Dr. Nicholas More, First Chief Justice, Impeached May 15, 1685

William Penn appointed his cousin, Captain William Markham, Deputy Governor, and he arrived in the Province in October, 1681. He then appointed commissioners to lay out the proposed great city, who came over toward the end of that year. The commissioners, as originally appointed were William Crispin, Nathaniel Allen and John Bezar.

These commissioners sailed in the ship John and Sarah, taking the southern passage and stopping at Barbadoes, where Crispin died. Crispin was head of the commission, a man of mature years and Penn’s own kinsman, like Markham.

It appears by a letter from Penn to Markham, dated London, October 18, 1681, that Penn intended Crispin to hold high office in the new province. He says:

“I have sent my cosen, William Crispen, to be thy assistant, as my commission will appear. His Skill, experience, Industry and Integrity are well known to me, and particularly in Court keeping &c., so yt is my will and pleasure that he be as Chief Justice to keep ye Seal, ye Courts and Sessions, & he shall be accountable to me for it.”

The honor, therefore, of discharging the highest judicial office in Pennsylvania is to be attributed to the man appointed by the proprietary in pursuance of the act of 1684—that man was Dr. Nicholas More.

It is difficult to understand the abilities and character of More. He was educated in medicine, but drifted away, in his mature years, from the practice of his profession, and in 1681 became the president of 341the Society of Free Traders, and a large purchaser of land in the new Province of Pennsylvania.

Nicholas More arrived in the province with Penn in 1682, and though not a member of the Society of Friends, he so far won their confidence that he was returned a member of the first Assembly at Chester, and probably was the speaker of that body. He continued a member for three years, and in 1684 was again elected its speaker.

In August, 1684, he was commissioned Chief Justice by the Proprietary and at once entered upon the discharge of the functions of that high office.

In spite of the estimable qualities which entitled him to these honors, his character was stained with faults, and his haughty demeanor, harsh and ungoverned temper, incensed those with whom he was brought in contact.

In 1683 a Council and Assembly attempted to function with less members than required by the Frame of Government. More reminded them they had broken the Charter and their acts would amount to nothing. He further said: “Hundreds in England will curse you * * * and their children after them, and you may be impeached for treason for what you do.”

He denounced them when they passed laws which he opposed, and used language which was not in common usage among the pious Quakers.

These practices and his overbearing and haughty spirit made More many enemies in all classes. It is therefore with but little surprise that the Assembly formally impeached him early in his judicial career.

On the morning of May 15, 1685, a member of the House presented a formal complaint. More, who was sitting as a delegate, was ordered to withdraw. The articles of accusation were read and approved, and a committee named to conduct the impeachment. But the Council received the accusers with grave civility and gave the Judge until 7 o’clock the following morning to answer the charges.

More was not inclined to gracefully submit himself to the judgment of the Council and bitterly accused Abraham Mann as “a person of a seditious spirit.” He did not appear before Council and also refused to attend when warned by a committee.

The Assembly prudently resolved to collect the testimony necessary to make good their charges. They required the records of the Provincial Court, which were in possession of Patrick Robinson, clerk of the Court, who happened to be present in the House. He was little in sympathy with the impeachment and refused to produce the desired records. He even alleged that the records were “written in Latin where one word stood for a sentence and in unintelligible characters which no person could read but himself; no, not an angel from Heaven.”

The clerk held firm and then withdrew from the House. A warrant 342was issued by the Speaker and he was placed in the custody of the sheriff.

More all this time, secretly supported by the Governor and his friends in the Council, took no notice of the proceedings against him. He told John Briggs, a member of the House, “Either I myself or some of you will be hanged and I advise you to enter your protest against it.”

On the morning of May 18 the Assembly met after a long conference with the Council. They once more endeavored to extort the records from Robinson, who was brought into the House in the custody of the Sheriff, but in vain. Robinson threw himself on the floor and refused to arise or answer any questions put to him. The House, therefore, hastened to make an end of the business. They expelled More, resolved to ask that Robinson should be removed from office, hastily gathered together their evidence, and presented themselves before the Council.

More again absented himself, but the evidence against him was sufficiently serious. He was proved to have acted in a summary and unlawful way in summoning juries; to have perverted the sense of the testimony; to have unduly harassed a jury into finding an unjust verdict, etc., and finally of having used “several contemptuous and derogatory expressions ... of the Provincial Council and of the present state of Government by calling the members thereof fooles and loggerheads,” and by saying “it was well if all the laws had dropt and that it never would be good times as long as ye Quakers had ye administration.”

The speaker requested that both More and Robinson be dismissed from office, and the Assembly withdrew.

The Governor and Council were puzzled how to act. Robinson was retained until he became so insolent that he was dismissed. But More had incurred the displeasure of public opinion, yet they could not proceed against him. The further prosecution of his case was postponed month by month by trivial excuses, till more important matters took its place in the public mind.

It is reasonable to conclude that Judge More must have been possessed of some sterling qualities and considerable natural parts to warrant Penn in his appointment. His dismissal from office ended his career as a public man.

Dr. More was the founder of the Manor of Moreland. He died after a languishing illness in 1689.

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