USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial records of Pennsylvania, Vol. IV > Part 47
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Anthony Palmer, Samuel Hasell, Esqrs.
Sassoonan, with sundry Delaware Indians.
Chicalamy, with sundry Mingoes.
Capt. Hill, with sundry from Ohijo.
Conrade Wyser,
Interpreters. r Freeman, the Indian,
George Miranda,
Present, also, as many of the Inhabitants of Philada. as the House could conveniently hold.
The Governor directed the Interpreters to let the Indians know that he was about to speak to them in Order ; Which he did as follows :
" Brother Sassoonan, Brother Chicalamy, and the rest of Our Brethren from Allegheny, Shamokin, Otzenaxa, Connestogoe, & Brandywine;
" We take this visit kindly, and are glad to see you all. Being desirous to Answer our Brother Sassoonan's Speech in the order he spoke it, we shall first address ourselves to our Brethren who are settled on the River Ohijo.
" Brethren :
" It is not an uncommon thing to see People forget their nearest
S
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and best Friends when they remove at a great Distance from them. The late Governor Gordon, apprehensive that on your removal to Allegheny you might, as many others do, grow cool in your Re- gards to your Brethren, wrote you this Letter wherein after ex- pressing his Fears least you, being gone a great way off, might fall into the hands of Strangers and they might tell you many false stories, He gave an Invitation to come and see your old true Friends and Brethren.
"It is as you say a great while since you received this Letter, and we might reasonably think that you were not as mindfull of us as true Friends ought to be of one another, but you have excus'd yourselves in so handsome a manner, and have so frankly declar'd that you look on this Place to be your home, that we have opened our Houses to you and received you just as we would our own Children returning to us after a long absence.
" We are glad to hear that the Country you remov'd to is full of all sorts of Game, and that you are pleased with our People's coming amongst you and supplying you with Powder & Shott and other necessaries for Hunting.
"As we do our utmost to promote your Interest, we are pleased to find you gratefull, and accept of your Present of Skins for Gloves.
"We are sensible many Stories are told, both to your and our prejudice, by ill People who have no good Designs either on you or on us; but as we on our parts never give heed to the idle Reports, so we are glad to hear from your own Mouths that you give no manner of Regard to them, and we with Pleasure take Notice of what you say on this Head.
"Now we proceed to that part of Sassoonan's Speech which relates to you and our Brethren the Mingoes from Shamokin.
"Brethren :
"We are pleased that our Brother Sassoonan called on you and brought you along with him; we are glad to see you, and the more so because we have nothing but good things to speak to you. It must needs give abundance of Satisfaction when old Friends who live at a distance come together, and have nothing to find fault with or no ill News to tell one another.
"We endeavour all that lies in our Power to keep the Roads that lead from us to you clear of all obstructions, and are glad to hear you say you found them open and fair and free from all Hindrances; we don't doubt but if by any Accident any dirt should get into the Roads, whoever sees it first, whether we or you, would immediately remove it, for to let it remain there would be inconsistent with our mutual Friendship.
"We thank you for your Assurances to keep the Chain of Peace and Friendship that subsists between us always bright and clear.
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"We, for our Parts, look on our Brethren as our selves, and what affects them equally so affects us; nothing can trouble them but it troubles us too, nor give them pleasure without giving us pleasure at the same time. I speak now to you all, as well those from Allegheney, Shamokin, and Otzenaxa, as those from Connes- togoe and Brandywine, for as you are all of the same Flesh and Blood, so we look upon you all to be equally intitled to our Love and Affection.
"We now come to the last part of Sassoonan's Speech, which related to himself and his Children the Delawares only.
" Brethren :
"We should be glad to do every thing that is in our power to prevent your being ill used in your Trade with our People, and that you might have a good Price for your Skins, and the English Goods at a cheap Rate, but we cannot think it would answer your expec- tation to fix certain Prices for either Sort, since of each sort there may be several kinds, and the price should be given for them accord- ing to the goodness of Each. It is always found that the best way to carry on Trade is to leave it open and free, and then the Person that brings the best Goods and sells at the cheapest Price will gain the largest Trade. If our Traders do not bring you as good Goods of every sort, sell them at as low a Price, and give you as much for your Skins as those from any other Place, we must leave it to you to Trade where you can do it to your greater Advantage.
"We cannot restrain our Inhabitants from killing Deer in the Woods; they are there wild, provided by God for the food of Man, but believe you might prevent it in a great Degree by refusing to have any sort of Trade with those litle Traders, that without any Authority from any Government take a few trifling Goods and go into the Woods to sell them, and get a litle more by killing some Deer themselves. Many of them would not think it worth their while to go only to Hunt without they made some small advantage of their trifling Cargo, which if they could not sell they would stay at home and till the Ground.
"These Traders are very numerous and are under no sort of Se- curity to act honestly in their Trade, and therefore on any Complaints being made of their ill Behaviour, as they are generally poor, they cannot make any Satisfaction; but if you would refuse to trade with any Person from this Province that has not a Lycence under the hand of the Governor and Seal of the Province, which give a Se- curity for their good Behaviour to the Indians in their Trade, it would be of Service to you in your Trade, as upon any Complaint the Person who becomes Security would be Answerable, and it would prevent many of the others coming among you from killing your Game.
"We have ordered your Hatchets and Guns to be mended as you
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desire; we accept your Present of One hundred and sixty Buckskins, and in return have ordered you the following Goods :
" Two Pieces of Strouds,
"Two Pieces of Blankets,
" One Piece of Dussels,
" Two Pieces of half Thicks,
" Three Barrels of Gunpowder,
" Five Hundredweight of Lead,
" Nine Hatts,
"Two Groce & 1 Doz". of Pipes One Dozen of Hoes, with Box,
" Three Guns,
" Five hundred Flints, .
" Three Doz". of Tobacco Tongs,
" Twelve pair of Shoes,
Twelve pair of Stockings,
Twelve pair Bath-Mettal
Buckles,
Fifty pound of Tobacco,
Six brass Kettles,
Five Doz" of Buckshorn Knives,
Twenty-four ruffled Shirts,
One Dozen of Hatchets,
One Dozen Looking Glasses,
Two Bear Skins, A Horse, Saddle, & Bridle for Sassoonan.
" Brethren, the Mingoes-
" By the Treaty we made with our Brethren of the Five Nations, We acknowledge ourselves under Engagements to have our Eyes and Ears open to whatever may concern them, and we shall always be ready to act up to these Engagements; but the present Warlike Preparations being made against Spain, a Nation with whom they have no Alliances, a warr with them can not affect their Interests ; but as they are our very good Friends and Brethren, it may on that account administer some Pleasure to them to hear that His Majes- ty King George, to prosecute this Warr has fitted out several Fleets of very large Ships, with many Thousand Men and a great number of very heavy Cannon, and has already obtain'd considerable Ad- vantage over his Enemy by destroying their Towns, demolishing their Forts, blocking up their Harbours, and preventing their Ships from carrying their Treasures out of America over the broad Seas ; and we do not doubt but the King of Spain will be reduced to the necessity of Offering us a Peace on our own Terms. .
" The French are in Amity with us, and as long as they are at Peace with us you will continue to behave towards them as Allies and Brothers.
" Brethren-the Mingoes :
" We desire you will let the Five Nations know that Henry Webb, one of our Inhabitants at the Minisincks, was in May last barbarously Assaulted and Wounded by a Mohickon Indian named Awannameak, to that degree that tho' he was brought down imme- diately to this Town and put under the care of a skillfull Physi- cian, yet he lay in exquisite pain for a long while, uncertain whether he would Live or Dye, but by the care and skill of the Doctor, he is at length recovered, and notwithstanding all that could be done, he has lost liis Jaw bone, and is in a great Measure disabled from doing any thing to support himself for the time to come.
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PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.
" Awannameak, after he had committed this Villainous Act, im- mediately fled, and as soon as this piece of Wickedness, and his Flight, for it came to my Knowledge, I sent a Messenger in pur- suit of him, with a Letter directed to the King or Chiefs of the Nations to whom Awannameak was Subject, demanding to have him immediately apprehended and delivered up, that he might be pun- ished in case Henry Webb should Dye of the Wounds he received from him, or in case he should recover (which I heartily wished he might), that he might be obliged to make him Satisfaction besides paying all the charge of his Cure and Nursing and Keeping; And if he was not able of himself to do this, his Friends should help him and do it for him, till by his own Diligence in Hunting he could make Satisfaction to them.
"This letter was first read to the Indians in Council at the Mini- sincks, who acquainted the Messenger that Awannameak belonged to the Mohickon Indians, and that their King, Menakikickon, would write to the King of the Mohickon's, who lived near Esopus, to deliver the young Man up. On this the Messenger proceeded to Esopus, and taking some of the Magistrates of that Town with him, he went to the place where the Mohickon King lived, read my let- ter to him and demanded Awannameak to be delivered up. The King would say no more than that he was Sick and the Squaws were busy tending their Indian Corn, and as soon as that Work was over he would give me an Answer. But I have never heard from him since. This Conduct in a King who is one of the Tributaries of the Five Nations, is a direct Violation of the Treaties subsisting between them and us, and must needs bring a great Scandal on the Indians who have ever been deemed true to their Compacts, and strict Observers of the publick Faith. We therefore desire the Five Nations, whose Honor and faithful Observance of their En- gagements we have entertained an high Opinion of, will, in regard to their own Characters, interpose their Authority, and not only take Notice of the failure of Duty in the Mohickon King, one of their Tributaries, but order Awannameak to be severely punished, and that he may make full Satisfaction to Henry Webb for the Pain he has suffered and the Losses he has sustained by this barbarous Assault."
To this Schickcalamy answered that he would carry the remem- brance of this the Governor's Desire in his Bosom.
After which, Captain Hill and Schahanapan told the Governor that about six years ago two Children of their Nation were taken Prisoners and carried away by the Catawbas, and they hear that they are still alive to the Southward, and they pray the Governor to cause Enquiry to be made after them, and if they can be pro- cured to be restored, they will pay the Charge.
To which the Govenor Answered, That he would write to the Governor of Virginia about it.
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At a Council held at Philada., August 23d, 1740.
PRESENT :
The Honble GEORGE THOMAS, Esqr., Lieut. Governor.
Clement Plumsted,
Samuel Hasell,
Thomas Laurence, Thomas Griffitts,
Esqrs.
The Governor laid before the Board a Message he had received from the Assembly of the fourth Instant, in the following Words, Vizt:
" May it please the Governor :
" As the Message we last received is long, and consists of many Particulars which will require Time to answer, and as we do not observe the Governor's Opinion in relation to Servants is so clear and positive as we could wish and the Occasion requires, we hope this further Application in respect to them will not be taken amiss. Before we had Notice of so many Servants being inlisted as are at present, we were of the Governor's Sentiments that the Laws in being had provided sufficient Remedy for those who were aggrieved, and referred such who petitioned us to the Methods they should be advised to for Redress; but the Numbers now appear so great, and likely to encrease, that we think the Commencing of so many Law- Suits as may be necessary to give the Parties Relief, will be an ad- ditional Calamity to the Province, and not so speedy as the Neces- sity of the Masters calls for.
" And as the Governor is pleased to let us know there are already seven Companies compleated-and we are told the Number of Ser- vants inlisted is aggravated when we called them several Hundreds, there must be, in our Opinion, many more Freemen inlisted than will bear any just Proportion to the Abilities of the Inhabitants of this Province, or with which they ought to be burthened.
"We therefore again become carnest Suitors to the Governor, that he will give Directions that no more Servants may be inlisted for the future, and for the Discharge of those already inlisted, and their being return'd to their Masters; which we think may be very easily done without any Tumult or other inconvenience.
" As the chief Difficulty we have been under, and the Time here- tofore spent, has been principally to guard against the Inconveni- ence which have arisen by this Means, and not the saving of our Money, as the Governor supposes, we entreat him to give a direct and positive Answer in this respect, as in an Affair in which we think the Interest of the Crown and Welfare of this and other Pro- vinces much concerned.
"Signed by Order of the House. "JOHN KINSEY, Speaker.
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PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.
To which the Governor acquainted the Board he had returned the following Answer :
" Gentlemen-
" As I am not conscious of having ever taken amiss any Applica- tion from the Representatives of the People, where such Language was used as became that Body to the Station I am in, or even such as becomes one Gentleman to another, so I can truly affirm, that no Man ever came to a Government with more sincere and dis- interested Inclinations to promote the Honour of His Majesty, and to justify the Choice your worthy Proprietors had made of me; or with a more determined Resolution to act with Justice and Affec- tion impartially to all People of the different Persuasions under my Government.
"I now find in myself the same Inclinations to gratify all such as apply to me for Redress, and I heartily wish the Application had been made to me sooner by you, which I wonder was not done, as you had received Petitions from such as thought themselves injured, or by the Masters of Servants; but I am now informed the latter were pursuaded from it by the Bontefeux of the City, who have no other Way of making themselves considerable but by stirring up the People to a Contempt or Neglect of their Governor.
" Before I set out for Newcastle to meet the Assembly there, I had laid the King's Instructions before you; and I ordered the Officers to engage as many Freemen (and Freemen only) as they could, in His Majesty's Service, hoping the Assembly would have given a Bounty, as was done in other Governments, to raise a suffi- cient Number of such. Your House sat a whole Week after my Return, without making the least Complaint to me of the Officers having received Servants. Had you done it then, I might have in- terposed with Safety to the Inhabitants, and without Prejudice to the Service; but could I think myself justified in Discharging them now, after they have been qualified, by taking the Oaths directed by Act of Parliament, before the Magistrates, and have received the King's Subsistence from that Time to the 24th of this Month, I cannot persuade myself that it would be of any real Service to the Masters, or that it is possible for me to do it in any other Manner than that I mentioned in my last Message, so as to prevent Tumults, since it would be letting loose an incensed and disorderly People upon the Country, to their great Terror and Danger.
" The Officers assure me that they will not inlist any Men which they either know or can be informed are Servants; and that they will discharge all they have as fast as Freemen come in, if they can be persuaded to return Home to their Masters, which they will use their utmost Endeavours to do.
" I have more than once inform'd your House, besides laying Copies of the King's Instructions and Letters before you, that I was VOL. IV. -29.
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commanded to raise as many Men as I possibly could; and you very well knew, near a month ago, that I had given out Warrants to raise Seven Companies in this Government; and yet no Objection was made by you to the Number till a few days ago, after the Seven Companies were all compleated. If you will give yourselves Leisure to think, you must know, that since they are raised it is no more in my Power to disband them without the King's Order, than it was in my Power to raise them without it
" I informed the Honble Colo Blakeney early, that eight Gentle- men had undertaken to raise so many Companies, and that they had each made some progress in it; but that if no more than four Com- panies was expected from this Government, the Men raised by four of the Gentlemen must be disbanded. To which he was pleased to answer, in Substance, That as the eight Gentlemen had undertaken it in Pursuance of his Majesty's Instructions, I must give four of the Gentlemen Certificates of their having raised them, to intitle them to Commissions from Lord Cathcart; and that he would remit Money to me for their subsistence.
"I can by no means agree with you, That the Circumstances of this Province will not allow you to make Provision for them; since no Government in North America has, I believe, at this Time so much Money in Bank, and that owing to the Grace and Favour of His Majesty.
"Other Provinces have been so regardful of their own Welfare, and have behaved so dutifully to His Majesty, that I think we need not extend our Care for them at this Time. Have a due regard for your own, and reflect with the same concern that I do, on the Time and Money already spent in fruitless Messages, without doing any Thing for the King's Service; and then, since the Time presses, I hope you will make a better use of what is before you.
" GEORGE THOMAS.
" August 5, 1740.
"By Command.
" Pat. Baird, Secretary."
The Governor also laid before the Board the following Message of the eight Instant, which he had received from the Assembly, viz' :
" May it please the Governor-
"It is with great Unwillingness we engage in Controversy; but when we find our Loyalty to the Crown, and the Consistency of our Principles with Government are questioned, when our Conduct is so severely censured, and almost every Action misrepresented and placed in the most disadvantageous Light, and all this by our Go- vernor, from whom we rather expected Protection and Assistance, the Duty we owe the Crown, the Trust reposed in us by the Free- men of this Province, and the Justice due to ourselves, render this Message in our Justification absolutely necessary.
1
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PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.
" That the Governor might once have thought a Number of Men sufficient for the Purposes recommended by the Crown, could not have been raised without receiving of Servants, may, for ought we know, be very true; but since on Experience it is found that so a large a Number, exclusive of Servants, is already raised for that Purpose without a Bounty, we hope he will now, with us, think differently.
" Of the Seven Companies which the Governor is pleased to tell us are already compleated, from the best Accounts we can gather there are, and have been, at least Three hundred Servants which, at a moderate estimate, we think may one with another be valued at Ten pounds per Head, and amounts at that Rate to Three thousand Pounds. Does the Governor think it reasonable, and that it will be no burthen on the Inhabitants of this Province, to pay that Sum of Money to their Masters, besides raising as much as will be ne- cessary for Victualling and Transporting seven whole Companies ?
" And yet even this is not the whole Burden the Government seems to think fit to lay upon us. 'Seven Companies (he informs us) are already compleated,' which implies an Intention of Raising more, and where he will be pleased to stop we cannot take upon us to determine.
" It has been allowed as a Maxim amongst the best Statesmen, That the interests of the Crown and its Subjects are inseperable, and it is happy for those Colonies whose Governor's promote like Doctrine between them and the People committed to their Care. Had this been our Case, our Address of the 7th of the last Month might have been represented perhaps in a more favourable Light, wherein we declare that 'we remembred with great Gratitude the many Favours we enjoy'd under the Crown and Government of our Mother Country, and therefore it gave us great Concern that we could not chearfully accede to the Measures recommended from thence,' whereas the Governor in his last Message, leaving out all the former part of the Words, only publishes us to have said ' that we cannot chearfully accede to the Measures recommended from thence.' Whether this was done to make our Conduct in regard to the Crown the more or less respectfull, requires no great Penetration to determine. Nor is there any greater Difficulty in discovering why, after the Resolution of the House to raise a Sum of Money for the Use of the Crown, and their having made a considerable Progress in a Bill for that Purpose, the Governor is pleased to pub- lish his Sentiments of our Address before mentioned, Vizt: That he looked upon it as a positive Refusal to comply with his Majesty's Eighth Instruction, &ca.
" The same Justice seems to be observed towards us in some sub- sequent Parts of the same Message. The Scarcity of Labour occa- sioned by inlisting Servants, and the necessity of our Speaker's Absence, which were the principal Motives for an Adjournment, are
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omitted in the Reasons the Governor is pleased to enumerate ; And the Rumour about Town of a peace which had the least Weight with us, taken Notice of as if it had been the chief Cause, with this Censure too That no Man heard ought of it but ourselves. When the Governor was pleased to call our Veracity in Question, one might have expected he would have been particularly careful on his own Part ; and yet it is not only a Mistake in Fact, but what he neither did nor could know that no Man heard any thing of that Rumour but ourselves.
" We are used with much like Charity, when our Application to him to Redress one of the greatest Grievances this Province ever laboured under, viz., the taking and detaining so many Servants from their Masters, is represented as if it had been a design to avoid complying with His Majesty's Instructions, when he might with equal Truth say any Thing he pleases. If the Interest of the Crown does suffer for want of the Money we were and yet are willing to give, it must be owing to his Misconduct, for it cannot be thought reasonable we should give a Sum of Money which might be applied to transport so great a Number of our Servants from their Masters, when there are as many if not more Freemen in- listed, we suppose, than amounts to the full Proportion for this Province.
" Why the Governor should assert the Bill for raising of Money for the use of the Crown is vanished, he can best Account. The principal Difficulty which arose on that Bill is what we yet are de- sirous of finding a proper Expedient for, viz., the Return of the Servants inlisted to their Masters ; and whenever the Governor will be pleased to redress this Grievance, altho' the Bill may not vanish, the Necessity of it will, for we can and are willing to give our full Proportion of Money without any Bill.
" The Governor is pleased to acquaint us His Warrants to the Officers to inlist Men are general, and pursuant to the King's Or- ders, which is so far well, but as the Governor had the Power of giving Warrants, we also think he had and hath the Power of super- intending the Execution of them, and had it pleased him to have directed that Servants should not have been inlisted, it had been more agreeable to the Practice of all the other Colonies, And we have no Doubt but the Captains he has been pleased to appoint understood their Duty too well to have disputed his Commands.
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