USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial records of Pennsylvania, Vol. VII > Part 25
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" The Petition of the Inhabitants of the Town & County of York, Most humbly Sheweth:
" That your Petitioners are sensible that your Honour has left no measures (in your Power) untried for the protection of our Lives and Liberties from the Outrages of a barbarous and savage Enemy.
"That your Petitioners hoped their Sufferings were at an end when a Chain of Forts were erected along the Frontier for their defence.
" That notwithstanding this Skirmishes are made, Murders and Captivities daily committed upon the poor remaining inhabitants, who held their Possessions in the most eminent danger, in hopes of seeing more happy days.
" That all our prospects of safety and protection are now vanished by finding one of our best Forts upon the Frontier burnt and destroyed, and the Men who bravely defended it carried into bar- barous Captivity (And the rest of the Forts liable to the same fate, which may unhappily be the case before this can reach your Honour's Hands).
"That as the County of Cumberland is mostly evacuated, and part of this become the Frontier, the Enemy may easily enter and
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take Possession of Provisions sufficient to supply many thousand Men, and be thereby enabled to carry their Hostilities even to the Metropolis. Whereas, the Security of these Provisions for the Service of His Majesty's Forces which may be sent against Fort Duquesne may save an Expence of many hundred pounds for the Carriage of, Provisions from more distant parts ;
"Your Petitioners, therefore, most humbly pray that as your Honor has chearfully embraced every opportunity of delivering Us from our Miseries, your Honour will also recommend our Compli- cated Distresses to the Right Honourable the Earl of Loudoun, who, upon knowing our truly deplorable Condition, may be graciously pleased to take some measures to ease our Calamities, perhaps to command the Recruits now raised in this Province for the Royal American Regiment to be forthwith sent to our relief, whilst the Provincials now in Pay may go against the Enemy to avenge our bleeding Cause! And your Petitioners as in duty bound shall ever pray, &ca."
The Governor having received a Letter by Express from Lord Loudoun, the same was read in these words :
A Letter from the Earl of Loudon to Governor Morris. " ALBANY, 20th August, 1756.
" Sir :
" I received an Account last night, by which I apprehend that Oswego, with all its Stores and Ammunition and the train placed there, is lost, the Garrison made Prisoners, and our Naval power on the lake destroyed.
"I must put you on your Guard against every ill Consequence of such an unhappy event, and as you may now expect the weight of the French Indian power on your back, I must caution you to put your Frontiers immediately in the best posture of defence you are able, as from the Condition and number of Troops left to me when I came to my Command, I can scarce hope to do more than to resist the French power in these Quarters.
" Were my Hands strengthen'd to enable me to Act, I wou'd not despair of retreiving this misfortune, and to rest out of the Hands of the French this important post, that by a series of bad Circum- stances has fallen to easy a prey to them.
" I must in the strongest manner, and from motives of the most interesting nature, demand your Assistance and that of your Pro- vince.
" His Majesty having been graciously pleased to send over to America a Number of Officers for the Service of the Countries, His Royal American Regiment of Four Battallions does expect that the Colonies will supply the Levies of this Regiment. The state of the service does now require that this Regiment shou'd be immediately
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compleated ; there is no aid you cou'd send me in any shape wou'd be so usefull as recruits to Compleat this regiment, As under such good Officers as his Majesty has appointed to it they wou'd be soon, if not directly, fit for service.
"The Levy Money is in all Justice and Right expected of the Colonies, but if Obstructions to the Service shou'd arise within your Province on this head, I must at this Time undertake to ad- vance it.
"I do, therefore, again, in the strongest manner, desire of you and Your Province that you will without fail, as you shall answer for the Consequences, use your utmost endeavours to procure and send me a Number of such Recruits.
"If I had this Regiment compleated directly, I shou'd hope to be able to Act and remove those dangerous Circumstances under which his Majesty's Colonies do now Labour.
"In consequence of His Majesty's positive orders, I must re- quire of you to lay a prohibition on the Exportation of all Manner of Provisions, as the sending out such at this time will not only supply the French every where, and enable them to Act against us, but may in every essential manner distress his Majesty's Service here, as I do not know how soon I may want all that the Colonies can Furnish.
" I am, with the greatest Truth and regard, Sir, Your most Obe- dient Humble Servant,
"LOUDON."
Upon considering the several matters set forth in these Letters and Papers, the following Message was sent to the Assembly, ac- companied with an Extract of Lord Loudoun's Letter, in which was left out a Paragraph wherein he mentions that he would advance ye levy Money in case the Assembly declined to do it.
A Message from the Governor to the Assembly.
" Gentlemen :
" The Secretary will lay before you an Extract of a Letter I re- ceived last Night by Express from Lord Loudoun.
"You will be pleased to observe how much all the Colonies, and this Province in particular, are exposed to the immediate attacks of a successfull and implacable enemy.
" If the Country is to be saved, it must be the dispatch and vigour of your resolutions ; and I make no doubt but that you will chearfully grant such supplies as the Exigency of this important service requires.
" May heaven prosper your Councils; and permit me to remind you it is your duty to enable me to protect the people and support his Majesty's Government at this Critical conjuncture.
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"I also lay before you some Letters from the Frontiers, where a speedy reinforcement is absolutely necessary to save all from ruin. "WILLIAM DENNY."
At a Council held at Philadelphia, Tuesday the 31st Aug*, 1756. PRESENT :
The Honourable WILLIAM DENNY, Esquire, Lieutenant Gov- ernor.
Robert Strettell, Lynford Lardner,
James Hamilton,
John Mifflin,
Benjamin Shoemaker,
Thomas Cadwallader, Esquires.
Richard Peters,
The Minutes of the preceding Council were read and approved.
The Governor informed the Council that he had an hint of the Assembly's having an Intent to send him a Message to lay before them such of the Proprietary Instructions as relate to Money Bills, and therefore he called them, to give him their advice on this head; he than produced his Instructions, and as the first, Twelth, and Twenty-first Articles, only, had relation to Money Bills, they were read, and the Council unanimously advised the Governor to lay Copies of them before the Assembly if required.
The two following Messages from the Assembly were delivered in Council :
" To the Honourable WILLIAM DENNY, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Pennsylvania, &ca.,
" The Address of the Representatives of the Freemen of the said Province in Answer to the Governor's Speech of the 23d In. stant :
" May it please the Governor :
" We look upon the Royal Approbation of the Governor's Ap- pointment at this Critical Time as a Mark of the paternal Regard His Majesty has on all Occasions extended to his Subjects, when- ever their Distresses have been laid before him, and We shall most chearfully contribute our aid and Assistance to restore the former flourishing State of Pennsylvania.
" It gives us great pleasure to find that the Governor has pro- mised on every Occasion to protect this Province from the Designs and Attacks of the Enemy, and to support the People in the En- joyment of their Civil and Religious Rights, which, from his known Character and the Experience we have had of his Conduct since his Arrival among Us, we are Confident the Governor will be led to, as well from his own Inclination as from his Duty.
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" The Extended Western Boundary of this Province, which in a great measure covers the Colonies of Maryland, The Three Lower Counties on Delaware, and the Province of New Jersey, and the dispersed manner of settling the back Lands in this Colony and Virginia, have exposed both to greater Damage from the Inroads of the Indians; but as our Frontier is now in a better state of Defence than that of any of our Neighbours equally near the Enemy, we cannot but hope that the Inhabitants, by the blessing of God on the means hitherto provided by the Legislature, may become more secure in their Settlements; and as great Unanimity prevails among the Members of our House, we shall as far as lies in our power, consistent with our just Rights, enable the Governor to afford the People the Continuance of 'that Protection they so much stand in need of,' in full confidence that the Governor 'will deny us nothing that he can grant consistent with his Duty to his Majesty and the Rights of the Proprietaries.'
"Signed by order of the House.
"ISAAC NORRIS, Speaker. " August 31st, 1756." -
A Message to the Governor from the Assembly.
" May it Please the Governor :
"As soon as we had heared and considered the Governor's Speech, and before we received his Message with the Letter from Lord Loudoun, we resolved to give a Sum of Money for his Majesty's Service, demonstrating by that readiness that we were not insensible of our Duty to the best of Kings, nor of the neces- sity of enabling the Governor at this critical conjuncture to pro- tect the People committed to his care.
" As former Grants of this kind have been long delayed or ren- dered inaffectual by means of latent Proprietary Instructions, not com- municated to us till we had spent much time in vain in forming our Bills, we would now humbly request the Governor to lay before us full Copies of such of his Instructions as relate to Money Bills of any kind, with the Preambles or other parts that contain the rea- sons of such Instructions, that we may, if possible, avoid all occa- sions of delay in Affairs so important, and that our Judgements may be informed of the Equity or necessity of Rules to which a conformity is required.
"From the Governor's Candor, and sincere desire to facilitate and expedite, by every means in his power, what is necessary to the pub- lick welfare, as well as from the Reasonableness of the Thing in it self, we have no doubt he will favour us in granting this request. "Signed by order of the House.
"ISAAC NORRIS, Speaker.
"31st August, 1756."
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And in the Afternoon the Governor sent the Copies of the Three Instructions with a short Message.
A Message from the Governor to the Assembly.
" Gentlemen :
" Agreeable to your Request in your Message of this morning, I now lay before you Copies of the Proprietary Instructions relating to Money Bills.
" WILLIAM DENNY.
" August 31, 1756."
At a Council held at Philadelphia, Friday, 2d September, 1756. PRESENT :
The Honourable WILLIAM DENNY, Esq., Lieutenant Gov- ernor.
William Till,
Robert Strettell,
James Hamilton,
Joseph Turner,
Richard Peters,
Lynford Lardner, Esquires. John Mifflin,
The Minutes of the preceding Council were read and approved.
The Governor received a Message from the Assembly last night by two Members, which was read, and after consultation an answer was drawn and approved and sent to the House by the Secretary :
A Message to the Governor from the Assembly.
" May it please the Governor :
"The House have taken into their most serious Consideration the Proprietary Instructions relating to the passing of Money Bills, which the Governor has been pleased to lay before us, and as we are fully convinced the present unhappy circumstances of this Pro- vince require very large & immediate Supplies, We have likewise considered the Funds whereby such Sums as we Judge absolutely necessary for the Security of this Province, may be sunk, but every thing We have hitherto been able to propose, must be rendered in a great degree fruitless by those Instructions, if adhered to.
" We, therefore, request the Governor would be pleased to inform us wether he does not apprehend himself at Liberty, notwithstand- ing the said Proprietary Instructions, to pass such equitable Bills as we may Offer him, if consistent with his own Judgement and agreable to such Laws as have been enacted by his Predecessors, and received the Royal Assent.
" Signed By Order of the House.
"ISAAC NORRIS, Speaker.
" Septem'. 1st, 1756."
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A Message from the Governor to the Assembly.
" Gentlemen :
"I am glad to hear the House have taken the Money Bills into their serious Consideration, and the Proprietary Instructions on that Subject.
"It would be with great Reluctance, especially at this Time, If I should differ in sentiments with the House of Representatives. You will be pleased to observe how I am circumstanced, and that I cannot recede from my Instructions without risquing both my Hon- our and Fortune, which I am persuaded, you, Gentlemen, are too equitable to desire.
"Sep". 2d, 1756."
"WILLIAM DENNY.
A Petition was presented to the Governor in Council by the Nutreal French, which was read in these Words : 1
" To His Excellency, WILLIAM DENNY, Esquire, Governor of the Province of Pennsylvania, &ca., &ca .: "My Lord :
"In as much as your Excellency has been pleased to manifest to us all the goodness that we could desire, particularly in assuring us that we should not stand in want of any necessary, we apprehend at this Time of pressing necessity, we cannot do better than to Ad- dress Ourselves to your Excellency.
" The Honorable Gentlemen to whose care you have committed us, have assured us that that Money, which by Charity had been provided for our subsistance, was now expended on our Account. In the Melancholly situation to which we are now reduced we must inivetably perish, we and our unhappy Families, except your Ex- collency gives orders to the Contrary, which we beseech you will please to do, by giving orders that we may be maintained as Pris- oners ought to be : Nevertheless, as we doubt not but that we are a burthen to this Government, we beseech your Excellency would please to cause us to be carried in our Own Country, or that we be suffered to join our Nation in the same manner which it has pleased his Majesty, King George (whom may God preserve), to cause us to be transported here contrary to our will.
" We have been told by several Gentlemen, that Provisions were withheld from us, because we have refused to Accept of several things which have been offered us, such as a Garden, a Cow, &ca .; its true we did refuse them, as we apprehended it was contrary to common right to oblige such Prisoners as we are, to take engage- ments against their Wills, which we must acknowledge to your Ex- cellency, has appeared to us in some degree hard, in as much as Mr. Lawrence, Governor of Novia Scotia, assured us before his Ma-
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jesty's Council, that he took us Prisoners of War in the same man- ner as the French Men were Prisoners, who had then been taken on board the Leise and the Alcide, Two French Vessels, which were taken by Admiral Boscawen; And Governor Lawrence farther pro- mised Us, that we should be carried amongst our own People (i. e. the French). Notwithstanding, if your Excellency cannot cause us to be Transported to our Country, we beseech that we may enjoy the same priviledge which Prisoners have always enjoyed, viz .: to furnish us with what is necessary to keep us alive, and not to let us perish whilst we are detained here against our will.
" It is very hard for us, my Lord, to see that substance taken from us which has been granted to us by his Majesty, paying him the customary dues, and which we have improved by the sweat of our Brows ; we say, my Lord, its very hard to sce our selves de- prived of this Substance, notwithstanding the most solemn Pro- mises, and to find ourselves Transported into strange Lands and there to be suffered to perish. We have been allowed by the Com- missioners a Pound of Bread and half a Pound of Meat a Person each day, but if this is wholly taken from us, we must inivetably perish if you do not help us.
" Many of Us had yet a Little Money, but it is now expended, having been employ'd in such refreshments which were necessary for the better Subsistence of our Familys, so that we are ready to perish except assisted by your Excellency ; or that at least you would be pleased to order that Vessels Suitable to our unhappy situ- ation be provided that so that we may be sent back cither to our own Country or to our Country People. These are the sincere and ardent desires of those who are with the deepest respect, my Lord, your humble Servants,
" PIERRE DOUCET,
" PIERRE MELANSON,
" JEAN DOUCET,
" PIERRE ANCOIN,
" BATUTE TIBANDO,
" DANIEL LE BLANC,
"St. PIERRE BABIN,
" CHARLES LE BRUICE,
" PAUL BUJAULD,
"OLWIG TIBANDO,
JOSEPH TIBANDO,
PHILIP MALANSON,
CHARLES LA BLANC,
SIMON BABIN,
PIERRE LANDRY,
PAUL BOURG,
PIERRE BABIN,
MATHURIN LANDRY,
BAPTISTE BAUBIN, PAUL LE BLANC."
Then the Governor informed the House that at the instance of the Speaker and some Members of Assembly he had confered with them on the Claims set forth in this Petition, they having alledged in a Petition of the same Tenor to the Assembly that they were and ought to be treated as Prisoners of War and not as Subjects of the King of England; and on Reading Governor Lawrence's Letter, which was delivered to the late Governor by the Captains who imported them here, and the proceedings respecting those Neu-
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trals in Carolina and the other Governments; and on Considering the Treaty of Utrecht in the Articles of the Cession and Surrender. of Novia Scotia, the Governor and Council were unanimously of Opinion that they were Subjects of Great Britain, and to be treated on that footing and no other; whereupon the Governor sent the following Verbal Message by the Secretary to the Speaker :
"The Governor directs me to inform the Speaker and the Com- mittee that it is the unanimous Opinion of the Council and himself that the French Prisoners should not be treated as Prisoners of War. That he recommends it to the House to provide for them in such a manner as they shall think fit. That it might be better they shou'd be more generally dispersed and settled as far from the Frontiers as possible.
" Governor Lawrence's Letter is sent to shew the House under what Circumstances the Neutrals came here.
"2d Sepr., 1756."
In the Conference with the Members of Assembly the Governor was requested to recommend it to the Assembly of Newcastle to take and provide for a proper Quota or part of these Neutrals, and to pray the same of the Governor of Jersey with respect to his As- sembly.
At a Council held at Philadelphia, Tuesday the 6th Septem"., 1756.
PRESENT : 1
The Honourable WILLIAM DENNY, Esquire, Lieutenant Gov- ernor.
William Till,
Robert Strettell,
James Hamilton,
Benjamin Shoemaker,
Joseph Turner,
Richard Peters, Esquires.
Lynford Lardner,
Benjamin Chew,
John Mifflin,
The Minutes of the preceding Council were read and approved.
The Several Petitions from the Inhabitants of Cumberland County were Read, Viz* :
A Petition from the Reverend John Steel, Captain of a Company at Conegochege in the Pay of the Province, representing the most miserable condition of which the Upper part of Cumberland County bordering on Maryland was reduced to by the ravages of the In- dians and the numbers killed and taken into Captivity.
Another Petition from a number of the Inhabitants of Lurgan and Hopewell Townships, setting forth their extream distresses and praying relief.
VOL. VII .- 16.
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Another Petition from the Inhabitants of Shipensburg and adja- cent Townships, setting forth their miserable condition and offering to finish a Fort already begun by the late Governor if they shall be allowed Men and Amunition to defend it.
Mr. Joseph Armstrong, Member of Assembly, and Mr. Adam Hoops, Commissary of Provisions for the Supply of the Forces in Cumberland County, Attending with a Young Man who was taken Prisoner by the Indians and had made his escape, they were ex- amined as to the Truth of the several matters mentioned in the Petitions, and they confirmed the same, saying further that a Year ago there were three thousand Men fit to bear Arms livers in that County, and now, exclusive of the Provincial Forces, they were certain they did not amount to an hundred ; that there never was in the memory of Man a more abundant harvest ; that after the burn- ing of Fort Granville by the Indians, which was done whilst the Country People, guarded by Detachments of the Forces, were em- ployed in reaping, The Farmers abandoned their Plantations, and left what Corn was not then stacked or carried into Barnes to perish on the Ground, and that it was their Opinion if more force was not sent into those Frontiers, or if Colonel Armstrong shou'd miscarry, the West side of Susquahannah wou'd be entirely abandoned.
Then the Young Man, one John Cox, a Son of the Widow Cox, who had made his Escape from Kittannin, gave the following In- formation :
" That himself, his Brother Richard, and John Craig, in the be- gining of February last, were taken by nine Deleware Indians from a Plantation two Miles from McDowell's Mill, and carried to the Kittanning Town on the Ohio; that on his way thither he met Shingas with a Party of thirty Men, and afterwards with Captain Jacobs and fifteen, who were going on a Design to destroy the Settle- ments in Conegochege; that when He arrived at Kittannin he saw there about one hundred fighting Men of the Deleware Tribe with their Families, and about Fifty English Prisoners, consisting of Men, Women, and Children ; that during his stay there Shingas' and Jacobs' Parties returned-the one with nine Scalps and ten Prisoners, the other with several Scalps and five prisoners, and that another Company of eighteen came from Diahogo with seventeen Scalps fixed on a Pole, and carried them to Fort Du Quesne to ob- tain their reward ; That the Warriors held a Council, which with their Warr Dances continued a Week, after which Captain Jacobs went of with a party of Forty-eight Men, intending (as he was told) to fall upon the Inhabitants of Paxton; that the Indians fre- quently said they resolved to kill all the white Folks except a few, with whom they would afterwards make a Peace ; that they made an Example of one Paul Broadly, whom they, agreeable to their usual Cruelty, beat for half an hour with Clubbs and Tomhawks, and afterwards fastning him to a Post cropt his Ears close to his head
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and chopt his Fingers ; that they called together all the Prisoners to be Witnesses to this Scene of their inhuman Barbarity.
" And he further saith that about the Beginning of March he was taken by three Indians to Diahogo, where he found about Fifty Warriors belonging to the Delaware, Mohiccon, & Munsa Tribes, and about Twenty German Prisoners; that while he was there the Indians frequently went in parties of twelve to destroy the Inhabi- tants, and as often returned with their Scalps, but no Prisoners ; that their whole conversation was continually filled with Expres- sions of Vengeance against the English, and resolutions to kill them and lay waste there Country; That in May all the Indians removed from Diahogo about Twenty-five Miles higher up the River to plant Corn, where most of them have since lived.
"That they, with the Prisoners, during the whole Summer havo been in a starving Condition, having very little Venison & Corn, and reduced to the necessity of living upon Dog Flesh and the few Roots and Berrys they could collect in the Woods; that several of the Prisoners have dyed for want of Food; That six Weeks ago about one hundred Indians went off from the Susquehannah to the Ohio for a Supply of Provisions and Amunition, and were expected back in . thirty days; That while they were in this distressed Situation they talked several times of making Peace with the English, and many of them observed that it was better to do so than Starve, for that the Rewards the French gave were not sufficient to support them, not having received from them more than one loaf of Bread for each Scalp. But that old Makomesy, his (Cox's) Master, and one of their Chiefs endeavoured to dissuade them from entering into any peaceable Measures with the English, and had constantly en- couraged them to continue the War; That while these things were in Agitation an Indian Chief came among them, and informed them that the Mingo's cou'd live with the English and be furnished with Provisions and every thing they wanted, while the Delawares were Starving for carrying on the War against them.
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