save his education. From Penn he received a small
salary until 1711 after which he had to depend wholly on other
means of support. He early engaged in trade which though
hazardous, was a fairly lucrative undertaking. William Penn
gave him 500 acres of land in Bucks County and Thomas

19 Penn-Logan Correspondence, X., 9.
2» Logan Manuscripts, Vol. IIL, Oct. 9, 1731.
21 c. f. supra, p. 30.
22 Penn-Logan Corr. IX., 291.

Logan, The Man 75
Penn allowed him to buy 5000 acres in 1724. ^^ He was able
to build for himself a comfortable mansion, and amass a large
library. That he managed to succeed so well was due to his
thrift. There are occasions, however, when this thrifty spirit
seems to approach parsimony. For a time his greatest griev
ance against Governor Evans was that the latter had with
drawn from their co-operative housekeeping scheme, leaving
Logan to shoulder the entire burden. In 1726 he refused to
serve longer as secretary of the province as there was not
enough profit in it. ^* He was unwilling to become chief justice
in 1731 because, among other reasons, it did not pay enough
to make it worth his while. ^' But perhaps the best illustra
tion of Logan's regard for his pecuniary welfare is found in
a letter to his wife. The letter had to do with an Indian
woman, Anne le Tort, whose services Logan wished to reward.
He told his wife to give the Indian woman 20 pounds of beads
from Burlington mixed with some of a poorer quality that
had come from New York. That Logan intended the woman
to judge her gift from its weight rather than its quality is
evident from his instructions to his wife to wrap the beads
before presenting them so that the poorer ones would not be
shown. ^®
The purpose of this thesis has been to portray the life and
public services of James Logan. An impartial verdict cannot
fail to set over against these faults of conservatism, haughti
ness of manner, bluntness of speech, and a too great regard
for money, a host of virtues which greatly outweigh them.
Among these virtues must be reckoned honesty, loyalty,
patriotism, courage, devotion to family, a capacity for work
and a painstaking care of detail. He deserves to be more
widely known than he has been in the past as a character of
sterling worth and as a most influential figure in the early
days of Pennsylvania.
23 Armistead, op. cit., p. 173. Letter quoted from Logan to Thomas
Penn, 1747.
2* Logan Manuscripts, Vol. X„ Letter to John Penn June 23, 1726.
25 Ibid. Vol. III., p. 345. Letter to Thomas Penn, Oct. 9, 1731.
26 Ibid. Vol. II.

76 The Life and Public Services of James Logan
BIBLIOGRAPHY
I. Source Material :
A. Manuscript— 1. Logan Papers. 45 volumes in the Historical So
ciety of Pennsylvania. These consist mostly of
original letters, deeds, and treaties with the Indians.
2. Logan Letter Books. 7 volumes. These were kept
by Logan and contain first drafts of all letters sent
by him.
3. Deborah Logan's Selections. 5 volumes. Letters
and documents selected and copied by Deborah Logan
from the Logan papers.
4. Penn Papers.
B. Printed— 1. Penn-Logan Correspondence. 2 volumes. Volumes
IX and X of the Pa. Hist. Soc. Memoirs.
2. Pennsylvania Magazine of History, 42 volumes.
3. Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representa
tives of the Province of Pennsylvania, printed by
Franklin in 1752.
4. Minutes of the Provincial Council, found in Colonial
Records.
5. Pennsylvania Archives, first and second series.
6. MacDonald, Select Charters illustrative of American
History, 1606-1775.
II. Secondary Material :
1. Armistead, Wilson. Memoirs 'of James Logan. Chas.
Gilpin, London, 1851. This contains several letters
and papers of Logan.
2. Armor, Wm. C. Governors of Pennsylvania. Phila
delphia, 1872.
3. Bolles, A. S. Pennsylvania, Province and State.
Philadelphia, 1899.
4. Fisher, S. G. Making of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia,
1898.
6. Franklin, Benjamin. Historical Review of the Con
stitution and Government of Pennsylvania from its
origin, London, 1759.
7. Keith, C. P. Chronicles of Pennsylvania, 2 volumes.
Philadelphia, 1917.

Bibliography 77
8. Keith, C. P. Provincial Councillors of Pennsylvania,
1733-1736. Philadelphia, 1883.
9. Loyd, W. H. Early Courts of Pennsylvania. Boston,
1910.
10. Martin, J. H. Bench and Bar. Philadelphia, 1883.
11. Sharpless, Isaac. Political Leaders of Provincial
Pennsylvania. New York, 1919.
12. Thompson & Wescott. Historic Mansions and Build
ings of Philadelphia. Philadelphia, 1895.
13. Watson, J. F. Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsyl
vania, 3 volumes. Enlarged and revised by Samuel
Hazard. Philadelphia, 1877.

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