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I Received yours by your Industrious Messenger Hughey, who Express’d great Satisfaction that you did vouchafe to Singularize him upon so Important an Occasion, as to deliver your Quaker Unmask’d, to me for my thoughts upon it—You cant imagine with what Extacy and Raptures he Spoke in Praise of it, in such a Number of long winded Sentences, that shew’d his Joy was Superior to his Understanding, he went on for a full Hour. With his Encomiums till he quite tir’d himself and grew faint, that I realy took him to be delirous: how wonderful are the Effects of Joy upon Unphilosophical Mortals, he was obliged to break off his Harangue with Reluctance and concluded with this remarkable Speech, O! Wonderful? the Knowledge thats contain’d in the Head of F—k, this little Book Mr. Wigwagg will convince you what vil—s the Q—s are, how studious they are to hide their Hyprocrisy [sic] from the Eyes of the World. But Happy for us Pres—ns, we have F—k on our side, he alone is capable to Convince the World by his Eloquence that our Cause is just, and we have been grosly injur’d by Q—s.

AS I have undertook to Vindicate the Conduct of our worthy Citizens, I think there remains something more to advance, to incomomise [sic] their Actions ; and to shew to the World the dareful Consequences of the others Conduct. We must all allow, that we are Subordinate to England; our Laws receive their Essence, i.e. Their very Life and Being from the English Laws; therefore I say, while we are thus situated, it is impossible to form Laws here Contrary to those Laws : And where [sic] our Legislative body to agree together, form an Edicts and publish it as such, it could have no more Weight or Force here, then a single Blank; because there is nothing to support it; yet we derive from the Essence of the English Laws, a Privelege to make such Acts, as may save our Necessities or Occasions; but when they come upon Com-potion [sic] with the Royal Laws, they must all nuckle into Subordination.

As our late Conduct at the Conestogo Mannor & Lancaster has occasioned much Speculation, & a great Diversity of Sentiments in this & the neighbouring Governments; some vindicating & others condemning it; some charitably alleviating the Crime, & others maliciously painting it, in the most odious & detestable Colours; we think it our Duty to lay before the Public the whole matter as it appeared, & still appears, to us.

That “Quaker politicks and a Quaker faction have involv’d this province into almost all the contentions and all the miseries under which it has struggled.“ Also that “the present attempts to change the Government have their origin from a desire in this faction of continuing to rule in all public transactions, or at least of preventing the miserable frontier inhabitants from ever obtaining their privileges,“ are propositions which I advanc’d in No. I of the Plain Dealer; and I have not found the least reason to change my sentiments since I wrote that paper. The very manner in which this faction has prosecuted their schemes of late, would have confirm’d my opinions if I had been without indisputable evidence before.

The following Relation might be acceptable to many of my Readers, being intended impartially as near the Truth as it hath come to my Knowledge. At Philadelphia on the third Day of the Second Month 1764. GEORGE the THIRD then happily Reigning. John Penn, Esq; Governor of Pennsylvania. Tidings came from the North of a great Number of Men, who had assembled themselves in Arms, and were actually on their March for the said City, in order to take their Revenge on a Number of poor wretched Savages, then in the Barracks of said City, under the Protection of the Government, however, just their Cause might have been in Pointing out such of them as were actually Murderers (who would have been try’d by Law, and received their Destiny) yet to fly in the Face of Government whereon very [sic] Individual and in short our All depends, must be productive of very dangerous and fatal Consequences.

For several years I have been a silent spectator of the political conduct of a particular faction in this province; I have observ’d how they have ruled in most public transactions; have handled the public money, and disposed of our lives and fortunes at pleasure : I have seen this very faction raise the hue and cry about liberty, while they were stealing the poor remains of liberty from the miserable inhabitants of the province : And I have now observ’d, that while the injur’d and distressed are crying for redress, they are endeavouring to plunge us into new schemes, in order to amuse us ; tho’ the wound is still bleeding of which we have complain’d. In such a situation, silence would no longer become a friend of liberty and his country. And as our representatives are gone home to consult with their constituents, what is to be done in this conjuncture, I think we are now in a particular manner call’d upon to speak out, and tell what we take to be the origin of all our troubles, and what is the best way to cure them. For my part, I am clearly persuaded that Quaker politicks, and a Quaker faction, have involv’d this province into almost all the contentions, and all the miseries under which we have so long struggled.

Impartiality (it seems this Letter writer would have his Readers believe) is the chief Bases, on which he has founded his Arguments; but either for want of Honesty, or Policy, or both, he has forsook it in the most obvious Manner: For where a Man is impartial, he deals in Truth to the best of his Judgment, not favouring either party; but this Author has endeavoured, with all his little Politicks, to paliate the Actions of the one Side, when for want of Policy he has exclaimed against the other, in the most malignant Manner.

THE late Rebellion in the back Inhabitants has been the Occasion of a Number of Pamphlets being wrote and spread in this Colony, some of which I have seen; the first was the Narrative; which I’ll venture to say is a good Thing. Then comes the Quaker Unmask’d, a Pamphlet I set no more Store by that, than I do by the Principles of the writer: In answer to that another was wrote, ‘titled the Presbyterian booking-Glass’, which sheweth a great deal of ingenuity, accompanied with sound Reasons for the publick good.1

In Consequence of the present Debate, every impartial Freeholder of the Province of Pennsylvania will be naturally induced to consider which of the Professions in this Country he would venture to chuse as Guardian of his civil and religious Liberties, in a Government, where according to the Constitution, no one Profession in particular can be established by Law, without a manifest Breach and violation of its original Foundation. But as the Contest seems particularly to be between the Quakers and Presbyterians, we ought as Members of one common Society, seriously to weigh the Merits of both Parties, before we list ourselves under the Banners of either. Neither ought Country, Prejudice of Education, or particular Opinions in Religion, sway us with regard to Government; because even the Mahometan Jurisdiction is to be preferr’d, (with respect to liberty of Conscience,) to many Countries in Europe, govern’d by Christians.

THERE bath lately appear’d a Pamphlet, called the Quaker Unmask’d, or Plain Truth, a very well wrote Piece indeed, and would be still better, had not the Author made the Hyperbole, his darling Trope.

AFTER the late Insurrection was quelled, it was hoped that unanimity and concord would again have taken place among the good People of this Province : And as the lenity of the Government was so great as to pardon the Offenders, it was expected that not even their abettors would again attempt to rekindle the coals of strife and jealousy in the breast of the rash and inconsiderate.