USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial records of Pennsylvania, Vol. IV > Part 16
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" You are pleased to say we endeavour to throw the blame of all the Disturbances on the Borders of both Provinces on the Governor & Government of Maryland, & whether we have not reason for it will appear from the Letters that have passed between our late Gov- ernor & yours on these heads, which we have on this occasion been obliged to peruse; And as you have thought fitt for evincing the contrary to refer to one fact, 'which is that in the year 1734, when two Gentlemen were sent from hence to your Government to make some Proposals concern" the Inhabitants of both Provinces, such offers were made to them, and since repeated, as would (had this Government been pleased to have agreed to them) have effectually prevented all the Disturbances that have since happened, and pre- served that Peace & Friendship (you say) which ought to be culti- vated & subsist between Neighbors & fellow Subjects.' To set you right in that Point, We desire you would be referr'd to Governor Gordon's Letter of the fifteenth of May last, to Governor Ogle, of the copy of which, to save a long Repetition here, you may if you please have the Perusal, and your Governor himself undoubtedly has the Original, from whence it will evidently appear how very far short those Proposals were, besides that one of them was impracti- cable of answering in any measure those good Ends you mention.
" And now in answer to your Proposals, founded on your Asser- tion that Pennsylvania has no Cognizance of the Offences wherewith Cressap is charged, that they are triable only in Maryland, that the Sherif of Lancaster County and his Assistants, whom you term Forces, shall forthwith be apprehended & give Security, that they may be amenable to Justice when His Majesty shall be pleased to declare His Royal Will & Pleasure where they shall be tried ; and that Cressap, with the others imprisoned in this Province, may be bailed, We say that no Government can have a more perfect Con- fidence in His Majesty's Justice & Goodness than this of Pennsyl- vania. We know it to be His Royal Will, that all His Subjects be in their Lives, Liberties, & Properties, judged according to the known Laws of the Land ; and as we are as fully assured that the place where Cressap was apprehended is within the Province of Penn- sylvania, as that there is such a Province, we are equally certain that the Offences committed in that place are tryable in Pennsylva-
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nia and not in Maryland. But tho' from the most exact accounts we have received of the Proceedings of the Sherif, and of those who assisted him, the Resistance to His Majesty's lawfull Author- ity, & the violences offered to His Officers of Justice, may, as those skill'd in the Law assert, acquit them of the heinous Guilt where- with you charge them; yet you may be assured, that if it should appear to His Majesty that they have, in the Execution of their Duty, done anything unlawfull, and He should be pleased to direct a Prosecution of them, this Government, ever regardfull of His Royal Commands, will not fail to take the most effectual measures for obliging the Sherif and all others to appear & answer for what they may be charged with in a due Course of Justice.
"Nor can we apprehend that our proceeding against such notori- ous Offenders as Cressap and the others will be construed any want of Duty to Our Sovereign, for were this to be the Case it may at any time, while the Boundaries of the two Provinces lye undeter- mined, be easy for the Government of Maryland to put a Stop to the prosecution of Criminals by setting up a Claim to the Place where the Fact was committed.
" And since Cressap is now in Custody on a Charge of Murther, & thereby prevented of perpretrating those cruel & barbarous De- signs on the Inhabitants of this Province, wherein he was to bear so great a Part, we cannot believe we should ever be able to answer it to His Majesty, who expects, and indispensably requires, of all who are entrusted with the Powers of Government under him, a due Regard to the Preservation of His Peace & the Security of His Sub- jects, if we should allow of Cressap's Enlargement until he is dis- charged by due Course of Law.
"In the mean time, if your Governor will agree (and we are truly sorry that you, Gentlemen, are not vested with Powers for so good an End) upon some certain Boundaries to limit the Jurisdiction of the respective Provinces, without Prejudice to the Right of either Proprietor, until the whole Dispute shall be ended, or upon any other reasonable measures by which His Majesty's Subjects may enjoy Peace, and no longer be harrass'd in their Persons & Posses- sions, we shall chearfully & with the most sincere Zeal come into any Methods that can be proposed, consistent with the Laws & com- mon Justice, until we are so happy as to receive His Majesty's Plea- sure on the humble & dutifull Application which this Government have found themselves obliged to make for His Royal Interposition, that thereby a due Obedience may be enforced from all His Subjects to His sacred Authority and Commands.
" In behalf of the Council, " JAMES LOGAN, Presidt.
" Philadelphia, December 14th, 1736."
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At a Council held at Philadia., December 16th, 1736.
PRESENT :
The Honble JAMES LOGAN, Esqr., President.
Samuel Preston, Clement Plumstead,
Samuel Hasell,
Thomas Griffits, Esquires.
Thomas Laurence,
The Secretary reported that pursuant to the Order of the Board, he delivered, on the 14th instant, in the evening, to Mess". Jenings & Dulany, the Paper then signed in Council.
The President then acquainted the Board that these Gentlemen came this morning to him, & informing him that they were just setting out on their Return, delivered a Paper, which he now laid before the Board ; but previous to the Consideration of it, and lest these Gentlemen should leave the town quickly, a Draught of a Let- ter to the Lieut Governor of Maryland, to be sent by them, was first had under Deliberation & unanimously agreed to, which being tran- scribed, and in behalf of the Board signed by the President, was sent to these Gentlemen by the Secretary, who, returning, reported he had delivered the same to Mr. Dulany; and it is in these Words :
" Sir :
" We received on the 7th yours of the 1st Instant, by the hands of Mess's. Jenings & Dulany, desiring us to have Faith & Confidence in whatever those Gentlemen should request from, or propose to our Board, on the Subject of the late Action of the Sherif of Lancaster County & his Assistants in taking T. Cressap, and the Accidents that attended it. Accordingly we have received, considered, & an- swered what those Gentlemen have thought fitt to offer to us touch- ing that affair, All which having passed in writing between us, We request that, for the full knowledge thereof, you would be referred to the Papers.
" But as those Gentlemen have declared they have no Authority to treat any further with us, We take the freedom to apply directly to yourself, requesting you would be pleased to join with this Gov- ernment in some effectual measures, that all His Majesty's Subjects dwelling on or near the disputed Borders, who are equally Objects entituled to His unlimited Goodness & Care, may enjoy that Peace which He ever Studies to give to all His People, till such time as His Royal Pleasure can be known & His Orders be received for putting an End to all these unnatural Contentions, for which we have humbly applied, as probably you may think it proper to do the same ; And we shall in the mean time, on our part, very chearfully come into any reasonable Concessions that can be proposed for ob- taining so good an End. No People living being more sincerely
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desirous of establishing & maintain" a perfect good Understanding with our Neighbours than,
" Sir, " Your Friends, & humble Servants, " In behalf of the Council, "JAMES LOGAN, Presidt.
" Philadelphia, 16th Decem". 1736."
Addressed :
"To the Honble Samuel Ogle, Esqr., Governor of Maryland."
The Courts of Quarter Sessions and Common Pleas for the County of Bucks coming on this Week, the President informed the Board- that he had received an Application from several principal Gentle- men of that county, setting forth the Necessity of adding some pro- per Persons to the general Commission of the Peace, but the time not now permitting that the whole should be settled, the President proposed the Addition of Lawrence Growdon by a special Commis- sion, which the Board agreeing to, a Commission was issued to him accordingly.
The Paper delivered to the President was then read, & is as fol- lows :
" To the Honble James Logan, Esq"., the President, and the Coun- cil of Pennsylvania.
" May it please your Honours :
" Altho' we must own ourselves unhappy in not procuring from your Honours any Agreement to either of those Proposals we offered to your Honour's consideration, by our Reply of the twelfth instant, yet the great desire we have, not only as fellow subjects, but as Neighbours, that this Province, as well as our own, & every other of His Majesty's Dominions, should preserve an awful Defer- ence to the Royal Direction, & carefully avoid every Surmise of acting otherwise than the most dutiful Subjects, gives us great uneasiness that you seem resolved to deferr till his Majesty shall order a Prosecution, the apprehending those persons who, in your former Paper of the 10th instant, were acknowledged to have been guilty of so violent an Action that your Government would not Encourage it.
" Your Honours may indeed think this Declaration of your Will sufficient for the Government of Maryland, but perhaps His Majesty may think His Justice thus endeavoured to be deluded, by giving the Offenders an opportunity of Escaping; if this should prove the Case, This Government may perhaps be thought justly to deserve a Resentment from that Sovereign, whose Royal Commands seem now intended to be rendered ineffectual ; and this, your Resolution, must seem the more extraordinary, since it is taken at the very
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Juncture that this Government has found themselves obliged to make their Humble & Dutifull Application for the Royal Interposi- tion.
" We cannot presume to say what exact Account you have re- ceived of the Proceedings of the Sherif & those who assisted him (such Accounts being secrets to us), but we may venture to pro- nounce, that as the burning of a Man's House & the Death of a Man, even upon your own Representation, at that time were such violent Actions, which your Honours would not Encourage, so we should never have imagined any Persons who asserted that all the Circumstances mentioned in your Honours' Paper of the 10th instant, could acquit them of the heinous Guilt wherewith we charge them (which is more than one capital Crime) were really skilled in the Law (of England we mean) if your Honours had not assured us of it ; But we have the Satisfaction that superior Under- standings & Judges will determine the Soundness of that Doctrine.
" We observe that your Honours, from a due Regard to the pres- ervation of His Majesty's Peace & Subjects, will not consent to the Enlargement of Cressap upon Bail, & yet we find the same Motives are not sufficient to prevail with your Honours to apprehend Per- sons guilty of those violent Actions which yourselves cannot En- courage; one Man is kept in Prison, without being admitted to Bail, upon a Charge which this Government has acknowledged jus- tifiable in his own Defence, yet others who have been Guilty of a violent Action which this Government pretends not to Encourage, are suffered to be at large as if they had done no Crime.
" We need only state this Proceeding in order to have that Notice & Justice which we rely on from His Most Gracious Majesty.
"You are pleased to mention that this Government obliged the Germans only to Enter into an Engagement of Fidelity to your Proprietors ; we apprehend the Allegience they Swear to Our Sov- ereign cannot need the force of an Engagement to your Proprietors to prevent their Desertion to the French, and therefore we are at a Loss to comprehend why the Germans are distinguished from all other Nations by the remarkable distrust your Governuent has of their Fidelity.
" EDM. JENINGS, " D. DULANY.
" Philadelphia, 15th Decem". 1736.
" May it please your Honours :
"When we prused the Paper we received from your Honours of the 14th instant, & had finished the above Answer to the same, we could not find that you objected to the taking Bail for any of the unhappy Persons who were taken by the Sherif of Lancaster, Mr. Smout & their Forces, & are confined in your Goals, Except Mr. Cressap; whence we concluded that nothing was wanting but Bail
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to procure the Enlargement of these poor Men; And when we had the honour of waiting on the President yesterday morning, he was pleased to let us know his Sentiments to be agreeable to Ours, and to acquaint us that upon giving Bail these Persons would be forth- with Discharged. Upon this we procured such Bail as we appre- hended could not have been objected to, and after what is herein related, we could not but be very greatly surprized to be told by his Honour, the President, there were some objections started to the admitting them on Bail, And that no Bail would be taken at present for those unfortunate Men (or to that purpose) who may suffer by an Imprisonment & want of Necessarys, a Death more painfull & grievous than that they escaped from the Flames. This is such a Procedure as we believe has few Examples, And how consistent it is with good Faith and the frequent Professions the Government of Pennsylvania has made of its Inclinations to pre- serve Peace amongst all His Majesty's Subjects, will be considered in a proper place.
"EDM. JENINGS, "D. DULANY."
And the same is continued under Consideration ..
At a Council held at Philadia., December 17th, 1736. PRESENT :
The Honble JAMES LOGAN, Esqr., President. Samuel Preston, Ralph Assheton, 1
Clement Plumsted,
Thomas Griffitts, Esqrs.
Thomas Laurence,
The Minutes of Council since the twenty-ninth Ultº being read at the Board and approved,
The Consideration of the last Paper delivered to the President by Messrs. Jenings & Dulany was resumed, and a Question arising whether it ought to be answered or not, some being of Opinion that it ought rather to be disregarded, & others thinking it necessary that the unmannerly & malicious Reflections in it should receive a proper Answer, a Majority of the Board were for answering it; whereupon a Draught, prepared by the President, being laid before the Board, was read, & some Amendments being proposed it is re- ferred for farther Consideration.
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At a Council held at Philadia., December 20th, 1736.
PRESENT :
The Honble JAMES LOGAN, Esqr., President. Samuel Preston, Thomas Laurence; - Esqrs.
Clement Plumsted, Thomas Griffitts,
The President acquainted the Board that upon more mature advisement he could not be of the Opinion that it would be proper for them to Answer the last Paper delivered by Mess" Jenings & Dulany, by sending anything in writing addressed to them, who have executed their Commission and are now gone from hence; but that whatever of the kind is concluded on ought rather to be repre- sented to the Governor of Maryland himself; and the President supporting his Opinion by some Reasons, the Board came into the like Sentiments. The President then delivering a Paper in vindi- cation of his Conduct, so grosly misrepresented by the Commis- sioners of Maryland, the same was read & Ordered to be entered on the Minutes of this Board in these words :
"To the Council of Pennsylvania.
" Gentlemen :
" As the supplemental Part of the last Paper, delivered to me by the Commissioners of Maryland on the 16th instant, now before the Board, contains a very abusive & heinous Reflection on my self as well as the whole Government, I conceive it incumbent on me to do Justice to my own Character thus indecently attacked, and to satisfy this Board in the Particulars that have given Rise to the Aspersion, by representing the real Matters of Fact, which will at once shew the Dishonourableness of the Attempt in those Gentle- men, & the particular Injustice of it towards my self.
"The Board are sensible the Letter of Credence brought by those Commissioners from their Governor, & all the Papers they de- livered were directed to the President and Council of Pennsylva & they were told and very well knew that the Administration of the Government, on the Decease of our late Governor, by our Constitu- tion devolved, not on a President, as is usual in other places, but on the Council, that is a President & a certain Number with him making a Quorum. Accordingly they delivered their first Paper to the Board sitting, & in the same manner received their first An- swer; but some time after they thought fitt to make several verbal Applications to the President alone, & particularly two Requests, the first on the 14th instant, that Cressap might be eased of his Irons, in which Point tho' I expressed my Willingness to gratify them, yet I then promised nothing further than that I would en- quire & see what might be done in it, & sending that evening for the Prison Keeper, after some Assurances from him that he could
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answer for his safe keeping without Irons, I ordered them to be taken off, & in this the Gentlemen had all the favour they craved.
"The next day about ten in the morning, they applied again with their second Request, that the other three Prisoners in Philadia. Goal might be admitted to Bail; in this also I shewed the like Incli- nations, and after some Discourse of the manner of doing it, told them they must apply to one of the Judges. The Gentlemen said, that in their Province, and in Virginia, such Bail was sometimes taken by the Governor, hinting, as I understood them, that I might do it my self; but I answered that I would by no means meddle with it, upon which they concluded to apply to Judge Grame in the afternoon, desiring me that I would speak to him on the Subject, which I said I would, or words to that Effect; but I do affirm that I never promised the Men should be bailed. I indeed shew'd my own Inclinations, but left the matter wholly to the Judge, who I expected would proceed on the Occasion agreeable to Law, which alone was to be his Direction.
" About one in the afternoon, the Judge with three other Gentle- men whom I had invited to bear the Commissioners of Maryland Company, came to my House, and by the Discourse they immedi- ately fell into, it appeared the Judge had by some Means heard of the proposal to bail the Men, upon which he said, that on considering the Commitments he did not see that it could be done legally. The Matter was spoke to a little, & the Judge continued of the same Sentiments. The Gentlemen of Maryland joyning the Company, they all staid till near night; and then rising, I took Edmund Jen- ings aside and told him that there were Objections made to what they had proposed in the morning about Bail ; that I perceived by the Judge at his first coming in he had been spoke to about it, and that he was of opinion it could not be legally done. Edmund Jen- ings expressed some Concern at this, but added, it signified the less (or to that effect), for that to speak the Truth they found it very difficult to procure Bail. And our Conversation having continued amicably for a small time on that & the like Heads, we parted very friendly.
"But next morning, on the same subject, the Gentlemen coming in upon me, and forgetting all Rules of Decency, without any Provo- cation whatsoever more than has been mentioned, which was a con- tinued Series of Behaviour & Actions as far as it lay in my Power to make them easy, they attacked me with a Warmth & Behaviour which, as it was only to my self, I shall avoid speaking of it in the manner it deserves ; but their opprobrious Reflections in the several Companies they came into afterwards during the few Hours they staid in Town, with that heinous Charge in their Paper against the whole Government, from such an occasion is what I presume no Gentlemen whatever as such will pretend to account for ; & indeed it is a melancholy Reflection that whatever personal Characters Men VOL IV .- 10.
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of Worth may be entituled to, yet when employed in the Affairs of Maryland in relation to this Province, they appear to be entirely laid aside (the Practice of which began in the Winter, 1732), and it becomes scarce safe to trust one's self alone with them on those Points.
"Thus much I have thought necessary to say for the Information of this Board, and in my own Vindication from the unmerited Abuses bestowed upon me in return for the favor shewed in one Point, and the Inclinations I expressed to gratify those Gentlemen in the other, provided it could be done in a legal Method.
" JAMES LOGAN.
" Philadelphia, December 18th, 1736."
From which Paper, & the Draught laid before the Board at the preceeding Council, a Letter to Governor Ogle being drawn up and read, the same is approved; and it is Ordered that the President sign and transmitt it by the first Opportunity; which letter is as follows :
" Sir-
" After we had dispatched to you our Letter of the 16th instant, our President laid before our Board a Paper he had just received before from your Commissioners, Mr. Jenings & Mr. Dulany, the last or supplemental part whereof carries such an henious & abusive Reflection upon this Government, that we should be highly wanting to ourselves if we did not show the Injustice of the attempt.
" Those Gentlemen have thought fitt to charge our President with promising that Cressap's Accomplices should be bailed, and not per- forming it. With respect to which he assures us that tho' he ex- pressed to them his Inclinations for admitting them to bail, he at the same time referred them to the Judges as the proper Persons to be applied to upon that Occasion. And of the Truth of this we cannot doubt, not only because of the well-known Veracity of that Gentleman, but likewise that a President by our Constitution has no sole or separate Powers from the Council. He, therefore, could only shew his willingness to do any act of Favor to the Govern- ment of Maryland that should be consistent with Law and Justice, and in Requital he has been most unkindly loaded with abuses. But it is not difficult to see thro' the whole of this Clamor; for if those Gentlemen by their influence could have prevailed upon the President, or President & Council, or upon any Person in Authority, no matter whom, to admitt those Criminals to Bail, who they well knew were not Bailable, we should then have been the Object of their Mirth for our Weakness as we are now of their Resentment for not giving blindly into their Measures, and this, without Breach of Charity, we may presume to be the case. Why else was it that your Commissioners, when they found themselves disappointed in receiving that Favour of the President which they say they ex-
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pected, did not purchase their Writts of Hebeas Corpus which they well knew could not be denied, & upon their Return they would then have had an Opportunity of shewing if they could that by law those Men were baileable ? But if the legal means have been left unattempted for the Relief of the Persons, it cannot with any Col- our of Justice be laid to the Charge of this Government, and those Gentlemen to whose Care that Affair was committed are left to account in the best manner they think fitt for their Conduct in that particular.
" Thus much we have thought ourselves obliged to say on this subject; which gives us further Reason to lament, that instead of experiencing any kind Disposition towards the Re-Establishment of a good Agreement between the two Provinces, every Occasion of widening these present Misunderstandings seems on the part of your Government to be industriously sought for. We must, there- fore, beseech you to give Attention to our last Letter, that if possi- ble some means may be found by which neither we nor any of His Majesty's Subjects may be further engaged in such unnecessary and unnatural Contentions. We are,
" ST., "Your Friends & humble servants,
"Signed by Order & in behalf of the Council of Pennsylvania, " JAMES LOGAN.
"Philadia., December 20th, 1736."
Addressed,
" For His Majesty's service.
" To the Honble Samuel Ogle, Esqr. " Governor of Maryland."
At a Council held at Philadia., December 29th, 1736.
PRESENT :
The Honble JAMES LOGAN, Esqr., President.
Samuel Preston,
Clement Plumsted, Thomas Griffitts.
Samuel Hasell, - Esqrs.
Thomas Laurence,
The Minutes of the two proceeding Councils being read and approved,
The President laid before the Board a Letter he received last. night by Express from Samuel Blunston, which being read sets forth that Charles Higginbotham, one of those concerned with Munday & Leet, having fled into Maryland, and being appointed by the Governor of that Province, as is reported, a Captain of their Militia and a Justice of the Peace, was come up into those parts on Sas-
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