49. "A Short Discourse on the Present State of the Colonies" (1728)
Keith was the last governor of Pennsylvania commissioned by Penn himself. — Bibliography: Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, V, 240-258; Channing and Hart, Guide, § 133.
WHEN either by Conquest or Encrease of People, Foreign Provinces are possessed, & Colonies planted abroad, it is convenient & often necessary to substitute little Dependant Governments, whose People by being enfranchised, & made Partakers of the Priviledges & Libities belonging to the Original Mother State, are justly bound by its Laws, & become subservient to its Interests as the true End of their Incorporation.
Every Act of Dependant Provincial Governments ought therefore to Terminate in the Advantage of the Mother State, unto whom it ows its being, & Protection in all its valuable Priviledges, Hence it follows that all Advantageous Projects or Commercial Gains in any Colony, which are truly prejudicial to & inconsistent with the Interests of the Mother State, must be understood to be illegal, & the Practice of them unwarrantable, because they Contradict the End for which the Colony had a being, & are incompatible with the Terms on which the People Claim both Priviledges & Protection.
Were these Things rightly understood amongst the Inhabitants of the British Colonies in America, there wou'd be less Occasion for such Instructions & Strict Prohibitions, as are dayly sent from England to regulate their Conduct in many Points ; the very Nature of the King wou'd be sufficient to direct their Choice in cultivating such Parts of Industry & Commerce only as wou'd bring some Advantage to the Interest & Trade of Great Britain, & they wou'd soon find by Experience that this was the solid & true Foundation whereon to build a real Interest in their Mother Country, & the certain Means to acquire Riches without Envy.
On the Other Hand where the Government of a Provincial Colony is well regulated, & all its business & Commerce truly adapted to the proper End, & design of its First Settlement ; Such a Province like a Choice Branch, springing from the Main Root ought to be carefully nourish'd, & its just Interest well guarded ; No little Partial Project or Party Gain, shou'd be Suffered to affect it, but rather it ought to be considered & weigh'd in the General Ballance of the whole State as a useful & profitable Member.
