USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial records of Pennsylvania, Vol. VI > Part 26
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" You will give me Leave to observe that one Act of duty and .
Loyalty to the Crown is worth a Thousand Expressions of that sort where a proper Behaviour is wanting, and You will, therefore, con- sider how far your Words and Actions agree, and in what Light your Conduct will appear to his Majesty and his Ministers, who will en- quire what you have done upon the present Occasion not what you have said.
"ROBERT HUNTER MORRIS.
" January 7, 1755."
The Calculation referred to in the foregoing Message collected
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PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.
from the First of June, 1752, to 1753, by the following Collectors of Excise, viz* :
By Joseph Redman in Philadelphia County
£2,000 12 8
Sundry Retailers at Three Pounds Annum - -
203 5 0
A moiety of Fines
- 20 15 0
Deduct Five per Cent. for receiving
£2,224 12 8 111 4 7%
2,113 8 0%
By John Woolston in Bucks County Sundry Retailers
9 00
292 50
Deduct Ten Per Cent. for receiving
29 4 6
By Jeremiah Starr in Chester County Sundry Retailers - -
7 10 0
£435 60
Deduct Ten Per Cent.
43 10 7
£391 15 5
By Arthur Patterson in Lancaster County
-
£223 51
Deduct Ten Per Cent.
22 6 7
£200 18 6
By David M'Conaughy in York County Deduct Ten Per Cent.
£60 18 4
6 10
£54 16 6
By James Lindsay in Cumberland County -
£55 04
Deduct Ten Per Cent.
5 10 0
£49 10 4
£404
1 2
-
5 00
£409 1 2
Deduct Ten Per Cent.
40 18 1
By Daniel Cray in Northampton
£86 70
Deduct Ten Per Cent.
-
8 12 8}
£77 14 33
Amount of the Excise from June 1, 1752, to June 1, 1753 -
£3,519 6 8
Carried forward, VOL. VI .- 16.
£3,519 6 8
-
£263,06
£427 16 0
-
-
By John Hughes in Berks Moiety of Fines -
-
£368 31
283 50
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£3,519 6 8
Brought forward, Income of the Loan Office, collected from last Year's Account, vizt: Principal Sums or Quotas not become due - £49,582 13 4
Quotas Outstanding and now due 19,552 9 2
One Hundred and Two Mortgages taken on the Seventh Re-emission of the Second £80,000 Act -
6,601 10 0
Forty-One Mortgages taken on the 8th Re-emission of said Act - - Outstanding Interest on all the Mort- gages for which broken Interest is paid - - 8,460 12 3
3,038 0 0
£87,235 4 9
Interest on £87,235 4 9 at 5 Per Cent. £1,361 15 2
£7,881 1 10
Deduct what is to be sunk Yearly out of the £5,000 granted for the King's Use - -
500 0 0
The nett Produce of the Excise and Interest Money # Annum -
£7,381 1 10
N. B .- The Excise is calculated for the Year 1753, none but one of the Collectors having settled for the Year 1754, and therefore the Amount of that Year could not be estimated.
An Account of publick Money that should have been in Hand the Fifteenth of September last, by the Laws now in being, vizt .:
Outstanding Interest on all the Mortgages -
£8,460 12 3
Cash in the Hands of the Trustees - -
1,255 3 5
Cash in the Hands of the Treasurer 462 10 10
If the Mortgage Deeds were carefully examined there would be without all Doubt £6,000 due for broken Interest upon all the Outstandings; however to be rather under than over they are put down at
4,000 0 0
£14,178 6 6
A Message from the Governor to the Assembly.
" Gentlemen :
"Your Bill for preventing the Importation of German or other passengers, &c., I referred to the Consideration of such of the
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PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.
Members of the Council as were Members of the Corporation, who have made sundry Observations upon it which they have reported to me; and as the Bill is intended to preserve the Health of this City and Province, I shall give it all the Attention in my Power, and make such Alterations in it as may best answer the End pro- posed without laying too great Restraints upon Trade.
"It would have been very agreeable to me to have been able to have gone through it and sent it you down now, but I find myself too much engaged by Correspondences on his Majesty's Service to finish it at present, and must, therefore, detain it till I can give it the Attention a Bill of such Importance requires.
"ROBERT H. MORRIS.
"January 7, 1755."
At a Council held at Philadelphia, Wednesday the 8th January, 1755.
PRESENT :
The Honourable ROBERT HUNTER MORRIS, Esquire, Lieu- tenant Governor. .
John Penn, Richard Peters, Esquires.
The Minutes of the preceding Council were read and approved.
Yesterday Hendrick and some of the Mohock Indians arrived in Town and werc elegantly entertained by the Mayor. They arc come in consequence of the Governor's Invitation, sent them in November, upon his receiving from Northampton and other Places Intelligence of the Practices and Designs of the Connecticut People. The Governor ordered Mr. Peters to lay before him the several In- formations, Letters, and Transactions that have passed relating to this Affair, that it might be considered in what manner to speak to Hendrick ; and an Express was sent for Mr. Weiser.
A Message from the Assembly about the German Bill, delivered Yesterday, was read and is as follows :
%' May it please the Governor :
" As We consider our Bill for preventing the Importation of German or other Passengers, &c., to be of the utmost Importance to the Health and Lives of the Inhabitants of this Province, in order to clear Ourselves from the Mischiefs which may ensue from the postponing that Bill, we again carnestly sollicit the Governor for his Assent to it at this Time.
" The Bill itself was calculated to lay Restraints upon the Trade carried on by the Importers of such Passengers, &c., and We have in all our Considerations upon it to make it answer these Purposes without interfering with the other Branches of our Commerce not subject to the same fatal Consequences; and if the Governor shall
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think fit to amend the Bill to answer those Ends it will receive all the Dispatch in our Power and make a chearful Concurrence on our Part.
" Signed By Order of the House, "ISAAC NORRIS, Speaker.
" January 8, 1755."
The Governor ordered the Secretary to go to the House to-mor- row morning with a verbal Message, to inform them " that some of the Chiefs of the Six Nations are in Town on Proprietary Business, and as they are Persons of Weight and Influence, the Governor thinks it may be of publick Service for the Government to take Notice of them at this critical Juncture, and therefore recommends this Matter to their Consideration."
MEMORANDUM.
On the Tenth Instant The following Message was delivered to the Governor by Two Members :
" A Message to the Governor from the Assembly.
" May it please the Governor :
" The long absence from our Homes, the great Expence We must necessarily sit at, and the Uneasiness it gives Us to be obliged to differ in Sentiments so widely from our Governor, without the least Prospect of Redress here, together with his present Indisposition to treat Us with that Decency We presume on Reflection he will acknowledge to be due to the Representatives of the People, will sufficiently excuse Us from entering minutely into the Consideration of his last Message, especially as We hope We may safely leave it for the present, and as We have humbly addressed our gracious Sovereign on the Differences now unhappily subsisting between Us.
"The Governor has expressed his Satisfaction in leaving it to that Issue, and as We have no Doubt of the Justice of our Cause, We must and do very chearfully submit to it also, and by this Means the Parts of his last Message which immediately concern Us at present are reduced to a narrow Compass.
"The Governor is pleased to say he very well knows how fond the People are of a Paper Currency, and how much averse they are to any Restraints on that Head; but from whence this Knowledge should arise is hard for Us to conjecture. We certainly know the People have not petitioned our House, nor have We offered the Gover- nor any Bill for that Purpose during his Administration, except the Bill for granting Money for the King's Use, and that only as the best method We could devise to make that Grant effectual; and We have Reason to believe, on turning to the Minutes of our late
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PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.
Assemblies, that when they did offer such Bills to our former Gov- ernor they not only restrained themselves within a very moderate Sum, arising from minute Calculations of their Trade, but took great Care to preserve it from sinking in its Value by issuing it on sufficient Securities, and such as had been usual and by long Experience found effectually to answer that End; notwithstanding the Governor has been pleased to repeat it, 'that this Province has shamefully slighted and disregarded the Act of the Sixth of Queen Ann,' That Act was considered when Colonel Thomas passed our present Paper Money Act in 1739, and it was undoubtedly known to the Board of Trade when they recommended it to the Crown as a reasonable Act, upon which it obtained the Royal Sanction on the Twelfth of May, 1740. And under these Authorities it is declared that ' those Bills of Credit are lawful Money of America according to an Act of Parliament made in the Sixth Year of the late Queen Anne for ascertaining the Rates of Foreign Coins in the Plantations of America, and shall be the current Bills of this Province for the Payment and Discharge of all manner of Debts, &can, as if the same were tendered and ' paid at the Rates ascertained in the said Act of Parliament, and should be so received by all Persons whatsoever.' And as neither our Silver or Exchange make at this Time any altera- tion in those Bills except to their advantage, being both ratlier lower than at the passing and Confirmation of that Act, we account Ourselves perfectly safe in Saying that we know not what the Governor can mean by imputing to this Province a Shameful Slight and Disre- gard of the Act of the Sixth of Queen Ann; and we hope on Re- flection he will allow it more reasonable for us to depend upon the Royal Decision in our Favour than blindly to Submit Ourselves to the Computations of the Governor in opposition to it.
" We are likewise under a necessity of differing from him in the State of the publick money he lias been pleased to send down with his last Message. As we apprehend the Governor himself must be pretty much a Stranger to our Accounts, we take the Liberty to assure him that whoever made those Computations has done them without Skill or a Sufficient Knowledge of our Laws, and that we find the Estimates We have already made are right and just, and as far as regards the Annual Income agreeable with the Proprietaries answer to the Address of the Assembly in 1751; and as by the Laws in Being we had not the Power over more than about Seven Thousand Pounds at the last Settlement, even that Sum is now greatly reduced by the very heavy Charges of Government borne and discharged by Us since that Time.
"The Governor is pleased to say 'You proposed only Twenty Thousand Pounds this Currency which is not Two Pence in the Pound upon the just and real Value of Estates in this Province; and this You call a generous Sum, though you must be sensible it must be very insufficient to answer the present Exigency.' What
246
- MINUTES OF THE
the Governor may think sufficient is as much a Mystery to Us as he may apprehend his Proprietary Instructions are ; but we pre- sume it may be sufficient for all the Purposes in Sir Thomas Rob- inson's last Letter, and as much or more than We think can be reasonably expected from Us. How the Governor became so sud- denly acquainted with the Real Value of our Estates is not easy to conceive ; but we know from long Experience, having many of Us received our Birth in this Province, that the Inhabitants are not generally wealthy or rich, though we believe them to be in the main frugal and industrious, yet it is evident that their Lands are greatly encumbered with their Debts to the Public. From these Consider- ations we are obliged to think the Governor's Estimation of our Wealth is undoubtedly too high, unless he includes the value of the Proprietary Lands, for by the Report of a Committee of Assembly in August, 1752, it appears that the Taxables of this Province did not exceed Twenty-Two Thousand, and the Grant we have offered of Twenty Thousand Pounds, from the best Calculations we can make, doth at least amount to Five Times the Sum that hath ever been raised by a Two-penny Tax thro' this Province. As We think the Governor cannot be a competent Judge of the real Value of our Estates in this little Time of his Administration, and as we have now Submitted our Cause to higher Determination, we conceive ourselves less concerned in his Computations of our real Estates whatever they may be. 1
" The Governor is pleased to inform Us 'that the Proprietaries. are too nearly interested in the Prosperity of this Country to do any Thing to its Prejudice, and he should have imagined that the People could not now stand in need of any Proofs of the Proprie- tary Affection, or suspect them of having any Designs to invade their just Rights and Privileges, which he is confident they detest and abhor.' We cannot Suppose the Governor would mean they detest and abhor our just Rights and Priveleges, and yet we are convinced the Clause in their Commission to him, their Lieutenant, whereby they empower him to act as fully and amply to all Intents, Construc- tions, and Purposes, as they themselves might or could do were they personally present-' You (our Governor) following and observing such Orders, Instructions, and Directions as You now have or here- after from Time to Time shall receive from Us or our Heirs' is not only repugnant to our just Rights and Priveleges but impracticable, against common Sense, against Law, and void in itself; and yet if the Governor should think his Hands are so tied up by these In- structions that he is not at Liberty to act for the Public Good, We must conclude they are of dangerous Consequence at all Times, and particularly in this Time of Imminent Danger, not only to ourselves but to the British Interest in North America.
" Signed by Order of the House.
" ISAAC NORRIS, Speaker.
" January 10, 1755."
%
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PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.
The Two Members acquainted his Honour that the House seeing no Prospect of doing further Service enclined to adjourn to the Twelfth of May if the Governor had no Objection. The Governor said he would peruse the Message and would send an Answer imme- diately if he found it required one, and least the House should ad- journ he sent them the following Message by the Secretary : " Gentlemen --
"I am very much surprised at your Proposal to adjourn till May, as You have made no Provision for the Defence of the Province or granted the Supplies expected by the Crown and recommended by the Secretary of State's Letters. I must, therefore, object to the proposed Adjournment while Things remain in this Situation, and hope You will in Consideration of the Danger to which your Country stands exposed continue sitting till You have granted the Supplies to the Crown and effectually provided for the Defence of the People You represent, but if You are determined to rise at this Time with- out doing any Thing, remember it is your own Act and all the fatal Consequences that may attend your leaving the Province in this de- fenceless State must lie at your Doors.
"January 10, 1755."
" ROBT. H. MORRIS.
And at the same Time the Secretary was ordered to demand a Copy of the Minutes of this Sitting of the House to be delivered as soon as possible, but the Governor heard nothing from them in answer to either Message, and they broke up notwithstanding his Objection to their Adjournment.
At a Council held at Philadelphia, Tuesday the 14th of January, 1755, A. M.
PRESENT :
The Honourable ROBERT HUNTER MORRIS, Esquire, Lieu- tenant Governor.
John Penn, Robert Strettell,
Benjamin Shoemaker, Richard Peters,
Esquires.
The Minutes of the preceding Council were read and approved.
The Council proceeded to consider what should be said to Hend- rick and the Mohock Indians relating to the Connecticut Pretensions to the Lands of this Province within the Latitude of their Charter, and for their Information the Minutes of Council of the 20th Feb- ruary, 2d, 12th, and 20th Maroh,. 6th April, 7th May, and 6th August, of the preceding Year, were read as far as this Matter was concerned, and whereas Information was given the Governor in Oc- tober & November last of the Connecticut People intending to settle
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MINUTES OF THE
by Force the Wyomink Lands, and sundry Matters were then by the Council considered and Letters and Papers sent and received concerning it, these were likewise read, and it appearing that they were not entered in the Minutes as they ought to have been they were now directed to be entered in their Order:
Extract of a Letter from Mr. James Stevenson to Mr. Richard Peters, dated 17th September, 1754.
" I desired my Son to give You a hint that Lydius had been up amongst the Indians and procured a Deed in behalf of the Connec- ticut Government for the Lands, or perhaps only Part of the Lands, that You purchased for your Government. I am since informed that the Fact is true, above Thirty Oneidos are now in Town; it is pretended they came to speak with the Commissioners of Indian Affairs, but if my Information be right they came down on a Mess- age was sent to them by Lydius, and they are mostly at his House. The Commissioners knew nothing of their coming till the Inter- preter sent Word from Schenectady that they were so far as Col. Johnson's on their way. I am assured by one of the Witnesses to the deed that several of our Mohawks signed in Lydius' own House, besides those that signed in their own Castle."
Extract of a Letter from Mr. Alexander, dated 27th October, 1754, to the Governor.
"I am heartily sorry to hear of that unfair Purchase of Lydius for the Connecticut People, and am afraid it will give your Govern- ment a good deal of Trouble. My Son tells me he is informed that some Connecticut People are now actually settling over against Cushetunck, and pretend a Purchase from the Indians of it. The utmost Care on your and Mr. Peters' Part seems necessary to pre- vent the ill Consequences of this Affair. The Steps You propose seem proper. I submit also whether it would not be proper to employ and keep in constant Pay a few Rangers to search and discover where they attempt to settle, and to forewarn them from so doing; and if they still proceed in settling, then to get Weiser to prevail on some of the Six Nations to come and also forewarn them under Pain of some Numbers of the Six Nations coming to force them if they further proceed. For the Reason You mention it would seem improper to make Application to your Assembly on this Head. A Penny expended to nip this Affair in the Budd will save Pounds that it might afterwards cost."
Extract from Mr. Weiser's Letters of the 16th and 27th October, 1754. "As to the Connecticut Affair I am clear of opinion that by
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PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.
Order of the Governor You should write to Hendrick, putting him in Mind of his Promise made to the Commissioners of this Pro- vince in Albany when he said that he would come down to Us upon any Occasion to advise with the Governor as in the Presence of the most high, and that the Governor wants to see him now to consult with him in this critical Time about Matters of Moment. Daniel Clause might come with him, he knows the Way by Land, as he travelled it with me in the Year 1750, to wit, from the Upper Mohock Castle to Shochary or Palantine Towns, Katskill, and Kingston, leaving Albany a great Way to the Left Hand. If Hendrick refuses to come he may be suspected to have a Hand in it, and we must then act by the Shick Calamys and Jonathan, and as secretly as possible, otherwise Lydius and that wicked Priest at Conojochary will defeat our Designs. I would in the meantime advise to have Belts of Wampum provided, and two or three large Belts all black. You will want a Couple to send to the South before long, and one must be made use of to de- molish Lydius' Proceedings. Mr. Claus must be ordered to keep everything relating to this Affair as a Secret, and to Search very diligently whether Henry had no Hand in signing the Deed to the Connecticut People. If he had not, we shall succeed without doubt. He must have the Liberty to bring one or more Indians with him; if all won't do, and that Henry will not come, we must send to Onondago next Spring, &c., &c. I should be sorry if the Connecti- cut People shou'd countenance the Deed that Lydius so feloniously got; if they do, and settle upon the Land, there will certainly be Bloodshed, for the Indians always said they would never suffer any white People to settle Wyomink or higher up, and if an Indian or French War should break out, the Consequence of the Connecticut People settling there would be bad on the English Side, because the Indians would then be obliged to move away, and to where can they move only to Ohio; and there they would be under the Influence of the French and in their Interest, as the Senecas and Onondagers now are, and perhaps the rest of the Six Nations don't think themselves safe without creeping under the wings of their Father Onontio.
-
Governor Morris' Letter to Col. Johnson. " PHILADELPHIA, 15th November, 1754.
" Sir :
" Mr. Peters has communicated to me a Letter which he has re- ceived from Mr. Daniel Claus, wherein he informs him that Mr. Lydius of Albany has in a most unbecoming and fraudulent manner obtained a Deed for the Lands on the River Sasquehannah in the very Centre of this Province from several Indians of the Senecas, Mohocks, Onondagos, and Oneidas, in favour of some People of Con-
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MINUTES OF THE
necticut, and that he is obliged to You for this kind Intelligence, which you desired might be imparted to this Government in all its Circumstances.
"I would have done myself the Honour of acknowledging your kindness and of giving You my Sentiments on this untoward Affair and desiring Your Assistance before this Time, but I have had two Assemblies on my Hands, and the Lower one obliged me to be at New Castle a Fortnight. Now that I am at Liberty to give this matter a full Consideration, and have consulted Mr. Weiser there- upon, and laid all before the Council, I can see no other Way than to get Hendrick the Mohock Chief, who I believe and hope does not countenance this vile Transaction, to take a Journey to this City that I may lay before him the dangerous Effects of this dishonour- able Sale, and consult with him by what means it can be defeated and the Peace of the Inhabitants of this Colony preserved.
".I have read with pleasure the Letters that have passed between You and the late. Governor Mr. Hamilton, as in them this matter is. set forth in its true Light, and You kindly offer the Proprietaries and this Government your best Council and Assistance against this unjust Attempt; And by these as well as the Knowledge of your Goodness in other Respects I am induced to give you this Trouble.
"You, are sensible that at the late meeting of Commissioners at Albany, the Six Nations in open Council mentioned to the Commis- sioners of Pennsylvania an Application then making to them for the Sale of some of the Sasquehanna Lands by Agents from Con- necticut, and that they had absolutely refused to give any ear to such Proposal, telling the Commissioners they were determined those' Lands should not be Settled, but reserved for a Place of Retreat to such as in this Time of War and Confusion between the French and English might be obliged to leave their present Habita- tions, and that there was no Part of their Lands that lay so conve- nient as Wyomink for a Number to live together, and therefore they earnestly desired that Pennsylvania would not insist on those Lands being comprehended within the Purchase then under Con- sideration. They repeated with warmth that neither the New England nor Pennsylvania People shou'd settle them, and if either shou'd attempt it they would oppose them with Force. And in order to shew to the Commissioners of Pennsylvania that the Re- serve of these Lands was a very deliberate Act of their Council, they further declared that in Council they had then thought proper to appoint John Shickalamy, an Indian Chief of the Oneido Nation living in an Indian Town on those Lands as their Agent and Representative, giving him Orders to take special Care of them, and desired he might be considered by Pennsylvania as their Agent, charging him if he should find any White People attempting to settle those Lands to make complaint thereof immediately to the Government and to have them removed.
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PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.
" The Commissioners of Pennsylvania after shewing the Indians that those Lands were in the Centre of their Province, conceded to the Indians' Request that the Purchase should not extend to them, but then they the Indians must be explicit about their Intentions with respect to any underhand Practices in favour of the Connecti- cut People. The Commissioners likewise produced an Instrument under the Hands and Seals of the Chiefs of the Six Nations at a : Treaty in the Year 1737, and proved the same to be their Volun- tary act by one of the Chiefs who had executed it [in Which Deed they had solemnly agreed to sell no Lands within the Limits of this Province to any other Persons than to the Proprietaries of Penn- sylvania]; whereupon the Chiefs of their own Accord acknowledging that the Signers were well known to them to be the principal men of their respective Nations, confirmed that agreement and bound themselves by a fresh Deed to sell no Lands lying within the Limits of Pennsylvania to any but the Proprietors, and all this was done in the most open and solemn manner, and with intent to put a Stop to further Execution of the Connecticut Project.
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