USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial records of Pennsylvania, Vol. III > Part 52
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" Thus My Lord, I have endeavoured to give you a satisfactory " Answer to your Letter, and if I cannot comply with your Lord- " ship's demand of delivering up Inhabitants of this Province to be " tried in yours, for a supposed Riot, committed many miles within " the well known bounds of Pennsylvania, your Lordship will do " me the Justice to believe the same proceeds from a Sense of the " like Obligations on me, to protect his Majesty's Subjects in this " Province in their Just Rights, with those your Lordship conceives "yourself under, for protecting such of them as are your Tenants. "I am,
" My Lord, " Your Lodrship's " Most obedient, humble Servt. "P. GORDON.
"P. S.
" It gives me some concern that I am obliged to add to this, that " I have lately received an imperfect Account of a Scuffle that has " happened on the Borders of Kent County in this Government, and " Dorset in yours, occasioned by some of your Lordship's Officers " taking one Newton a Prisoner, and forcing him from his own " House : what I have been able to learn of this Affair, & my Sen- . " timents of it, your Lordship may perceive on perusal of the inclosed "Copy of a Letter which I immediately dispatched to the Justices " of Kent County on the Subject."
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PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.
N. B.
The foregoing Letter was dated
" Philadelphia, January 15, 1732-3, and addressed thus : " To the Right Honourable,
" The Lord Baltimore,
E.
At a Council held at Philadelphia, February 14th, 1732-3.
PRESENT
The Honourable the Proprietary.
The Lieutenant Governor.
James Logan,
Clemt. Plumsted,
Isaac Norris,
Thomas Lawrence, Esq'rs.
Samuel Preston,
Samuel Hasell.
Henry Brooke,
The Minutes of the two preceeding Councils were read and ap- proved.
The Governor then informed the Board, that on the 3d instant he had received a Letter from the Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, inclosing one from the Lord Baltimore, by which it appears his Lordship, notwithstanding what had been wrote to him, continues to insist on the demand made in his former Letter, of delivering up those Persons concerned in the Execution of the Warrant issued against the Sons of John Lowe, living on the West Side of Sasque- hannah. That the day before these Letters were brought to him having by an unhappy fall so much disabled his right Arm that he could not write himself, he had desired a Gentleman of this Board to write to Mr. Ogle, acknowledging the Receipt of the Letters, and mentioning the hurt which he (the Governor) had received, and that as soon as possible both Letters should receive an answer.
The Governor proceeded to say, that the Importance of this Affair rendring it necessary to be well weighed & considered, he had di- rected the Council to be called together to advise therein. Then laying the said Letters before the Board, the same were read, and are as follows :
" Annapolis, January ye 24th, 1732-3.
" Sir :
" I am very much concerned that I am Obliged to give you fur- " ther trouble on Account of the Riot committed by People claim- "ing under your Government in this Province, and to obviate all " pretence of want of Knowledge of the nature of the Offence, I " have directed Mr. Ogle to shew you Copys of the Depositions, and "to demand in my Name the delivery of the Persons, to be delt " with according to Law. I desire Mr. Gordon will be assured no " one has a greater regard or Esteem for him than I have, and noth- " ing but the Protection of His Majesty's Subjects under My Gov- " ernment, will induce me to be farther importuning on a Subject " you think so disagreeable.
" Your humble Servant,
" Baltimore."
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"Newcastle, February 1st, 1732-3.
" Sir :
" His Lordship, upon the Receipt of your Letter of the 15th of " last Month, by the Conveyance of Mr. Georges, was pleased to " deliver me the inclosed, with directions to give it to yourself, and "at the same time acquaint you with what his Lordship still expects " and insists on from the Justice of your Government.
"But as I hear we are not likely to have the pleasure of seeing "you at Newcastle, I send this Express with the enclosed, and by it " you will perceive his Lordship once more demands the Delivery " up of the Rioters, to the Magistrates of his Province, and I am " ordered to say, that his Lordship is the more obliged to persevere " in what his Lordship thinks is justly owing to his Government, by " the very manner in which you think fit to represent the affair in " your own Letter : the coming with Numbers, & in a violent man- " ner forcing his Lordships Tenants before your Magistrates, are ad- " mitted, and altho' you are pleased to distinguish his Lordship out " of that part of his Province, by an Agreement which is now under " Agitation, and which you seem to make the Execution of neces- " sary, to prevent further Disturbances on the Borders, his Lord- " ship cannot but be surprized to find your Magistrates are justified " in issuing Warrants for the apprehension of Persons in his Lord- " ship's Province, before the Lines are run and Bounds Settled, "which are stipulated by the Articles, to be done under a pretence " that probably such place may fall within the Government of Penn- " sylvania when the Lines are run : if this is the Case, his Lordship " thinks it could not be so useful and necessary to name Commis- " sioners, or to run the Lines intended by the Articles, since every " Magistrate may on their own head take upon them, tho' no Lines " are run to distinguish the Bounds, and each Government protect " them.
" His Lordship is satisfied none can conceive the Agreement to " have any such effect before the Lines are run, and that yourself " are convinced of the weakness of that reason, since, in your Let- " ter of the 30th of December last, directed to the Justices of Kent " County on Delaware, a Copy of which you sent to his Lordship, "you very justly acquaint them that no Person who was first a " Tenant of his Lordship, should be allowed to change, till such " time as the running of the Division Lines shall fully determine " under which Government, for the future, they are to be ranged.
" His Lordship would not willingly persuade himself, (unless " forced by a further protection of the Rioters,) that this transaction " was done rather to obstruct than facilitate the Execution of the " Agreement, since nothing seems to him to show a greater want of " the Candour enjoyned by the Articles, than approving the pre- " sumption of Magistrates in issuing Warrants, and Boldness of " Persons acting under those Warrants in an Affair intended to be " accommodated by their Superiors in another manner, & yet such " procedure, instead of being disowned by your Government, is jus- " tified and urged as necessary for the execution of the Agreement.
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" I have also herewith sent Copys of the Affidavits taken in his " Lordship's Province, in relation to that affair; the substance of " them is much the same with those taken Notice of in your Letter " to his Lordship, but aggravated with very probable Circumstances " of Behaviour and Expressions, in such forward Rioters.
" Having nothing further at present to trouble you with, but to " repeat his Lordship's desire of having your immediate Answer, by " this Bearer, whether you will be pleased to order the delivery up " of the Rioters complained of, to the Magistrates in Maryland, who " have Orders to receive them,
" I remain, Sir, " Your most humble Serv't, "SAM. OGLE."
Addressed thus :
" To the Honble Patrick Gordon, Esqr., " Governor of Pennsylvania."
The Board expressing their Surprize that the Lord Baltimore' should, without taking the least Notice of what the Governor had wrote to him, think fitt to insist on his former Demands in so per- emptory a manner, came to this unanimous Resolution, that for the Reasons contained in the said Letter, his Lordship's Demand is by no means to be complied with, and that the same should be signified to his Lordship, in very plain Terms.
Whereupon two several Draughts of a Letter in answer having been made, the same were communicated to the Board, who, ap- proving the Substance of both, but preferring the manner in which one of them was conceived, directions were given for taking such parts of each as best suited the sense of the Board.
And accordingly, a Letter in these Words was drawn up, and signed by the Governor :
" My Lord :
" Your Lordship's Letter of the 24th Ulto., under cover of one " from Mr. Ogle, and accompained with the Copies of two Deposi- " tions, came to my hands on the 3d Current, by the Bearer of which " I would have returned an Answer, if an unlucky hurt I received " the day before had not disabled me from attending to any Business. " I account it an unhappiness that mine of the 15th of January has " been so far from satisfying your Lordship, that without taking the " least Notice of what I there represented, your Lordship should " think fitt to insist on the Demand mentioned in your former Letter. " If the Reasons already given for not complying therewith have not " sufficient Weight with your Lordship, I am not able to judge what " others can be added in defence of an Action which, in all its Cir- " cumstances, were it really Criminal, can only be cognizable in " Pennsylvania, the place where it was done; for it is abundantly " evident that Lowe's Settlement, even without Regard to the last " Agreement, is many Miles within the known bounds of this Pro- " vince, and clearly without the most extensive ever claimed to our " Knowledge by Maryland. And since the regular . Administration
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. " of Justice and due Exercise of the Powers of Government make it " absolutely necessary that some Limits should at all times be known " and acknowledged, it is to be considered what Confusion must " ensue, if these are to be varied and shifted, to support every bold " Intruder, who tho' actually seated within one Province, may yett " think fitt to call himself an Inhabitant of the other.
" I shall forbear at present making some very obvious Remarks " on the Depositions sent me, and shall only say, that as I never had " the least Inclination of any Abuse offered to Lowes, the Father, " when the Warant was served on his two Sons, Daniel and William " for whom alone it was issued, your Lordship may be assured that " this Government will have so strict a Regard to do impartial Justice " between all its Inhabitants, that John Lowe, (if the Case be as he " represents it,) on a proper Application, may depend on being re- " dressed in due course of Law.
& rked Oak,
" Tho' I have the Honour, my Lord, to be at the head of the " ministration of this Province, yet as one of our Honourable 1 " prietors is now here, I could not judge it proper, however clear " present Case may be, to make any further answer to your Lo. .. " ship's Demand without first learning his Sentiments, and he has " been pleased to lett me know, that tho' your Lordship thinks fitt " to take offence at the granting and executing a lawfull Warrant " within this Province, yet that the same is not a sufficient Reasou " to him for delivering up a Freeman of Pennsylvania, to be tried in " Maryld., for not knowing that the Proprietor of that Province " would resent his doing the Duty of a Constable within his own " District. He was likewise pleased to add that he has the same " certainty that Lowe's Settlement, (the place where the supposed " Wrong is said to be done,) is as unquestionably within the Pro- " vince of Pennsylvania, as your Lordship has of Elk River being " within that of Maryland ; that he knows this Province to be as in- " dependent of Maryland as that is of Pennsylvania, and tho' his " Principles, and those of the greatest part of the Inhabitants, allow " of no force except that of the Civil Magistrates, yet being protected " by his Majesty's Wisdom and Justice, (upon which he entirely " relies for his Defence,) he apprehends no Danger from the different " Principles and Superior strength of Maryland.
" I have it likewise in charge from him to represent to your Lord- " ship that the time for running and marking the Lines, Limits and " Bounds between the Province of Pennsylvania, Counties of New- " castle, Kent & Sussex on Delaware, and the Province of Maryland, " by the delay of your Lordship's Commissioners is far spent, and " therefore, that your Lordship may, in such manner as you think " fitt, direct your Commissioners to proceed to the Execution of that "part of the Articles yet remaining to be done, pursuant to the " Agreement concluded.
" Having thus discharged myself of what I had in Command to " write to your Lordship, I am, on my own part, to return you my " very humble thanks for the Personal Regard your Lordship is " pleased to express for me, and to assure your Lordship it shall be
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"my Endeavour to merit the Continuance of it, by acting no part " unbecoming of My Lord, " Your Lordship's most " Obedient, humble Servant, " P. GORDON.
This Letter was dated,
" Philadelphia, February 17th, 1732-3."
And addressed thus :
" To the Right Honourable, "The Lord Baltimore."
The Governor thought fitt likewise, to answer Mr. Ogle by a Let- ter in these Words :
" Philadelphia, February 17th, 1732-3." .“ Sir :
" Having said to my Lord Baltimore what I apprehend to be suf- " ficient, in answer to his Letter, and to that part of yours in which " you, in his Name, demand the Delivery up of the Rioters, as you " call them, to the Magistrates of Maryland, I should gladly have " spared you and myself the Trouble of entering further into the " Dispute, were it not that you have been pleased to make me say " and admit what I think I have not, and am sure never intended.
"In your Letter it is said, that by the very manner in which I " have represented the Affair in mine of the 15th of January last, " to his Lordship, the coming with Numbers, and in a violent man- "ner forcing his Lordship's Tenants before our Magistrates is ad- " mitted, that upon this Admission his Lordship is the more obliged " to persevere in what he thinks is justly owing to his Government, . " vizt : the Delivery up of those you call the Rioters. To this I " must say, it requires a skill in distinguishing & inferring, to which " I have ever been utterly a Stranger, to find out how the saying " that the Constable of Lancaster County, with such Assistance as he " thought proper to take with him, went and apprehended some no- " torious Disturbers of the Peace within our Government, can be " construed such an Admission. You seem also to make me apply " the Articles of Agreement now in Agitation, to justify our Magis- " trates in granting that Warrant against Lowe's Sons, which was "ever as far from my thoughts as the other. No, Sir, the Founda- " tion on which that Warrant was granted, could be no other than " the certain knowledge our Magistrate had that Lowe's Settlement " is within the indisputable bounds of Pennsylvania; they well " knew that it lies considerably more Northerly than Philadelphia, "and by common Computation thirty Miles above the Northern "Boundary of Maryland Sett. as I am well informed by Charles, " Lord Proprietor of that Province, about fifty years since, and not " long after the King's Grant for this Province, of the Bounds of " which he was not unsensible, and according to which our Inhabi- " tants, for the greater part of that time, have had a continual Pos-
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"session, and therein they would undoubtedly have proceeded as " they did, had the last Agreement never been entered into. Yet, " as it was concluded, (and as such it is made no Secret here,) it " certainly could not have any such Effect as to discourage them " from doing their Duty, when they saw clearly that even by the " plain and express terms of that Agreement, the place of Lowe's " Settlements is several miles more Northerly than Philadelphia, "fifteen miles below which the East and West Line, dividing the " Provinces, when it is run must necessarily fall.
"'Tis very true I have said the running of these Lines, as stipu- " lated by the Articles, is necessary for preventing further Disturb- " ances, and putting an end to all controversies about Property as " well as Government, between the two Provinces, and until I am " better informed I must continue of the same Opinion. I am like- " wise of Opinion, that the Point in which you say his Lordship is "so well satisfied, viz : that the Agreement can have no Effect till " the Lines are run, is not necessary now to be insisted on, because "our side of this Dispute can be very clearly supported, without " having any recourse to that. Agreement for Aid,
" You further urge my Letter to our Justices of Kent, of the 9th " of January, (not of the 30th of December,) from whence you say " I am convinced of the weakness of my own Argument. But in this' " you mistake Equally as in the rest. An Agreement was entered " into in 1724 at London, by the Proprietors on both Sides, as an " Amicable Expedient for preventing all Disturbances between the "two Governments, which according to their own Direction, was "published by Proclamation, and tho' Limited to a Term, yet the " subsequent and last words of it carry its Equity to all future time, " so long as there was an Expectation of a Compleat Agreement, & " so it was understood by your Predecessors, and especially by that " Honourable Gentleman, Benedict Calvert, Esqr., who in the pres- " ence of divers Persons of Worth, agreed with me, both at Anapo- " lis and Philadelphia, that it ought and should be observed by both " Provinces as the best Expedient for the same good Purposes for " which it was intended. That is, We agreed that none should be " disturbed on either Side, who had been in possession in 1724, and " we mutually declared against Shifting of Landlords, as it has been " called. By the same Agreement of 1724, it is stipulated also, that " no Surveys should be made near the Limits on either side, which " by our Land Office, as I understand, has been carefully observed. " Now how this pacifick Agreement and what ensued upon it, should " be construed in favour of Surveys made in Breach of it, is what " surpasses my understanding; I am told, Indeed, you were pleased " to declare when last at New Castle, that the Land Office of Mary- " land grant its Warrants at Large, and those who purchase them lay " them at their own Risque, where they please, and no Man can call " them to Account for so doing till the Division Lines are run. The " plain consequence of which Position is that every Man who gets " such a Warrant, has it in his Power to carry a part of Maryland " where he pleases, and to scatter Pieces of it all over Pennsylvania
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" as he thinks fitt, and then, from only calling himself the Lord " Baltimore's Tenant, may commit the greatest Irregularities on that " Spott, without being accountable to any other Authority than that " of his Lordship.
" But my Care to have my Sentiments clearly understood having " carried me to a greater length than I intended, I shall only take " the Liberty to state the Case between Pennsylvania and Maryland " as it appears to stand at present, and shall leave it to others to judge " which Government has acted the most Neighbourly part in Regard " to the other.
"Charles, Lord Baltimore, of his own Authority, about fifty years " since, thought fitt to sett a Northern Limit, to his own Province, " which for many years after was reputed the Boundary of Mary- " land, and no other has ever yet been made, that we know of, till " the late Agreement. Pennsylvania, to avoid differing with their " Neighbours, and in a continual Expectation of having the Bounds " Settled by the joint Agreement of both Proprietors, (tho' they " thought their Province broke in upon,) have constantly kept to the "Northward of those Bounds to this Day. Now a solemn Agree- " ment is concluded between the Proprietors, for dividing the two " Provinces by an East and West Line, which is expressed and " directed, and in such Plain and clear Terms that it is evident it " must run fifteen Miles more to the Southward than Philadelphia is " scituated ; while the Execution of this Agreement is in Agitation, " Pennsylvania, or some of its Magistrates, find it necessary for " Preservation of the Peace, to call some Persons who live, accord- "ing to common Computation, thirty Miles to the Northward of " the first Line run by Charles, Lord Baltimore, and several Miles " more Northerly than Philadelphia, to account for some great Mis- " demeanours ; Maryland at the same time, thinks fitt to extend its " civil Authority all those thirty Miles beyond its former ancient " Boundary, and twenty Miles beyond where they may well know " the Line last agreed on must fall, and so much at least beyond " what they have been known to possess or claim before. Now, " Sir, upon this State of the Case, if I have not mistaken it, I could " refer it to my Lord Baltimore himself who are the Aggressors, and "whether it be possible for his Lordshhip to believe that Lowe's " Affair could be set on foot on our Side, to obstruct the Execution " of an Agreement upon which, be that how it will, it can have no " influence. I am, " Sir, " Your most humble Servant, "P. GORDON."
Addressed thus : "To the Honble Samuel Ogle, Esqr. " Lieutenant Governor of Maryland." E.
February 23d. Before the two preceeding Letters were dispatched, an Express VOL. III .- 21
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from Maryland brought another Letter from the Lord Baltimore, bearing date the 15th instant, which being communicated to the Honourable the Proprietary, the Gentlemen of the Council, & to the Commissioners named on the part of this Province for executing the Agreement, to answer of this day's date was, on mature Considera- tion, returned to it.
His Lordship's Letter is as follows :
" Sir :
"I am sorry I am obliged to be troublesome to you on another " Affair, if possible of a more notorious nature than that which hath " been the Subject of our Letters, tho' you must give me leave to " observe it is the first instance in His Majesty's Plantations, when " Rioters and People levying War against any of His Subjects, have " been denyed to be delivered up to the Government in which the " Offence was committed, on proper application, and such I make " no doubt mine will appear to have been, in due time.
" I herewith send you the Proofs of the Riot & Levying War, com- " mitted in the County of Dorset, together with the Copy of a Letter " sent by the Justices of Kent County, not to enter into a long " Detail of a Fact so clear. I do demand the following Persons, " vizt : Robert Howard, James Monsey, Samuel Brook, John How- "ard, Arthur Steel, Robert Meredith, and one Mr. Chamney, may be " delivered up to the Sherif of Dorset County, to be dealt with ac- " cording to Law ; & I hope Mr. Gordon will favour me with a Cate- " gorical Answer, & as nothing is more acceptable to Our most " Gracious Sovereign, than that strict and Equal Justice should be " done to all his Subjects, you will not deem me tenacious if I ap- " pear critically nice in this point.
" My Arrival in this Province afforded me an opportunity of taking "more than ordinary Care that my Commissioners, in complyance " with the Method proposed between Messrs. Penn's & myself, should " be very punctual in meeting the Commissioners of Pennsylvania, "at Newcastle, the first of this instant, pursuant to the adjournment " jointly made by the Commissioners on both Sides, the third of " last November ; for this Purpose I thought fitt to Nominate a new " Commissioner, to supply the place of an infirm one, and for the " same reason my Commissioners, notwithstanding the unusual ex- " tremity of the Present Season, and the distance of place, were so " assiduous in their Journeys as for some of them to arrive at New- " castle many days, and all of them before the day appointed. This " Behaviour on our part, might justly challenge the same strict Ob- " servance from the Commissioners of Pennsylvania. And I should " still have depended on their unwillingness of being guilty of any " infraction, if on the sudden return of my Commissioners I had not " been informed, that the Commissioners of Pennsylvania so little "observed the Adjournment made by the Commissioners on both " sides, of their meeting, at ten a Clock on Saturday, the third instant, "in the morning, pursuant to their accustomed way of proceeding, " as that not only one of them left the place of meeting abruptly, at " the very instant my Commissioners desired to proceed on business,
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" of whereby there was not a sufficient Number present, but also that " the others, (tho' sent for, and repeated Declarations made by my " Commissioners of breaking up the Meeting for their Non Attend- " ance) seem'd willfully and obstinately to neglect attending that " morning, which ended the appointment made by the joint Commis- " sioners on Friday the second instant, in the afternoon. I forbear " to mention many other Circumstances, reported to me by my " Commissioners, and which too plainly shew'd a Design in the " Commissioners of Pennsylvania, to violate the Measures Entred "into in that particular. Was I Enclineable to make the strict use " of this failure, nay, voluntary one, on the side of the Pennsylvania " Commissioners, I might not only disregard all farther Notice, but " Entitle myself immediately to the Forfeiture incurred by the fail- " ure of the Commissioners of Pennsylvania. But I think myself " not a little fortunate, by my being in my Province at this juncture, " that I may have an Opportunity of doing in this Affair, what my " Commissioners perhaps could not reconcile to themselves the lib- "erty of, which is to recede in some measure of the advantage I " may claim from the proceeding of the Commissioners of Pennsylva. " Upon this Account I am Willing, and now offer, and have accord- "ingly given Directions to my Commissioners that they should meet " the Commissioners of Pennsylvania, on the first Monday in May " next, at the town of Joppa in Baltimore County, in the Province " of Maryland, But with this salvo of all the Right, Benefit, and ad- " vantage, I may Claim from the Non attendance or Failure of the " Pennsylvania Commissioners, on the third instant, in the morning, "according to the last Adjournment.
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