USA > Pennsylvania > Chronicles of Pennsylvania from the English revolution to the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1688-1748, Vol. II > Part 31
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and German, qualified voters and others, coming into town, there seemed a probability that the opponents of taxation, with their number increased by unnaturalized Germans, would crowd early to the court house, 2nd and Market, and name the inspectors, although there had been some Germans of the distant parts induced to come by Proprietary employees, and, according to Israel Pemberton Jr.'s testimony before the Assembly, forty-eight unnaturalized tenants on McCall's Manor had pledged themselves in writing, at the instance of a landlord, to attend on the war party's side. Men from privateers had, in 1740, threatened to interfere with the election, but had been dispersed by Hamilton, as Re- corder of the City, meeting them himself alone. Hamil- ton had died on Aug. 4, 1741. With the changes which had put the Attorney-Generalship and the City Corpo- ration in the hands of the Lieutenant-Governor's fol- lowers, Allen, the candidate, was now Recorder, and Councillor Plumsted, old and in bad health, was the outgoing Mayor, and they and a majority of the Alder- men, intrusted with the peace of the City, might be ex- pected to be more acquiescent than Hamilton had been. So it appears that several days ahead of this election, the sailors in port were secured to overawe the Quakers. We cannot believe George Thomas privy to the design to use violence, or even to intimidate. The excitement in public feeling sufficiently explains the suggestion, with which Hockley credited the Lieutenant-Governor (Penna. Mag., Vol. XXVIII), that certain persons be agreed upon beforehand to be chosen as inspectors. This proposition in the definite form of four from each side, the eight, it would appear, being named, was car- ried by some of Allen's friends to certain of the other side, but was rejected. It was resolved, probably at the large meeting of Norris's friends, however, that no one of that side should come to the polling place with a cane, stick, or whip. Early in the morning of election day,
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the sailors, of whom very few were actual residents of the province, began to congregate on certain wharves, and thence started parading, one group passing the Mayor's door, but unarmed, and of professedly peace- able intention, a small group meeting the Sheriff, who forced the surrender of the sticks carried, a larger body being armed with clubs. When the heads of the City magistracy were besought by citizens to disperse these dangerous forces, the reply was almost a justification of the sailors, declaring the refusal to agree upon in- spectors responsible for any disorder, and speaking of villains who usually crowded the stairs. All that was secured was a few mild expostulations with a passing crowd, and a proclamation by the Mayor commanding the keeping of the peace. The sailors proceeded to the inn called the Indian King under the direction of sea captains Redmond and Mitchell, and had drinks there. Mitchell, brandishing a cudgel, met old Israel Pemberton in the street, and tried to strike him, but was prevented by bystanders, who took away the stick, and Mitchell's hat fell off. He rushed away swearing, while old Pemberton, having picked up the hat, went after him, and gave it to him. Israel Pemberton Jr. and others followed to arrest Mitchell, when they were inter- rupted and sworn at by Allen's partner, Alderman Tur- ner, who attempted to strike with his stick, while Mitchell threw a stone. Old Pemberton took away Turner's stick, telling him that he should not have it until he knew bet- ter how to use it, and keeping it until Turner had cooled down. Influence was exerted successfully by the Old As- sembly Party upon the Germans to give no provocation to the other side, and steps were taken to have such as were not naturalized leave the vicinity of the voting, it having been claimed, in justification of the sailors, that they had "as good a right to be there as the unnatural- ized Dutchmen." The voters began to choose the inspec- tors at 10 o'clock, and Allen was the first put up for in-
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spector, and was defeated. Norris had been put up,- strange that a candidate could serve in that capacity !- when the sailors with others not entitled to the franchise, amounting to a good sized mob, pretty well armed with pieces of wood, which they flourished, one man having a cutlass, came from opposite Christ Church by way of the Jersey market toward the polling place. Captain Redmond, who was not entitled to a vote, was among them and calling out directions to Sheriff John Hyatt about the election. The Sheriff came down the stairs, and he and Councillor Lawrence, who was an Alderman, urged the rioters to retire, as strangers who had no right. They refused, and, when the constables were called in, struck blows, breaking the staves of the con- stables, and wounding several of the inhabitants, among them Alderman Anthony Morris and sea captain Thomas Lloyd (grandson of former Lieutenant-Gov- ernor of that name). The resistance being strong enough to cause the mob's retirement, the voters inside the court room proceeded with the election of the inspec- tors, and those supported by the friends of Norris were chosen. After the voting for Assemblymen began, the sailors again advanced to 2nd and Market, and, al- though induced to retire, made a third advance, throw- ing stones and using clubs, and wounded some voters, and drove others away, until the streets and moreover the court house steps were cleared of everybody but themselves, they crying "Down with the plain clothes and broad brims." In the course of the day, old Coun- cillor Preston's life would have been taken, had not the blow intended for him been intercepted by Captain Henry Hodge, who received considerable hurt. All the windows of the court house were broken. However, the Germans and some country people and others, who, if Quakers, could claim in justification that they were as- sisting certain magistrates, sought for guns, but, fail- ing to get any, got clubs, and attacked the sailors, who,
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feeling that the whole town had risen against them, fled, but were pursued. Some reached the ships, but about fifty, including Redmond and Mitchell, were cap- tured, and lodged in jail. The non-Quaker partisans had overreached themselves: many persons who had been inclined to Allen struck his name off the ticket, and Norris and those who had been serving with him were reelected. In the delegations from the other counties, there was scarcely any change.
The riot was investigated by the Assembly, the evi- dence being printed with the Votes of Assembly as pub- lished by Franklin; and the House by a series of resolu- tions thanked Lawrence, Griffitts, Preston, Anthony Morris, and Ralph Assheton for the service done to their "King and Country in suppressing the said Riot." Proceedings in the matter having begun in the City Court, and the majority of the Assembly not being will- ing for magistrates on the same side as the rioters, and perhaps their instigators, to smother the truth, the As- sembly addressed the Lieutenant-Governor, reflecting upon the Mayor and Recorder for neglect of duty, and asking that the Judges of the Supreme Court interpose, and take cognizance in a court of Oyer and Terminer to be summoned for that purpose. Naturally the Council- lors did not wish the truth to be made public, and the provisions of the Charter of the City and of the Act es- tablishing courts of justice favored them. The Mayor's Court could hear and determine all cases of riot, unless upon legal application the Supreme Court issued the ordinary restrictive and mandatory writs, and the Judges of the Supreme Court had no original cogni- zance of crimes less than capital. Upon obtaining the opinion of Attorney-General Francis, the Councillors, including Lawrence, unanimously thought that the Gov- ernor could not remove the case from the City magis- trates, a position which Kinsey combated in a lengthy opinion, to be found in the Votes. What the Mayor's
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Court, Councillor Till having become Mayor, did in the matter of the rioters, is not known.
The Quakers in the Assembly gave to a religious ob- servance of other Christians a recognition or accommo- dation, to which reformers have not been prone, and which perhaps, indeed, these could not help giving. On the day of receiving the Lieutenant-Governor's refusal to interfere with the City Court, the House decided to adjourn until the 20th of December, and asked him if he had any objections. He pointed out that such a date might interfere with the holidays, "which being ob- served by the Church as a time of religious worship," he could not then join in any business, and he suggested the beginning of January as more suitable. The Quaker Assembly then unanimously voted to adjourn to the 3rd of January, or Eleventh Month, as the mo- tion called it.
The Assembly and the Lieutenant-Governor were obliged to come to an accommodation. Thomas, who had spent in four years 1000l. more in keeping up the dignity of his office than he had received from both the Province and Territories, reminded the representatives of the Province on Jany. 8 that it was then more than two years since a Pennsylvania Assembly had made any appropriation for him. He expressed confidence that they would so act as to deserve the name which the hopes of all good men had designed for them, the "Healing Assembly." They replied on Jany. 11, that, when he passed the bills, they would make such provi- sion for his support as would show their desire to be- come such an Assembly. One bill seemed to promise a continuance of the dead-lock: it gave to the heirs, devisees, and assigns of unnaturalized persons a right to the lands bought by the latter, instead of letting such lands escheat to the Proprietaries. This piece of jus- tice, for the incorporating of which in public law the Proprietaries had not given consent, their Lieutenant-
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Governor vetoed, calling attention to the fact that they had not taken advantage of their right by escheat, prob- ably meaning when the heirs were known, or the land had been assigned. After agreement upon amendments to other bills, he, on February 3, enacted a number, in- cluding the one as to the pest house, and received the Assembly's orders for 1500l.
One of the Acts restored for three years the method of 1739 for choosing inspectors of election; a duty of 5l. was imposed upon every convicted felon brought into the province, but this was repealed by the Crown; there were temporary provisions made for the recovery of small debts and legacies. An Act of Parliament of 13 Geo. II, c. 7, extended the status of natural born subjects to all persons born out of the King's ligeance, but having resided in any of the British colonies in America for seven years without absence for more than two months, who should take the oaths, and subscribe the declaration in the Act of George I for the security of the King's person and government, or, being Quakers, make the declaration of fidelity, and affirm the effect of the abjuration oath, and make the profession of Christian belief prescribed in Act of 1 W. & M., all but Quakers and Jews being required to receive the sacrament in some Protestant congregation within three months before taking the oath. Under this law, a num- ber of persons, whose names were forwarded to the Lords for Trade, were naturalized. The legislative power of Pennsylvania on Feb. 3 aforesaid gave to all Protestants conscientiously refusing to take an oath the exemption allowed to Quakers by the Act of Parlia- ment.
There had been one subject on which Thomas and the Assembly since the threat of foreign war had been on good terms, viz: the Indians. Although it had been arranged for the Proprietaries to pay the Six Nations in May, 1741, for the land west of the Susquehanna
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embraced in the deed of Oct. 11, 1736, the chiefs did not come for the goods until the Summer of 1742, when there had been such a famine among the Senecas that a father had killed two of his children, in order to cut down his family to the number that he had food for. No Seneca could leave home, and the share for that nation was to be brought back by the visitors from the other nations. In the series of interviews which took place in the first fortnight of July at Stenton, or at the Proprietary's house, or in the Great Meeting House in Philadelphia, the first proceeding was a noteworthy ex- hibition of good faith by the Indians. Cresap had in- duced some of the young warriors, ignorant of public business, to sell to him two plantations on the Cohon- goronta River for five strouds, three of which had been taken by the warriors' companions. The Six Nations had taken possession of the two strouds brought home by the warriors, and had rebuked the latter for violat- ing the engagement not to sell land to anybody but the Penns. The strouds were now brought, to be returned to Cresap in repudiation of the bargain. There was also an assurance given that the Six Nations would help the English in any war with France, although the Gov- ernor of Canada had told the Six Nations that he was sharpening the hatchet, and was hoping for their neu- trality, in case he were obliged to fight the English. Receiving the goods for the land west of the Susque- hanna, and acknowledging them to be the full quantity agreed upon, the Indians spoke of how little would be the share of each Indian entitled, and expressed a be- lief, that, had the Proprietary himself been there, he would have given more; and they asked the officials present, if they had the keys of his chest, to open it, and take out a little. The Indians spoke of how well they were aware, that, while the goods were soon worn out, the land was everlasting, and had become valuable. In future, no sales should be made unless Brother Onas
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(Thomas Penn) were in the country, and the quantity of goods to be received were known beforehand. More- over, it was complained that the Indians were ill used as to lands unsold : white persons daily settled on them, and spoiled the hunting; whereas the whites had no right north of the Kittatinny Mountains, there were some on the Juniata River, and on the Susquehanna as far up as Mahaniay (Mahanoy). It was insisted that such settlers be removed. The Six Nations wished also satisfaction from the people south of Pennsylvania, who had taken land on the west side of the Susque- hanna, land which belonged to the Six Nations by con- quest in fair war. The lord of the people there, must pay: if he would promise through the government of Pennsylvania to do so, the Six Nations would treat with him, if not, they would go, and get justice. Lieutenant- Governor Thomas, in regard to the amount of goods paid over, reminded the Six Nations of an agreement, that, on account of the land on the west side of the river being less valuable, less goods should be paid for it than for that on the east side; and he then pointed out that the Proprietary had waived this, and had done the Indians the favor of paying them as much as for that on the east side. The Councillors thought that the government had better give the Indians a present worth between 300l. and 500l., and consulted with Kinsey, and, through him, with the Assemblymen in town. The lat- ter generally agreed to a present, and Kinsey fixed the amount at 3001.
Sassoonan and other Delawares from about Sha- mokin, and Nootamis and other Delawares from what was then Bucks County, came with the other Indians to a meeting on July 9. Then Thomas brought before the Six Nations the so-called "insolence" and ill manners of the branch of the Delawares affected by the Walking Purchase in their letters to the magistrates. He said that he was loath to punish them as they deserved, but
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expected the Six Nations to cause them to remove from the lands at the Forks of the Delaware, and to give no further disturbance to the persons in possession. It must be remembered, that, before Thomas's arrival in Pennsylvania, these Indians, on agreeing to have the walk for the Walking Purchase made, received assur- ance that they would not be obliged to move away. How far Thomas exceeded the orders of Penn, how far any white man who knew of this promise justified the break- ing of it by the idea that the Indians had forfeited their privilege by their "insolence," is not known. The presents worth 300l. were given to the Six Nations on July 10 : on the 12th, the speaker for them, Canassatego, an Onondaga, gave their decision, viz: that the Dela- wares at the Forks were altogether wrong, and should remove across the river, and quit claim all lands on the Pennsylvania side of it. Then, turning to the Dela- wares, he berated them, told them that they ought to be taken by the hair of the head, and shaken severely until sober, that the Penns' case was very just, that, in fact, the Delawares who released the land had no right to sell land at all, they having been conquered by the Six Nations, and made women, that the late sales had been in the dark, without the Six Nations' knowledge, that the Delawares had their ears open to slanderous re- ports against the Penns, and that the Delawares must remove instantly across the river, or to either Wyoming or Shamokin. Then, giving them a string of wampum to forbid them and their latest posterity from ever selling land or meddling with land affairs, he dismissed them from the meeting.
He made a final speech to Governor Thomas and his Council. Expressing grief that the Indians, calling on their way at their old friend James Logan's, found him "hid in the bushes," and retired through infirmities from public business,. Canassatego, in gratitude for Logan's services and his coming to this meeting, gave
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him a bundle of skins. Making the usual request that the traders sell their goods cheaper, giving more in value for deer skins, which were just as scarce as the goods, Canassatego complained: "We have been stinted in the article of rum in town. We desire you to open the rum bottle, and give it to us in greater abun- dance on the road." He apologized for staying so long as to dirty the houses, owing to the different mode of living from that of white persons, and he complimented Conrad Weiser, the interpreter, speaking of the Six Nations having adopted him, and put him in their Coun- cil, so that he was in two equal parts, and of his having worn out his shoes, and dirtied his clothes, so that he was "as nasty as an Indian."
The settlements on the Susquehanna complained of, were encroachments made without authority from the Proprietaries, who had restrained their land agents from issuing warrants or licenses for land in the basin of that river west of the Blue Mountains. To enforce the request of the Six Nations, Governor Thomas is- sued a proclamation on Oct. 5, 1742, requiring the in- truders at Juniata and elsewhere in that region to remove by the following May.
One of the Delawares of the Forks ordered to leave their homes was Titami, or Tatemy, who had received an allotment from the Proprietaries of 300 acres (near Stockertown, Northampton County). He and Captain John, who expressed a desire to buy some land, and several others of the tribe in that neighbourhood peti- tioned the Governor, that, as they had become Chris- tians, and were desirous of living under the same laws with the English, a residence might be allowed for that purpose. The Councillors deemed the announcement of conversion a mere pretence to avoid being expelled. The Lieutenant-Governor in the presence of the Board, on Nov. 20, examined Tatemy and Captain John as to their knowledge of Christianity; and the minute says
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that they appeared to have very little, if any at all. We wish there had been a dictograph or a stenographer to tell us their answers. It has been mentioned in the pre- ceding chapter that Tatemy was baptized about three years later by Brainerd. In view of former good be- havior, Tatemy and Captain John and their own fam- ilies, but no others, were allowed, subject to approval by the Six Nations, to stay within the limits of the Proprietaries' acquisition, Captain John removing however from the land where he lived, which had been granted by the Proprietaries to purchasers. The Six Nations appear to have consented to the relief from their orders.
Logan had, after the meeting in 1736, written to the Governor of Maryland in regard to making satisfaction to the Six Nations for the lands which they declared to have been theirs by conquest, but which were occupied by Marylanders. The claim doubtless was deemed pre- posterous, and no reply was made. When, however, in July, 1742, the Six Nations spoke so determinedly on the subject, Lieutenant-Governor Thomas hastened to inform the Governor of Maryland, and to refer to the absolute authority of the Six Nations over all the In- dians on the borders of that and adjacent provinces, and to the advantages of strict friendship in the likeli- hood of a clash between Great Britain and France. The Marylanders had elicited from some Nanticokes that the object of the visit of twenty-three Shawnees to the Nanticokes of that province in May, 1742, was to unite the Shawnees, Senecas (perhaps meaning all the Six Nations), and the Maryland Indians in a league, the cooperation of the French being counted upon, to cut off the English inhabitants of Maryland and Pennsyl- vania. Probably this design, of which the Six Nations afterwards disclaimed all knowledge, helped to con- vince the Marylanders of the necessity of treating with the Six Nations ; so an answer expressing willingness to
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do so was sent to the Pennsylvania government for transmission.
Against Virginia also, the Six Nations were nursing a claim, because, by crossing the Blue Ridge, her settlers had taken lands of four tribes which the Five Nations had conquered. There happened an additional matter for adjustment, a fight in which several on both sides were killed, between a troop of Virginia horsemen and a war party of the Six Nations going against the Catawbas. It took place in the neighbourhood of the Shenandoah River in Virginia, and the explanation which was current at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was that the Indians had been killing cattle and hogs for food, and began the fight, notwithstanding the Virginia cap- tain had raised a white flag, and asked for a parley. With the story that the Virginians had fired first, mes- sengers from the war party were sent back to the Six Nations, and communicated the news to the Shawnees living on Big Island and the town near by on the South Branch of the Susquehanna. Thomas McKee, a trader, left the town upon report that his being allowed to live was in debate. Thus a war seemed about to break out between the Iroquois, heartily supported by the Shawnees, in fact between most of the northern Indians and both Maryland and Virginia, with the chances of spreading to the frontiers of Pennsylvania, partic- ularly if the settlers there obeyed the order against furnishing food to Indians on the war path.
The Lieutenant-Governor of Pennsylvania at this juncture hastened to express sorrow for the "acci- dent," as both he and the Assembly called the battle, and to assure the Six Nations, the Shawnees, and all Indians in alliance with his colony that it would pre- serve peace with them, until they broke it. He was duly accepted as the mediator between Virginia and the Six Nations, the latter ordering the Shawnees to keep quiet, and themselves suspending hostilities while Weiser, as
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proxy for the Governor of Virginia, went to the Six Nations at the Long House, and "took the hatchets out of their heads and washed off the blood and dressed the wound." The necessity for Virginia officials to go to Albany in the Summer of 1743 was obviated by a pres- ent from Virginia of goods worth £100 sterling, and a promise to treat as to the lands in dispute.
The death of Jeremiah Langhorne about the last of September, 1742, left vacant the Chief Justiceship of the Supreme Court. John Penn, quite fertile in expe- dients, directed that Kinsey, whose familiarity with the jurisprudence of the Province was given as a reason, be appointed, and this appointment, the effect of which could not be other than cementing harmony, was made on April 5, 1743, Thomas speaking of the very great advantage of having one of the legal profession preside over the Supreme Court. The medical practitioner Græme was recommissioned as second Justice; and, Griffitts having resigned, Till was made third Justice.
Although the Assembly had refused to promote the sending out of men to fight at sea, private enterprise, availing itself of the King's offer of letters of marque, carried on warfare upon Spanish privateering, and made depredations upon Spanish commerce. Scharf and Westcott's History of Philadelphia tells of the prowess of Lieutenant John Sibbald and his men in the "George," Sibbald being presented with a sword on his return from one of the trips; and the History tells also of the dearly bought victory of Captain Neate in the "Dursley Galley," and of the successful cruises of other boats, among them the large ship "Wilmington" under the command of Sibbald. In turn, the Spanish deprived Philadelphia of many cargoes intended for her.
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