USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial records of Pennsylvania, Vol. IV > Part 46
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" Brother Thomas Penn & Governor, We have brought you 160 good Buck Skins, & not one Doe Skin among them. Brethren, I have said a great Deal ; I am now grown Old, so that I could hardly come down to you for want of a Horse, and I have been sometimes obliged to borrow one."
Then Chicalamy spoke thus :
" Brethren-
" On behalf of the five Nations I speak.
" The Chiefs of the five Nations some few years ago had a Treaty with you in this Town, and amongst other Things it was agreed that in case any Thing of Moment happened to either of Us, we should communicate it to the Others. We have heard that great Prepara- tions for Warr are making by the Great King of England, but we wonder that we have heard nothing of it from You. We, there- fore, desire to know the whole truth of the Matter, whether it be so or no, and against what Power preparations are making, if there be any, That we may know how to Conduct our selves on your Behalf."
Then he laid down a String of Wampum.
The Governor then directed the Interpretors to acquaint the In- dians that they should have Notice when both should receive An- swers to their Speeches.
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Åt a Council held at Philadelphia, August. 2d, 1740.
PRESENT :
The Honble GEORGE THOMAS, Esqr., Lieu Governor.
Samuel Preston, Thomas Laurence,
Ralph Assheton,
Samuel Hasel, Esqrs.
Thomas Griffitts,
The Minutes of Yesterday's Council with the Indians being read & approved, on Consideration of a Proper Present to be made to the Indians,
Resolved, That a Present be made them of the Value of one hun- dred and fifty Pounds, And that Thomas Laurence, Esqr., and Mr. Edward Shippen, be desired to Assist the Treasurer in sorting and apportioning the Goods to that Value. Then was read a Message which the Governor had sent to the Assembly in these Words : " Gentlemen :
"Some Indian Chiefs being come to Town to transact Affairs re- lating to this Government, and having brought with them a con- siderable Present of Skins, I desire you will order such Sums of Money for their Accommodation, &c., as may be necessary & has been usual."
To which the Governor acquainted the Board he had received a verbal Answer from the Assembly, signifying their Complyance with his desire exprest in the said Message.
Then was read a Message from the 'Assembly of the 31st of July last, in these Words, vizt .:
"May it please the Governor --
" We have often had occasion to acquaint the Governor that the greater Number of the present Assembly are of the people called Quakers, principled against bearing of Arms or applying Money to any such purposes. Desirous, however, to demonstrate our Obe- dience to our present Sovereign King George, by yielding a ready and cheerful Complyance in the Matters recommended to Us, so far as our Religious perswasions would permit, and willing to give ample Testimony of the Loyalty & sincere Affections of his loving Subjects within this province, We determined at our last Meeting that a Sum of Money should be raised for the Use of the Crown, exceeding in proportion, as we think, what is given in some neigh- bouring Colonies. Several Difficulties occurred to Us whilst that matter was under our Consideration-the Publick Accounts were then unsettled, and it was unknown what money remained in the Treasury. We observed, also, great Numbers of bought Servants belonging to the Inhabitants of this Province, encouraged to that purpose, had inlisted in the King's Service and were detained from their Masters, to their great Loss and to the injury of the Publick, which we thought called loudly upon us to endeavour to redress.
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These and other Considerations took up so much of our Time that our Harvest was full ripe-the Officers were inlisting our Servants in great Numbers in the Country, and Labour in this young Colony, excepting what is performed by these Servants, difficult to be ob- tained. The necessity of attending the Harvest, and our Speaker's Engagements to be absent at that Time in the Proprietary Affairs, determined us to adjourn to the eighteenth Day of next Month, by which Time we expected the publick Accounts would be settled and the circumstances of the Treasury better known. We were the rather induced to this because the Governor seem'd to represent our Treasury full, & our abilities of giving great, Whereas we had & still have different Sentiments: For if it be considered that great Charges have arisen on the paper Money by the Annual Payments given to the Proprietor for obtaining the said Act, and for printing, signing, & providing Materials to that end, and that considerable Sums are drawn out for finishing & enclosing the State House, and the yearly Expences of Government, the Exchanging of old Money for new, and other Debts due from the Province, it will take up so much of the Public Money as we apprehend will leave the Treasury in a much worse State than the Governor has represented it.
"Our Affairs being thus Circumstanced, we think our selves hardly used in having a small recess, which we thought and yet think could not be attended with any great inconvenience, so se- verely censured by the Governor in the Writts by which we are now called together as having adjourned our selves, to the great Prejudice of his Majestie's Service, notwithstanding the Governor's pressing instances to the contrary.
" To shew a becoming Zeal in executing the Commands of the Crown is laudable, and will no doubt meet with a proper Acceptance from thence; but whilst the Governor is pleased to assume so much to himself, it seems hard not to allow us any, when in Matters wherein our Consciences are not concerned we could as chearfully give Demonstration of it as any of our fellow Subjects.
"The Obstacles we formerly met with are not as yet lessened, but increase, so as to render it a Duty we think indispensably ne- cessary to apply for Relief. The Governor is pleased to let us know that the Troops inlisted in the King's Service are not so Numerous as might be expected from a Country so populous, although seven Companies are already compleated; But by what Rules this Estimate is made we are very much at a loss to determine. Were we to form any Judgment from the whole Number expected, and the Abilities of the Inhabitants of this Province compared with others on the Continent, we should think three of the seven Com- panies a full Proportion, and if we are rightly informed are as many if not more than was expected from this Government, exclusive of the Territories. Besides, from the best Accounts we have hitherto gained of the seven Companies which have been raised within this
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Government, there are several hundred of bought Servants whose Masters, if they are detained from them, must totally lose their Service, and the Publick the benefit of their Labour, a calamity we perswade our selves the Crown never intended should befall any of its Dominions.
"The Governor indeed has been pleased to tell Us, Had our Zeal been seasonably exerted he doubted not a Great Number of Free- men might have been found here, &c., and that it was not then probable a Number of Men should be raised in Time & without re- ceiving Servants, unless a sufficient bounty was immediately given, &c.
"But had the Governor been pleased to recollect what had hap- pened in this Province, it must be known to him that Servants were incouraged to List, and that the Names of those who Inlisted were directed to be concealed, which Concealment and the severe Treat- ment those Masters who applied for their Servants received from the Persons appointed to take the Names of such as should apply to inlist themselves, gave the Servants an Opportunity of escaping from their Masters and the King's Service, which many of them did to the entire Loss of their Masters before the Assembly had any oppertunity of giving a Bounty to Freemen, had they been so dis- posed.
"The King and Parliament of Great Britain seem desirous to encourage the Importation of white Servants in the Colonies of America rather than Negroes, and have from Time to Time made Acts which seem to be directed to this end; but if the Property of the Master is so precarious as to depend on the Will of his Servant and the Pleasure of an Officer, it cannot but be expected there will be fewer purchasers for the future, and that Trade consequently much discouraged. Besides, the Masters of these Servants have reason to think their Properties unjustly invaded, and it will not be easy to shew that any Goods in which they have the most abso- lute Property may not with equal reason be taken from them as their Servants.
" The Applications we have had by Petitions from the Masters, and our own Observations of the Difficulties many of them undergo, render them objects worthy of Relief; And we, therefore, earnestly request the Governor, on their Behalf, that he would give directions to discharge and deliver those Servants already inlisted within this Province to their Masters, and that none may be inlisted for the Future.
" It must afford but a very melancholy Prospect to discover the Farmer & Tradesman, whose Subsistence & the Subsistence of their Families very much depend on the Labour of their Servants, purchased, perhaps, at the Expence of most they were worth, de- prived of that Assistance and put under the greatest difficulties- the former to secure what he has already sown, and to cultivate &
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to sow what is absolutely necessary to subsist on another Year, and the latter to carry on his Trade & Business-all owing to the Caprice of the Servant & Will of an Officer, under Pretence of serving the Crown, when hardly any greater disservice could be done it. The regard our King has ever shewn to the Liberties & Properties of his Subjects in every Part of his Dominions sufficiently demonstrate to Us that no thought so injurious ever entered his Royal Breast; and the Grievance is now become so great and so general, that we conceive it would be inconsistent with that Duty We owe to the Crown and the Trust reposed in Us by our Country, should we give any Money without first seeking for redress."
The Governor then laid before the Board a Message he had pre- pared to be sent to the House of Assembly, in answer to their fore- said Message, which was read at the Board and approved, and when Engrossed, Ordered, that the Secretary carry the same to the House of Assembly; which Message is as follows, Vizt .:
" Gentlemen :
"In answer to your Message of the 31st of last Month, I recom- end to you a Review of your Proceedings at your Last Meeting. But lest his Majestie's Service should suffer by any neglect of mine, and as Interest & prejudice may blind some amongst You who have otherwise good Intentions, it may be necessary for me to make some observations upon them, as well as upon your last Message.
"In my Speech of the 2d of July last, I recommended to you to give a Bounty, as was done in some other Governments, to encour- age Freemen to inlist, and expressed my apprehensions that unless such Bounty were given a Number of Men, sufficient to answer his Majestie's Expectations from a Province so Populous, would not be raised without receiving Servants.
" In your Address to me of the 7th of July, you tell me that you cannot chearfully accede to the Measures recomended from thence, that is (from what goes before), from the Crown & Govern- ment of your Mother Country; And then you say, That you can- not preserve good Consciences & come into the Levying of Money and appropriating it to the Uses recommended to you in my Speech, because it is repugnant to the Religious Principles professed by the greater Number of the present Assembly, who are of the People called Quakers. But you made no Answer to what I said concern- ing Servants.
"This I looked upon as a Positive Refusal to comply with his Majestie's Eighth Instruction. But as the latter part carried an insinuation that I had recommended something different from that Instruction, to cut off all Pretence for differing with me I recom- mended to you a Complyance with that Instruction in his Majes- tie's own Words.
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"On the 9th, I Informed you that a Considerable number of Men were inlisted, and that the Levies would be compleated in a reasonable Time unless you discouraged them by delaying the necessary Supplies, and I then recommended a speedy Provision for them. To this Message you never vouchsafed to give me any Answer, so far were you from Complaining of the inlisting of Ser- vants at that Time.
" On the 11th, you sent me the Resolution of your House to be be delivered verbally by two of your Members; but as it related to a Matter so strongly recommended by his Majesty, I desired that the Members would return to the House and bring it in Writing, for fear of Mistakes either through the Defect of their Memories or my own. And upon their Return they did deliver it in Writing, acquainting me That the House had made a Considerable Progress in a Bill for Raising of Money for the Use of the Crown, but it being Harvest Time it would be injurious to the Country Members to stay the Completion it; That there was a Rumour about the Town of the Probability of a Peace between Great Britain and Spain ; and for these Reasons you adjourned, notwithstanding my Instances to the contrary.
" In this Resolution you were so far from making Complaints of the King's Officers having received Servants who had voluntarily inlisted themselves, that you say You had made considerable Pro- gress in a Bill for Raising Money for the Use of the Crown. But to shew how little you were in earnest in that Bill, you adjourned to the 18th of August upon the Rumour of a Probability of Peace (which no Man heard any Thing of but your selves), to go home to your Harvest, Notwithstanding his Grace the Duke of Newcastle, in his letter of the 5th of April, which was laid before your House & read, there says that Col. Spotswood will receive his Majesty's Directions to Sail with such a Number of the Troops as he can get. together, so as to be at the place appointed for the General Rendez- vous by the Latter end of August.
" Col. Gooch having since that adjournment pressed me earnestly to provide Transports & Provisions for the Troops, so as that they may be at 'the Capes of Virginia by the Middle of September, I called you by Writ to meet me the 28th of July. As you now find that the Time presses, & that you are obliged to come to the Point to avoid complying with his Majestie's Instructions, the Bill for Raising of Money for the use of the Crown is vanished, and instead of it a Message is sent to me demanding a discharge of all such Servants as have voluntarily inlisted themselves, before you will raise any Money for his Majestie's Service.
"In Answer to this new Demand, I say that my Warrants to the Officers to inlist Men were General, and pursuant to the King's Orders ; and the Officers inform me That they did not receive any Servants till they met them travelling upon the Road to New York
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to inlist there, and were well informed that many had gone thither before.
" That to all that have applied to me for a discharge for their Servants I have given Notes directed to the Officers desiring them to discharge such Servants, if they can be perswaded to return to their Masters, and it can be done consistent with the Service; and as many have from thence been discharged here, so the discharge of some has been procured by me from other Governments.
" That I shall continue this method, that the King's Service and the Interests of the Masters of Servants may go hand in hand, and I doubt not before the Troops imbark most people will be better satisfied than if the Officers had denied to receive them, as they would have run away and inlisted themselves in other Governments on Account of the Bounty given or better provision made there for them. But as to discharging them all at once it will be injurious to the King's Service, and, if I may judge from what has happened allready, breed such a Mutiny as will not be easy for me to quell, since, upon Capt. Thinn's returning some Servants back to their Masters, Freemen as well as Servants laid down their Arms, and de- clared that they would go into other Governments where the King's Soldiers were better used, & were about immediately to disband had not the Captain's Temper & Presence of Mind found a way to sat- isfy them.
"That I shall not take upon me to determine whether a Person indented for a Term of Years may inlist himself in the King's Ser- vice, tho' I have the Opinions of many able Lawyers upon it, & most of them give it for the Affirmative with greater Strength of Reason & Law in my Judgement than those that hold the Negative, The Case of Felons transported by Act of Parliament differs much from Apprentices & Servants. However, should any Man think himself aggrieved, I refer him to his remedy at Law against the Offi- cer, and I shall by no means discourage the recovery of his Right if it be so. I shall be very Cautious, however, of forcing such out of the Service as insist upon serving his Majesty in this Expidition, lest I should by so doing betray his Magistic's Right to the Service of such as voluntarily offer themselves for that purpose.
"It must appear very Extraordinary That the King's Affairs should be postponed till you can find Leisure from your Private Affairs to settle the Public Accounts, or that the Officers receiving some Servants into the King's Service should be thought a suffi- cient reason for refusing what his Majesty so justly expects from a people who have as yet born no part of the Burthen of a Warr un- dertaken for the preservation of their Property, when the Subjects in Britain chearfully pay very heavy Taxes.
" I shall be under no difficulty, allowing all the Articles of A.c- count mentioned by you against the Publick, to make it appear that the Ballance due and to become due in a few Months will Amount
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to what I have said; But I cannot help observing that what you say of the Payment to be made, the Proprietors were so far from being given for obtaining the Paper-Money Act (as you at best mistakenly call it), that it was a low Composition for the Quit-Rents due to them instead of Sterling Money, And by which I made it appear at that Time, beyond Contradiction, they lost several hundred Pounds to gratify the unjust & unreasonable Clamours of some who were not honest enough to perform their Contracts.
"If you can shew me that you have contributed in the Minutest Particle to the Execution of His Majestie's Orders, tho' so press- ingly and affectionately recommended to you by his Majesty, or how one Man could have been raised in Time for this Expedition by any Encouragement given by You, I will readily acknowledge & Publish to the World the Share of Merit due to you.
"If his Majestie's Instructions declaring that he does not fix any Quota of Men, and his Grace the Duke of Newcastle's Letter sig- nifying his Majestie's Pleasure that I am to raise as many Men as I possibly can, notwithstanding the proportion of Arms carryed by Col. Blankeney, are not of equal Authority with any Information you pretend to have received, I confess myself incapable of satis- fying you ; But from your whole Conduct there appears good reason to conclude, That to save your Money You would have been pleased that not even one Company had been raised here.
" Altho' your Principles will not allow you to raise Men, or even it seems to support them when raised, you are ready enough to cen- sure the Conduct of others who have been more Zealous in the Exe- cution of his Majestie's Commands. When you want an Addition of Paper-Money Your Province is represented as very Populous and your Trade very Great ; But when you are called upon for Men or Money your Numbers and your Abilities are very much Dimin- ished. I have seen and informed myself of much of this Conti- nent, and I can venture from thence to Affirm, that next to New England this Province is the most Populous and the best able to spare a Sum of Money for carrying on this Glorious Undertaking- New York and other Governments having been at a very Great Ex- pence in Building Forts & maintaining their Frontiers.
" As it makes for your Purpose, you have greatly aggravated the number of Servants inlisted by calling them several hundreds ; but if you will give a Bounty even now to such Freeman as have in- listed and shall be willing to inlist, the number of Servants may be so lessened as not to give much Occasion for Complaint, many of them, as I have been informed, having but few Months to serve, and the Masters are willing they should inlist, as they from thence will save the Freedom Dues which they by Act of Assembly are obliged to give when Servants are out of their Times. The officers assure me they will not inlist any that they know or can be informed are Servants.
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" The Names of such as should be willing to enter them were by my Order, with Consent of Council, directed to be kept secret for justifiable Reasons, & among others to prevent their being arrested & confined for trifling Sums which they might raise by their Labor before the King should call for their Service; and Servants were so far from having it in their Power from thence to escape, not hav- ing received the King's Money or taken the Oath required by Act of Parliament, that their Masters generally were the more watch- ful of them ; and Publications were affixed in the most Public Places by me, declaring That the Obligations between Master & Ser- vant were not disolved, ordering them at the same Time to return to their Masters, & exhorting the Magistrates to put the Laws in Execution. If the Persons appointed to take the Names of such who should offer themselves for the Service treated the Masters of Servants severely, they were to blame. But I defie you to give an instance of it, tho' Instances can be given of Masters having shewn very little regard to a Name of the highest Dignity:
" Acts of Parliament are in force in England for Transporting Felons to the Colonies, but to Use an Expression of the Lords for Trade & Plantation, your Acts have militated even against those Acts of British Parliament, and do so at this Time, your last Act not being yet repealed, tho' objected to at that Board; So that what you make use of now as a Plea against the King's Right to the Service of his Subjects, you have always heretofore opposed by pro- hibiting the Importation of Felons, and therefore you cannot be supposed to have any such now under Indentures.
" If Masters were paid the Value of their Servants, as I am in- formed was done by a former Assembly for those inlisted in the Canada Expedition, such as have any regard for their Mother Coun- try would be easy. The Assembly of that Time raised Two thou- sand Pounds besides, for carrying on that Expedition, by a heavy Tax on the People, whereas at this Time your Interest Money will do that and all that is expected without any Tax.
I should be glad you would shew your Duty to his Majesty, and your Gratitude for the Powers & Privileges those of your Society enjoy here more than in any other part of his Majestie's Dominions, by Actions as well as Words. If your Principles are inconsistent with the End of Government at a Time when his Majesty is put under a necessity of procuring Reparation for his injured Subjects by Arms, why did not your Consciences restrain you from soliciting for a Station which your Consciences will not allow you to discharge for the Honour of his Majesty, and the Interest of those you repre- sent ; For it is a piece of Injustice to involve a People of which you are not above one-third in Number, in the ill Consequences that must attend a Government under such a Direction.
" Before you apply'd yourselves with great Industry to obtain an uncommon Majority in this Assembly for opposing my . Endeavours
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to put the Province in a Posture of Defence, the Government en- joyed such a Tranquility as gave every honest Man great pleasure of Mind; but since, the Defence of the Province has not only been opposed, but the Rights of the Corporation of this City (generously granted by your first Great Proprietor) have been attacked. Emis- saries have been frequently imployed to promote Petitions for va- rious Ends, and the Publick Money has been spent in Contests with me, without doing one single act for the Service of your King or the People you represent. This is a Behaviour very different from that Spirit of Christianity you profess, and I think as differ- ent from that of your Friends in England.
"GEO. THOMAS.
" Philad., Aug. 2, 1740.
" By Command.
" Pat. Baird, Secretary."
At a Council held with the Indians at the Quaker Meeting House, in Philadelphia, August 6th, 1740.
PRESENT :
The Honble THOMAS PENN, Esqr., Proprietary.
The Honble GEORGE THOMAS, Esqr., Lieut. Governor. Samuel Preston, Thomas Laurence,
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