Peter Kemble: Tory - Garden State Legacy

A 1766 cartoon celebratingthe repeal of thehated Stamp Act..Favour, and of the Wisdom and Justice of the BritishParliament. An Indemnification to those Persons whohave incurred the Penalties of the late Stamp-Act must beconsidered as a further Mark of Lenity and Indulgence ofthe Sovereign.It affords us great Satisfaction, that thewise Measures pursued by your Excellency,during the late alarming Period, wereattended with the good Efforts of preservingthe public Peace of the Colony. TheTenderness, Lenity and Condescensions ofHis Majesty, and the Wisdom and Justiceof the British Parliament, in removing theDanger that lately threatened the Colonies,cannot but excite in all His AmericanSubjects the strongest Sentiments ofLoyalty, and will necessarily contribute toadvance the general Interest andHappiness of the British Empire, which weshall ever strenuously endeavour topromote.By Order of the House, Peter Kemble,SpeakerDuring a Council meeting in June 1767, Kembleexpressed his displeasure over Parliament’s failure to createa paper currency for the colonies. He hoped that one speciewould replace the multitude of ever changing exchangerates that burdened colonial transactions. Kemble used termsas “It would have afforded us the highest Satisfaction” and“numberless Advantages must necessarily result thereby tothe inhabitants” of the colony. He also spoke of apprehendingthe persons responsible for the murder of peacefulIroquois Indians who were trading with Jersey merchants:It would have afforded us the highest Satisfaction to hearfrom your Excellency, that our Hope on the Subject of a PaperCurrency, in America; as we humbly conceive from the longExperience we have had of the Utility of that Measure, andfrom our peculiar Situation and Circumstance, numberlessAdvantages must necessarily result thereby to the inhabitantsof this Colony. We highly applaud your Excellency’s Prudenceand Justice in recommending a Reward for the Persons Bywhose Activity and Resolution the Murders of the Indians inPeter Kemble: A Tory • Arthur Mierisch • www.GardenStateLegacy.com December 2011