Hence the penalties of the bill would be the punishment of misfortune, not of crime.
In consequence of the stand which he thus took, and the interest made by others in the House of Commons, the bill was altered in its most essential circumstances, and, instead of the rigorous inflictions, "mercy rejoiced against judgment," and the city was fined the sum of two thousand pounds, to be applied to the relief and support of the widow of Porteous.[1] [Footnote 1: See Appendix VIII.] A petition was made to Parliament "to extend the benefit of a late _act for naturalizing foreigners in North America_, to the Moravian Brethren and other foreign Protestants who made a scruple of taking an oath, or performing military service." General Oglethorpe, in the spring of 1737, presented the petition to the House of Commons, with an ample speech, and was supported by many members.

The opinion of the Board of Trade was required on this head.

The Proprietor of Pennsylvania promoted the affair among the members of Parliament, and especially with the Secretary of State, the Duke of Newcastle, by his good testimonies of the brethren in Pennsylvania.

The matter of the bill was properly discussed, formed into an act, and, having passed, with the greatest satisfaction, through both houses, received in June, 1747, the Royal assent.[1] [Footnote 1: Cranz's History of the United Brethren, translated by La Trobe, Lond.

1780, p.