USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial records of Pennsylvania, Vol. IV > Part 14
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Clement Plumsted,
Thomas Griffitts,
} Esqrs.
Ralph Assheton,
The answer of the House of Representatives to the Message of this Board having been delivered to the President, was by him now laid before the Board, & being read is in these words :
" To the Honourable James Logan, Esqr., President, and others, the Members of the Council of the Province of Pennsylvania,
"The Answer of the Representatives of the Freemen of the said Province in General Assembly met, to the Message of the Council of the sixth Instant.
"May it please the President & Council :
" It will no doubt be always agreeable to the People of this Pro- vince in general that their Representatives should have the earliest Opportunity of meeting when, at any time, the preservation of the publick Peace & the Safety of its Inhabitants render their Delibera- tion & Concurrence necessary.
" The Papers communicated to us from your Board sufficiently demonstrate that Necessity on this extraordinary Emergency, And it gives us great Concern to find the Peace & Tranquility which so long subsisted amongst us frequently interrupted of late by the un- kind Proceedings & unhappy Disturbances set on foot & industri- ously promoted by our Neighbours of Maryland.
" The Duty, therefore, which we owe to the Crown, our hearty Desires for preserving the Reputation which this Government has long & justly acquired for the peaceable Disposition of its Propri- etaries & Inhabitants, & the faithfull discharge of the Trust reposed in us by those we represent, all concur to induce us to be of Opin- ion with you, that it is absolutely necessary, and we are ready & willing to unite our Endeavours with yours in all just Measures which are agreeable to our religious Principles, & which may be most likely to put an effectual Stop to these Violences, the continu- ance of which, as you well observe, might involve Numbers of the King's innocent Subjects in Confusion & Disorder, & render the Government obnoxious to His just Resentment, should they not contribute the utmost in their Power to prevent them.
"Signed by Order of the House, " A. HAMILTON, Speaker.
" Philadia, Dec. 8, 1736."
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The President also informed the Board that the Members of the House at delivering the aforegoing answer, said they had it in Charge from the House to acquaint the President & Council that the House had chose to express themselves in a general way, ex- pecting that if any particular Method were thought of it should arise from this Board, and that if it is judged proper that any thing should be drawn up in writing, the House would appoint a Com- mittee to joyn this Board, or such a Number of its Members as should be appointed for this Purpose.
While the Board were deliberating hereupon, a further Message was brought from the House by four Members, acquainting the Board that the House having again had under their Consideration the several Papers sent down from this Board, & finding thereby that the Government of Maryland had not shewn any real Dispo- sition on their part to enter into amicable measures for preventing further Differences between the two Governments, the House had therefore come to a Resolution that an humble Address should be prepared & transmitted to the King, praying His Royal Interposi- tion for putting a stop to these Disorders, and that the House had named a Committee to joyn such Members of this Board as should be thought proper, in order to proceed on the same.
The President acquainted the Members of the House that the Board had come to a like Resolution touching the Necessity of such an application to His Majesty, and he appointed to-morrow morning between nine & ten for the Committee to meet at his House, where some Members of Council would be ready to joyn them.
The Consideration of Governor Ogle's Letter and the Paper de- livered by Mr. Jennings & Mr. Dulany was then resumed, and a considerable time being spent thereon, some general Heads of an answer were agreed on, and the President is desired to prepare the same.
At a Council held at Philadia., December 10th, 1736.
PRESENT :
Honble JAMES LOGAN, Esqr., President.
Samuel Preston, Samuel Hasell,
Clement Plumsted, Thomas Griffitts, & Esquires. Ralph Assheton.
The Petition to His Majesty, prepared by a Committee of this Board & of the House of Representatives, being laid before the Board, was read & Ordered to be given to the Committee of the House, that the same may be reported there.
The President's Draught of an Answer to the Paper received from the Gentlemen of Maryland being then laid before the Board & considered, some amendments were made and a fair Copy ordered to be transcribed and brought in by the afternoon.
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EODEM DIE, P. M.
PRESENT :
The Honble the President, & the same Members as in the fore- noon.
The Draught of the answer as amended being brought in & ma- turely considered, the same was fully concluded & agreed on, and the President is desired to sign the same in behalf of this Board, which he did accordingly, and it is Ordered that the Secretary wait on the Gentlemen of Maryland & acquaint them that the Business of the Assembly having taken up a great part of the Time of this Board they had not been able to finish their answer sooner ; that it being now evening they would not give the Gentlemen the trouble of attending, but that to-morrow morning they might receive it from the President & Council. Which Answer is in these Words :
" To Edmund Jenings and Daniel Dulany, Esqr.
" Gentlemen :
" There is nothing you can propose to us consistent with Reason & Justice that may contribute to the establishing of a good Under- standing between the two Provinces of Pennsylvania & Maryland, wherein we should not readily & chearfully concur with you for obtaining so good an End, but we are perswaded you have not con- sidered the Nature and Consequences of what you now desire of us, or you have proposed it without any possible Expectation of our Complyance.
" It is that we should deliver up to the Officers in Maryland the Sherif of Lancaster county, with all those who assisted him in the late Action of apprehending Thomas Cressap, for that it was done (you say) in Baltimore County, in the Province of Maryland, and therefore they ought to be prosecuted in that Government, but it is well known that the government of Pennsylvania never acknow- ledged the Place of his Settlement to be in Maryland, for we are assured of the contrary, nor did any of your Lord Proprietors, as far as we can possibly learn, ever claim it till after his present Lord- ship, by a solemn Agreement, had fully & absolutely released to our Proprietors, not only all that part of the Country but many miles fur- ther to the Southward; Which Agreement, since the Expiration of the term named for carrying it into Execution, has not only been de- clared valid in the Opinion of divers of the ablest Counsel in England, but you are sensible that upon a hearing of the Lord Baltimore's Petition before the King in Council, on the Subject of his claims, it was by the allowance of that great Authority carried into Suit in the High Court of Chancery, the Supreme Tribunal for Original Causes, to be determined there, where it is now depending ; your Proposal therefore directly implying that while our Proprietors are in Prosecution of that Suit, this Government should as far as in us
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lies make void that Agreement; we are perswaded you will not sup- pose we could be guilty of so unaccountable a Procedure.
" As to the Action, we own it was violent, & such as this Gov- ernment never would encourage, but the Case was extremely singu- lar, and the Provocation & Incitement such as we presume have rarely, if ever, been known in an English Government before. A most inhumane scheme was laid in Maryland, of which we have incontestable Proofs, to throw out of their Dwellings, & expose to all the Rigours of a severe Winter Season, about threescore inno- cent Families, Women & Children, & bring Strangers who had not the least Claim of Right into the Possession of their Houses, Plan- tations, & Fruits of all their Labours, on no other Pretence or Charge against them, than that they had disowned the Jurisdiction of the Lord Baltimore; that is, that those poor ignorant Foreigners who had transported themselves from Germany into Pennsylvania, had here taken the Oaths of Allegiance to His Majesty, & engaged their Fidelity to our Proprietors, having been imposed on by Cres- sap & such Emissaries, to believe the River Sasquehannah was the Boundary between the two Provinces, & that the west side of that River was Maryland, on their passing over thither, & settling on that side, on the fair promises made them, acknowledged that Government, tho' 'tis affirmed they never had any Grant from it for the Lands they lived on; And then on their discovering their Error, & the Abuse put upon them, they had thought themselves obliged in Conscience to declare to the Government of Maryland the Sense they had of their Mistake, & to own their rightfull Pro- prietors. Whereupon an armed Force of about three hundred Men was sent up by your Governor in an Hostile Manner, with Beat of Drum & Sound of Trumpet, to awe those poor People into a Com- plyance with his Designs, & to terrify his Majesty's Subjects in that part of the Country. But this Expedition proving fruitless, the above-mentioned wicked Scheme was soon after concerted. And what a horrid Scene of Cruelty & Desolation must have ensued on that attempt to dispossess those People, who could not avoid resist- ing & defending themselves to the utmost against so barbarous an Invasion, may be easily conceived, & must truly raise a Horror in the Breast of every Man who has any Sense of Humanity, or but the least Regard to Justice, as it must have justly surprized our other Inhabitants of those parts, who being informed of this de- structive Scheme designed to be executed on Lands lying' even without the Limits that Maryland, were they to have their utmost Pretences, could lay any claim to, could not believe themselves se- cure in any Situation against other like Attempts, or the most un- just & cruel that could be contrived.
" Cressap, a Man raised, for the Savageness of his Temper & daring Resolution, from the lowest Infamy to bear Command, placed in those parts to take Possession of them for Maryland, and sup- ported by your Governor, from the time the Agreement was entred
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into, to act in direct Opposition to the express Terms of it, was the Person entrusted to conduct these Designs, & for this End he had very lately brought up the Bay, from Annapolis, a large Quantity of Arms & Ammunition. He was authorized & actually listed Men at twelve pounds per Annum for the Service, swore them to be true to himself, & to assist him in all such Enterprizes against the Pennsylvanians as he should undertake, had promised Rewards & the Protection of Maryland to some whom he had thus listed, for perpetrating the Murther of a Person living opposite to him on the east side of the River, & held himself ever ready for the Ex- ecution of every Design that could be formed there for disturbing the Inhabitants of Pennsylvania.
" It is therefore not to be admired, if the Sherif of Lancaster, having, by Warrants from the Provincial Judges, been oftentimes commanded to apprehend the said Cressap, on a Charge of Murther, was strongly urged by the threatned Inhabitants to take & secure him by any means in Order to bring him to Justice, and to prevent, in Time, the Execution of those execrable Designs. And thus the the said Sherif, in the lawfull Execution of his Duty, near twenty miles within his County, was by the violent Resistance of the Criminal an his Accomplices, & with a view only to avoid shedding of Blood, obliged to give way to measures in which, whatever may appear to have been illegally committed, he & his Assistants are to answer it to a proper Judicatory, before whom they may be called, but that this cannot be in Maryland, as we have fully shewn before. However, to take off from the Heinousness of your Representation, there is strong Evidence that the Person killed fell by a shot from Cressap's Party, & we find that the House that was burnt belong'd not to Cressap, tho' he lived in it by permission, but to an old In- habitant of Pennsylvania. Upon the whole it appears evident that Cressap & his Accomplices are in Reality accountable for the Blood that has been shed, and all the Evils that have happened in taking him, we cannot therefore be so far wanting in the Duty we owe to His Majesty, our Country, & an injured People, as to comply with your Demand, by ordering the Enlargement of so wicked, daring, & dangerous an Offender.
"In the mean time, unless the Government of Maryland will think fitt to enter into some effectual pacifick measures with us, which on our parts, as this Government always has done, we most earnestly desire, & we should be pleased to think that you, Gentle- men, had it in Charge from your Government to treat on the Sub- ject, to put a Stop to all these Violences, that His Majesty's Sub- jects may live in Peace, & enjoy their Share of that Tranquility & Security that His Majesty most gloriously employs his whole Care & Labours to procure to all His People; we cannot but think it the immediate incumbent Duty of this Government to represent & offer to His Princely Consideration the State of these his harrass'd
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& suffering Subjects, that of His inherent Clemency & Goodness He may be graciously pleased to interpose His Royal Authority.
" Signed in behalf of the Council, " JAMES LOGAN, President.
" Philadelphia, Decem". 10th, 1736.
At a Council held at Philadia., December 11th, 1736. PRESENT :
The Honble JAMES LOGAN, Esqr., President.
Samuel Preston,
Samuel Hasell,
Clement Plumsted,
Ralph Assheton,
Thomas Griffitts, Esquires.
The Secretary reported that not having found Mr. Jennings & Mr. Dulany at their Lodgings after the Council adjourned last night, he had not an Opportunity of delivering the Message he was charged with till this morning, and that these Gentlemen said they would not fail of waiting on the President & Council, and soon after attending they were introduced. The President acquainted them with the Cause of delaying the Answer of the Board longer than was intended, & expressing the good Inclinations of this Govern- ment for preserving His Majesty's Peace & maintaining a good Understanding with our Neighbours of Maryland, for attaining which goods Ends he hoped they were furnished with proper Powers to treat on the Subject with this Government. He delivered the said answer as concluded on at the former Meeting. Mr. Jenings received the same from the President, expressing the like real Incli- nations on the part of Maryland, but added that they had no In- structions to treat on any other Matters than those contained in their Governor's Letter and the Paper they had delivered. They then withdrew.
The proposed Amendments to the Petition to His Majesty being considered by the Board & agreed to, the Petition was re-delivered to the Committee of the House.
-
EODEM DIE, P. M.
PRESENT :
The Honble the President & the same Members as in the forenoon.
The Speaker of the House brought into Council the engrossed Petition to His Majesty, and acquainted the Board that the House had appointed a Committee for transmitting it to Mr. Paris, the Agent of the Province, to be by him laid before His Majesty;
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Which being again read, the President in behalf of the Board, by their Order signed the same, & it being afterwards signed by the Speaker, the Great Seal of the Province was thereunto affixed, and It is Ordered that the said Petition be delivered to the Committee of the House who have it in Charge, to transmit the same; Which is in these Words :
"The Petition of the President & Council and of the General Assembly of the Province of Pennsylvania,
"Most Humbly Sheweth :
"That the Provinces of Pennsylvania & Maryland lying contigu- ous, the northern Bounds of Maryland being the southern Bounds of Pennsylvania, tho' the Limits between them were never agreed on with any exact certainty before the year One thousand seven hundred & thirty-two, yet except in some few Instances on the part of Maryland, the People of either Province, in making their Settle- ments, scarce ever varied above a mile or two from the place which the old Lord Baltimore set to himself for the northern Bounds of his Province above Fifty years ago; but for the more effectual pre- venting any Misunderstanding between the Proprietors & People of the said two Provinces, it was in the year One thousand seven hun- dred & twenty-three-four, agreed between the present Lord Balti- more, Proprietor of Maryland, and Hannah Penn, Widow & Ex- ecutrix of William Penn, late Proprietor of Pennsylvania, deceased, That for the avoiding all manner of Contention or Differences be- tween the Inhabitants of the said Provinces, no Person or Persons should be disturbed or molested in their Possessions on either side, nor any Lands be surveyed, taken up, or granted, in either of the said Provinces near the Boundaries which had been claimed or pre- tended to on either side: Which agreement, tho' it was to continue eighteen Months only, yet it was deemed to be such a reasonable Expedient for preserving the Peace upon the Borders of the two Provinces, where they lay contiguous, that was carefully observed by the Government of Pennsylvania, as also generally by the Government of Maryland, until about the year One thousand seven hundred & thirty-two, when the Lord Baltimore and the Proprietors of Pennsylvania, at the special Instance of the said Lord Baltimore, solemnly entered into Articles of Agreement for dividing the Province of Maryland from the Province of Pennsylvania, and the three Counties of Newcastle, Kent, & Sussex, on Delaware, com- monly called the Territories of Pennsylvania, In which Articles it was provided that a certain Number of Commissioners should be nominated on each side for marking out & running the Lines agreed to be mark'd out and run as the Bounds between the two Provinces & Counties aforesaid, which Bounds were so particularly & expressly described and set down in the said Articles, that there seem'd no Doubt but the same would have been carried into Execution ac- cording to the Tenor, true Intent, and Meaning of the said agreemt.
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Yét so it is, May it please the King, That notwithstanding the Clearness of the said Articles, the Lord Baltimore & his Commis- sioners, by starting the most unreasonable Objections, evaded run- ning the Lines thereby agreed on for the Boundaries between the said Provinces; And at the same time the said Lord Baltimore and his Deputy Governor set up a Claim to the Lands lying on the west side of Sasquehannah River, near twenty miles further into the Province of Pennsylvania, than the Boundaries agreed on by the said Articles, and making use of one Thomas Cressap (a Person of mean Circumstances and infamous Character, who had taken Possession of a Piece of Land in Lancaster County, in the Province of Pennsylvania, formerly surveyed under the Proprie- taries of the said Province) to perswade some innocent German People lately come into Pennsylvania, who were ignorant of our Language & Constitution, to take Possession of those Lands, and acknowledge the Jurisdiction of the Lord Baltimore, assuring them at the same time of being free from Taxes, and that they should have Protection from the Government of Maryland. The said Cressap then proceeded with armed Force to seize & hurry to Prisons in Maryland several of our Inhabitants, who were seated upon Lands above twenty Miles within the Province of Pennsyl- vania, as well as from those Boundaries set by Charles Lord Balti- more above fifty years since, as from the Bounds agreed on by his present Lordship in the year One thousand seven hundred & thirty- two; and the better to carry on the Designs of Maryland, the Deputy Governor of the said Province vested the said Cressap with the Powers of a civil Magistrate, and dignified him with a military Commission, furnishing him with a large quantity of fire Arms and Ammunition ; Whereupon he became exceedingly insolent & oppres- sive to the peaceable Inhabitants of that part of the Country. To put a stop to which Proceedings, the Deputy Governor of Pennsyl- vania, with the Advice of his Council, sent Persons to the Deputy Governor of Maryland fully authorized to concert Measures for preserving Peace and good Neighborhood between the two Pro- vinces, by agreeing upon some Bounds to limit their Jurisdiction, without Prejudice to the Right of either of the Proprietors, until the Differences should be absolutely settled, either between them- selves or by due course of Law. But so far was the Deputy Governor of Maryland from entring into any such pacifick Mea- sures, that the People of Pennsylvania. then in Prison were pros- ecuted upon Informations preferred against them in the Courts of Maryland, as having intruded upon the Lord Baltimore's Lands, and (as they call it) against his Lordship's Peace, good rule, & Government, and heavy Fines laid on them on pretence that they would not own the Authority of the said Lord Baltimore; And a Surveyor, guarded by Cressap with a Number of armed Men, came up into the Heart of Lancaster County aforesaid, to survey Lands which had long before been surveyed, and some of them seated in
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Right of the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania. And the Lord Balti- more and his Deputy Governor still continuing not only to disre- gard all Propositions for avoiding these Differences, & endeavoring by all means to make void the said articles of agreement, our Pro- prietaries found themselves obliged, in the year One thousand seven hundred & thirty-five, to exhibit their Bill of Complaint in the High Court of Chancery of Great Britain, against the said Lord Baltimore, wherein they have set forth their Right to the Lands in Question between them and said Lord Baltimore, which he had in a solemn manner Released to them by the said Agreement made in the year One thousand seven hundred & thirty-two, And have prayed the Aid of that Honorable Court in compelling the Execution of the same ; And thereupon it was hoped that all further Differences concerning the Limits or Bounds of the said two Provinces would cease until that Controversy should be determined. But instead of paying Regard to the Authority of that high Court, the Deputy Governor of Maryland, after Notice of the suit commenced against Lord Baltimore, lest the deluded People shod thereupon see their Mistake, hastned up into Lancaster County aforesaid, and with Sound of Trumpet before him, rode amongst the Inhabitants to animate & fortifie them in their Adherence to the Lord Baltimore, & their Opposition to Pennsylvania; But finding that neither his own Endeavors nor those of the aforesaid Cressap, notwithstanding the Countenance given him, could prevent those Germans, who by false Suggestions had been prevailed on to own the Government of Maryland, from returning to their first Proprietors of Pennsylvania, the Deputy Governor of Maryland sent up in September last about three hundred Men in Arms, under proper officers, with Drums & Trumpets, to support the said Thomas Cressap and strike Terror into the Inhabitants of Pennsylvania, the only instance in America, we humbly presume, where one British Colony have taken upon them to levy War upon another. But when the Officers who com- manded those Forces from Maryland appeared not forward to com- mit Acts of Violence, such was the Inhumanity of the said Cres- sap, that he urged them with great Vehemence to Fire on some of the People of Pennsylvania who were going over the River in Boats to"enquire into the meaning of such an Armament in that part of the Country. But this Attempt was no sooner over than another Design was set on foot by Maryland to disposses those Germans ; a Number of Men were encouraged by the Deputy Gov- ernor of that Province to take Grants for those Lands, who, with an armed Force, were to throw the miserable People, with their Families, Women & Children, out of their Plantations, and from all the Fruits of their Labours, to be exposed without Shelter to the Rigours of the Winter Season, for no other Reason than that they could not in Conscience any longer own the Lord Baltimore for their Proprietor while they were seated on Lands that cannot possibly fall within the Limits of Maryland; and for effecting this
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cruel Purpose, the said Cressap was furnished by the Deputy Gov- ernor of Maryland, with about two hundred small Arms, & suitable ammunition. But tho' by a happy Providence their Project was discovered, some of the Heads, with others of the Confederates, being seized in Pennsylvania, who have made a full Confession of the whole Design, as projected by them with the Deputy Governor of Maryland, yet the said Cressap was authorized to list, & actually listed Men at the Rate of twelve pounds a year, with Diet and Lodging, swearing them to be faithfull to the Lord Baltimore, true to himself, and to go upon all such Enterprizes against the Pennsylva- nians as said Cressap should direct. He then breathd Rage & Fury, threatned Destruction, concerted with his People the Murther of some, & burning the Houses of others. The Inhabitants of Lancaster County could now think themselves no longer safe after such a Discovery, while the Person appointed to execute all these Designs was so strongly supported, so furiously annimated, & furnished with such means of distressing them. But as the Principles of the People who first settled the Province of Pennsylvania, and of those who at present have the Administration of the Government, are well known to be against all military Force, and being sensible that all military Attempts of one subject of the Crown of Great Britain upon another are unwarrantable, they therefore only granted legal Warrants to the Sherif of Lancaster County for apprehending the said Cressap, that he might, in a course of Justice, answer for the notorious Offences he had committed ; And the said Sherif, having for some time been possessed of a Warrant from the principal Judges for taking the said Cressap on a Charge of Murder, found by a Coroner's Inquest, the People being justly alarmed by so manifest a Prospect of their Danger, called upon the Sherif at all Events to execute his Warrant, in which they would assist him, for that they rather chose at all Hazards to attempt the taking that dangerous and barbarous Man, than to live continually exposed to his Violences. Accordingly, the Sherif, attended with a Number of the Inhabitants of the County (who consist mostly of German Protestants & other Europeans of the Communion of the Churches of England & Scotland, of late years arrived here), went over to Cressap's dwelling in the morning early, read at his Door, in his hearing & in the hearing of his Accomplices in the House, the Warrant he had to take him, re- quiring him to surrender himself, but was answered only with horrid Oaths & Imprecations, and the utmost Scurrility of Lan- guage, and soon after he fired on the Company, who also discharged some Shot at his House, but without Intention of doing any Hurt ; and thus they continued till near Sunsett, when the People, pro- voked by his Abuses & his frequent Firing, and finding no other Possibility of taking him alive, set fire to the House, which consisted of some round,' unhewn Timber Logs piled one on another, of not above the Value of five pounds Sterling, and to which he had no Right, having before Released his tortious Possession to one of our
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