USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial records of Pennsylvania, Vol. VII > Part 27
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"5th. Tho' the Law referred to may expire some Years before the time limitted in the Bill, yet as the Punishment is to be in- flicted by Virtue of the Present Law, and not by Virtue of the Law referred to, which is only referred to for the Discription of the Punishment, and as that Law after its Expiration will still remain on Our Records, we apprehend no inconveniency can arise from the reference objected to ; If any should arise, a subsequent Act may Remedy it.
" 6th. By all former Excise Laws it was required by the Magis- trates not to grant Recommendations till the Certificates of Pay- ment of Excise were produced, but no Penalty was laid for their noncomplyance. A Law without a Penalty is vain. This has proved so, being generally disregarded ; As it is for the King, tending to the more effectual Collection of the Excise granted, and by no means difficult to be complyed with by the Magistrates, we think it reasonable to fix a Penalty on that breach of Duty.
"7th. If the Clause were, that the Collector should not be capa- ble of being re-appointed after one Year, the Reason would have more weight; But he may, and probably will, be continued from Year to Year, if he shows himself dilligent in Collecting and punc- tual in paying his Collections to the Treasurer ; we have found by Experience, that Officers appointed for long Terms grow negligent of their Duty, and yet are not easily removed; great sums have thereby been lost to the Publick. And we have had instances of Collectors appointed to fill a Vacancy for a Year before the Expira- tion of the Term, being extreamly diligent, in order to recommend themselves to a continuance after the Year shou'd expire, which has proved much to the Publick Advantage. Our Sheriffs and Coro- ners, whose duty is more hard to learn, are chosen from Year to Year without any inconvenience.
" 8th, 9th. In these particulars the Bill is conformable to former Excise Laws, which have received the Royal Assent, and no incon- venience has arisen.
" 10th. The fund appropriated for sinking the Five Thousand Pounds given for the Canada Expedition, was broke in upon by the late extraordinary Demand for Publick Money. Five Thousand Pounds was given in Provisions to General Braddock, and near Four Thousand Pounds more to cut a Road for the King's Service, at the Instance of that General, besides large Sums for the main- tenance of Indians, extraordinary and expensive Treatys, &ca., not expected or foreseen when the Fund was laid. It may, therefore, fall short, and the outstanding Debts not pay the whole, but, how- ever, the Publick Credit ought to be supported, and the new laid Excise is the most proper Fund to supply deficiency's in the Old.
" The House cannot be supposed insensible of the distresses of their Fellow Subjects on the Frontiers; several of the Members re- - side there. They hoped they had, in this Bill, provided for those
I a I
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People the Means of speedy Assistance, and avoided all Objections. They sce none now of importance enough, in their Opinion, to pre- vent the Passage of the Bill. They grant the Money freely to the King's Use, and cannot admit of Amendments to a Money Bill. They, therefore, persuade themselves That the Governor will con- sider the present Circumstances of the Province, and the Conse- quence of dispiriting the Inhabitants, by depriving them at this time of their Priviliges, without which they would think their Country Scarce worth defending; and that he will not suffer a Pro- prietary Instruction, new, unjust, and unseasonable, to deprive his Majesty of a grant so large, so freely given, and so necessary for his Majesty's Service, and for the Preservation of the Proprietary Estate, as well as the securing the Lives & Fortunes of the Inhabi- tants who promised themselves great happiness in being placed im- mediately under his care and Protection."
The Governor, admiring the formality of the Members of the Committee, and observing that they wou'd not take any the least measures without first consulting the House, desired to know of the Council what was next to be done; and a Majority thinking it ne- cessary that the reasons assigned by the Assembly, which they assured the Governor were, many of them, grounded on misrepre- sentation, and other fallicious and weak, shou'd receive an imme- diate answer; but the Governor saying this wou'd draw on a long controversy, which wou'd but the more sharpen People's Passions, he declined all further Papers or disputation with the Assembly in Writing, and drew up the following Message :
A Message from the Governor by the Secretary. " Sir :
" The Governor returns the Bill entituled 'An Act for striking the Sum of Sixty Thousand Pounds in Bills of Credit, and giving the same to the King's Use, and for providing a Fund to sink the Bills so to be emitted by laying an Excise upon Wine, Rum, Brandy, and other Spirits,' and his Honour commands me to acquaint the House that he will not give his Assent to it; and there being no Person to judge between the Governor and the House in these parts, he will immediately transmit to his Majesty his reasons for so doing."
Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Chew, and Mr. Peters were appointed a Com- mittee to consider and draw up an Answer to the Assembly's Paper along with the Bill, and the other proceedings had thereupon, to the King's Ministers.
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At a Council held at Philadelphia, Saturday the 18th Septem., 1756.
PRESENT :
The Honourable WILLIAM DENNY, Esquire, Lieutenant Gov- ernor.
Robert Strettell,
William Till,
Benjamin Shoemaker,
Joseph Turner,
Richard Peters,
Lynford Lardner,
Esquires.
John Mifflin,
Thomas Cadwallader,
Benjamin Chew,
The Minutes of the preceding Council were read and approved.
A Bill entituled " An Act for striking the Sum of Thirty Thou- sand Pounds in Bills of Credit and giving the same to the King's Use, and for providing a Fund to sink the Bills so to be emitted by laying an Excise on Wine, Rum, Brandy, and other Spirits," was sent to the Governor by the House for his Concurrence and read- first entirely, then Paragraph by Paragraph, and after considering the several parts thereof, and particularly that the Excise was laid on for the Term of Ten Years, which is unreasonable, and wou'd be a depreciation of the Currancy, and the Question was put whether it shou'd pass, and a Majority of the Council Voted in the Affirma- tive, alledging that considering the pressing circumstances of the Frontiers and that the whole Sum was appropriated for the use of the King, and to be disposed off with the Governor's Approbation and not otherwise, and that some other Points objected to in the former Bill had been conceded to by the Assembly, the Governor might be excused in passing it.
But on further Consideration of the Report of the Lords of Trade, as to the £60,000, passed in November last, and that the Governor wou'd be greatly embarrassed in future Bills by exceed- ing the Term of five Years for sinking New Bills of Credit, they recommended it to the Governor to try all he cou'd to avoid it, and to propose the £15,000 to be sunk within the Five years ; but if this cou'd not be obtained, then to pass the Bill as it now stands.
Mr. Shoemaker and Mr. Chew afterwards discovering that the Fines within the City were taken from the Corporation, tho' they belong to that Body both by Charter and former Laws, desired this might likewise be mentioned and altered.
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At a Council held on Saturday the 18th September, 1756, P. M. PRESENT :
The Honourable WILLIAM DENNY, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor.
Robert Strettle, William Till,
Benjamin Shoemaker, Joseph Turner,
Richard Peters,
Lynford Lardner,
John Mifflin,
Thomas Cadwallader,
1 Esquires.
Benjamin Chew,
The Minutes of the preceding Council were Read and Approved.
The Governor acquainted the Council that he had held a Con- ference with the Speaker and Mr. Franklin, and cou'd not prevail with them to take back the Bill or recommend another for fifteen Thousand Pounds, to be sunk in Five Years; the House being, as they said, determined on this and no other ; and as to the Fines, the both denied the Right of the Corporation to such Fines, and believed the House wou'd adhere to their Bill.
On this the City Charter and former Laws were read, and it ap- pearing to the Governor's Satisfaction that the Corporation had a right to all Fines adjudged within the City, he declared he would not give his Assent to this part of the Bill. On the further Ex- amination of the Bill, it appeared that the Governor's Right to a Fine of Five Pounds on Conviction of any one's keeping a publick House without his Lycence was taken away and appropriated to the uses of the Bill, at which the Governor cou'd not help taking Offence, and it was unanimously agreed that in these two parts the Bill should be Amended.
An Express brought the agreeable News of the return of Colonel Armstrong, and, Letters from him acquainting the Governor as follows : .
" FORT LITTLETON, Septem". 14th, 1756.
" May it please your Honour :
" Agreeable to mine of the 29th Ultº., We marched from Fort Shirly the day following, and on Wednesday, the Third Instant, joined our advanced party at the Beaver Dams, a few Miles from Franks Town, on the North branch of Juniata. We were there informed that some of our Men having been out upon a Scout, had discovered the Tracts of two Indians about three Miles on this side of the Alleghenny Mountains, and but a few Miles from the Camp. From the freshness of their Tracts, their killing of a Cub Bear, and the marks of their Fires, it seemed evident they were not twenty-four Hours before us, which might be looked upon as a particular Providence in our Fa- vour that we were not discovered. Next Morning we decamped, VOL. VII .- 17.
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and in two Days came within fifty Miles of the Kittanning. It was then adjudged necessary to send some Persons to reconnoitre the Town and to get the best Intelligence they cou'd concerning the Situation and Position of the Enemy ; Whereupon an Officer with one of the Pilots and two Soldiers were sent off for that purpose. The day following We met them on their Return, and they informed us that the Roads were entirely clear of the Enemy, and that they had the Greatest Reason to believe they were not discovered; but from the rest of the Intelligence they gave, it appear'd they had not been nigh enough the Town either to perceive the true Situation of it, the Number of the Enemy, or what way it might most ad- vantageously be attacked. We continued our March, intending to get as near the Town as possible that Night so as to be able to Attack it next Morning about Day Light; but to our great dissat- isfaction about nine or ten O'Clock at Night one of our Guides came and told us that he perceived a Fire by the Road side at which he saw two or three Indians a few perches distant from our Front ; Whereupon, with all possible Silence, I ordered the rear to retreat about One Hundred perches in order to make way for the Front, that we might consult how we cou'd best proceed without being dis- covered by the Enemy. Soon after the Pilot returned a Second Time and assured us from the best observations he cou'd make there were not above Three or Four Indians at the Fire. On which it was proposed that we shou'd immediately surround and cut them off; but this was thought too hazerdous ; forif but one of the Enemy had escaped It would have been the Means of' discovering the whole design ; and the light of the Moon, on which depended our advan- tageously posting our Men and Attacking the Town, wou'd not admit of our staying until the Indians fell a Sleep. On which it was agreed to leave Lieutenant Hogg with twelve Men and the Person who first discovered the Fire, with orders to watch the Enemy but not to attack them till break of Day, and then if possi- ble to cutt them off. It was also agreed (we believing ourselves to be but about Six Miles from the Town) to leave the Horses, many of them being tired, with what Blankets and other Baggage we then had, and take a Circuit off of the Road, which was very rough and incommodious on Account of the Stones and fallen Timber, in order to prevent our being heard by the Enemy at the Fire place. This interruption much retarded our March; but a still greater Loss arose from the Ignorance of our Pilots, who neither knew the true Situation of the Town nor the best Paths that lead thereto, By which means, after crossing a Number of Hills and Vallys, our Front reached the River Ohio about one hundred Perches below the main Body of the Town, a little before the Setting of the Moon; To which place, rather than by the Pilots, we were guided by the Beating of a Drum and the Whooping of the Warriors at their Dance. It then became us to make the best use of the remaining Moon light, but are we were aware, an Indian whistled in a very singlar manner,
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about thirty perches from our Front in the foot of a Corn field ; upon which we immediately sat down, and after passing Silence to the rear, I asked one Baker, a Soldier, who was our best Assistant, whether that was not a Signal to the Warriors of our Approach ? He answered no, and said it was the manner of a Young Fellow's calling a Squa after he had done his Dance, who accordingly kin- dled a Fire, clean'd his Gun and shot it off before he went to Sleep. All this time we were Obliged to lay quiet and hush, till the Moon was fairly set. Immediately after, a Number of Fires appeared in different places in the Corn Field, by which Baker said the Indians lay, the Night being warm and that these Fires wou'd immediately be out, as they were only designed to disperse the Gnats. By this time it was break of day, and the Men having Marched Thirty Miles were most a sleep ; the line being long, the three Companies of the Rear were not yet brought over the last precipice. For these some proper Hands were immediately dispatched, and the weary Soldiers being roused to their Feet, a proper Number under sundry Officers were ordered to take the End of the Hill, at which we then lay, and March along the Top of the said Hill, at least one hundred perches, and so much further, it then being day Light, as wou'd carry them Opposite the upper part or at least the Body of the Town. For the lower part thereof and the Corn Field, presum- ing the Warriors were there, I kept rather the larger Number of the Men, promising to postpone the Attack in that part for Eighteen or Twenty Minutes, until the Detachment along the Hill should have time to Advance to the place Assigned them, in doing of which, they were a little unfortunate. The time being elapsed, the Attack was begun in the Corn Field, and the Men with all Expe- dition possible, dispatched thro' the several parts thereof ; a party being also dispatched to the Houses, which were then discovered by the light of the Day. Captain Jacobs immediately gave the War- Whoop, and with Sundry other Indians, as the English Prisoners afterwards told, cried the White Men were at last come, they wou'd then have Scalps enough, but at the same time ordered their Squas and Children to fflee to the Woods. . Our Men with great Eager- ness passed thro' and Fired in the Corn Field, where they had several Returns from the Enemy, as they also had from the Oppo- site side of the River. Presently after, a brisk fire begun among the Houses, which from the House of Captain Jacobs was return'd with a great deal of Resolution ; to which place I immediately re- paired. and found that from the Advantage of the House and the Port Holes, sundry of our People were wounded, and some killed, and finding that returning the Fire upon the House was ineffectual, Ordered the contiguous Houses to be set on Fire ; which was per- formed by Sundry of the Officers and Soldiers, with a great deal of Activity, the Indians always firing, whenever an Object presented it self, and seldom mist of Wounding or killing some of our People; From which House, in moving about to give the necessary
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Orders and directions, I received a wound from a large Musket Ball in the Shoulder. Sundry Persons during the Action were ordered to tell the Indians to Surrender themselves prisoners; but one of the Indians, in particular, answered and said, he was a Man and wou'd not be a Prisoner, Upon which he was told in Indian he wou'd be burnt. To this He answered, he did not care for, he wou'd kill four or five before he died, and had we not desisted from exposing ourselves, they wou'd have killed a great many more, they having a Number of loaded Guns by them. As the fire began to Approach and the Smoak grow thick, one of the Indian Fellows, to shew his Manhood, began to Sing. A Squa, in the same House, and at the same time, was heard to cry and make Noise, but for so doing was severly rebuked by the Men; but by and by the fire being too hot for them, two Indian Fellows and a Squa sprung out and made for the Corn Field, who were immediately shot down by Our People, then surrounding the Houses it was thought Captain Jacobs tumbled himself out at a Garret or Cock loft Window, at which he was Shot; Our Prisoners offering to be Qualified to the Powder horn and Pauch, there taken off him, which they say he had lately got from a French Officer in Exchange for Lieutenant Armstrong's Boots, which he carried from Fort Granvelle, where the Lieutenant was killed. The same Prisoners say they are per- fectly Assured of his Scalp, as no other Indians there wore their Hair in the same manner. They also say they knew his Squa's Scalp by a particular bob; and also knew the Scalp of a Young Indian called the King's Son. Before this time Captain Hugh Mercer, who early in the Action was wounded in the Arm, had been taken to the Top of a Hill, above the Town, To whom a number of Men and some of the Officers were gathered, From whence they had discovered some Indians cross the River and take the Hill with an Intent as they thought, to surround us and cut off our Retreat, from whom I had sundry pressing Messages to leave the Houses and retreat to the Hill, or we shou'd all be cut off; but to this cou'd by no means consent until all the Houses were set on fire. Tho' our spreading upon the Hills appeared very necessary, yet did it prevent our Researches of the Corn Field and River side, by which Means sundry Scalps were left behind, and doubtless some Squas, Children, and English Prisoners, that otherwise might have been got. During the burning of the Houses, which were near thirty in Number, we were agreably entertained with a Quick Suc- cession of charged Guns, gradually Firing off as reached by the Fire, but much more so, with the vast Explosion of sundry Bags & large Cags of Gunpowder, wherewith almost every House abounded ; the Prisoners afterwd. informing that the Indians had frequently said they had a sufficient stock of ammunition for ten Years War with the English. With the Prooff of Captain Jacob's House, when the Powder blew up was thrown the Leg and Thigh of an In- dian with a Child of three or four Years Old, such a height that
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they appeared as nothing and fell in the adjacent Corn Field. There was also a great Quantity of Goods burnt which the Indians had received in a present but ten days before from the French. By this time I had proceeded to the Hill to have my wound tyed up and the Blood stopped, where the Prisoners, which in the Morning had come to our People, informed me that that very day two Battoas of French Men, with a large party of Delaware and French Indians, were to Join Captain Jacobs at the Kittaning, and to set out early the next Morning to take Fort Shirley, or as they called it, George Croghan's Fort, and that Twenty-four Warriors who had lately come to the Town, were set out before them the Evening before, for what pur- pose they did not know, whether to prepare Meat, to Spy the Fort, or to make an attack on some of our back Inhabitants. Soon after, upon a little Reflection, we were convinced these Warriors were all at the Fire we had discovered the Night before, and began to doubt the Fate of Lieuten" Hogg and his Party, from this Intelligence of the Prisoners. Our Provisions being Scaffolded some thirty Miles back, except what were in the Men's Haversacks, which were left with the Horses and Blankets with Lieutenant Hogg and His party, and a Number of wounded People then on hand; by the Advice of the Officers it was thought imprudent then to wait for the cutting down the Corn Field (which was before designed), but immediately to collect our Wounded and force our March back in the best man- ner we cou'd, which we did by collecting a few Indian Horses to carry off our wounded. From the Apprehensions of being way laid and surrounded (especially by some of the Woodsmen), it was difficult to keep the Men together, our March for Sundry Miles not exceeding two Miles an Hour, which apprehensions were heightened by the Attempts of a few Indians who for some time after the March fir'd upon each wing and immediately Run off, from whom we re- ceived no other Damage but one of our Men's being wounded thro' both Legs. Captain Mercer being wounded, was induced, as we have reason to believe, by some of his Men, to leave the main Body with his Ensign, John Scott, and ten or twelve Men, they being heard to tell him that we were in great Danger, and that they cou'd take him into the Road a nigh Way, is probable lost, there being yet no Account of him; the most of the Men come in Detachment was sent back to bring him in, but cou'd not find him, and upon the Return of the Detachment it was generally reported he was seen with the above Number of Men, take a different Road. Upon our Return to the place where the Indian Fire had been discovered the Night before, We met with a Sergeant of Captain Mercer's Com- pany and two or three other of his Men who had deserted us that Morning, immediately after the action at the Kittaning; These Men on running away had met with Lieut. Hogg, who lay wounded in two different parts of his Body by the Road side ; He there told them of the fatal Mistake of the Pilot, who had assured us there were but three Indians at the most at the Fire place, but when he came to attack
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them that Morning according to Orders, he found a Number consider- ably Superior to his, and believes they killed and Mortally wounded three of them the first Fire, after which a warm Engagement began, and continued for above an Hour, when three of his best men were killed and himself twice wounded; the residue fleeing off he was obliged to Squat in a thicket, where he might have laid securely until the main Body had come up, if this Cowardly Sergeant and others that fleed with him had not taken him away; they had marched but a short Space when four Indians appeared, upon which these deserters began to flee. The Lieutenant then, notwithstand- ing his wounds, as a Brave Soldier, urging and Commanding them to stand and fight, which they all refused. The Indians pursued, killing one Man and wounding the Lieutenant a third time through the Belly, of which he dyed in a few Hours; but he, having some time before been put on Horse back, rode some Miles from the place of Action. But this last Attack of the Indians upon Lieuten- ant Hogg and the deserters was by the beforementioned Sergeant represented to us in a quite different light, he telling us that there were a far larger Number of the Indians there than appeared to them, and that he and the Men with him had fought five Rounds ; that he had there seen the Lieutenant and sundry others killed and Scalped, and had also discovered a Number of Indians throwing themselves before us, and insinuated a great deal of such stuff, as threw us into much Confusion, so that the Officers had a great deal to do to keep the Men together, but cou'd not prevail with them to collect what Horses and other Baggage that the Indians had left after their Conquest of Lieutenant Hogg and the Party under his Command in the Morning, except a few of the Horses, which some of the bravest of the Men were prevailed on to collect; so that from the mistake of the Pilot, who spied the Indians at the Fire, and the Cowerdice of the said Sergeant and other Deserters, we have sus- tained a considerable loss of our Horses and Baggage. It is im- possible to ascertain the exact Number of the Enemy killed in the Action, as some were destroy'd by Fire and others in different parts of the Corn Field, but upon a Moderate Computation its generally believed there cannot be less than thirty or Forty killed and Mor- tally wounded, as much Blood was found in Sundry parts of the Cornfield, and Indians seen in several places crawl into the Weeds on their Hands and Feet, whom the Soldiers, in pursuit of others, then overlooked, expecting to find and Scalp them afterwards; and also several kill'd and wounded in crossing the River. On begin- ning our March back we had about a dozen of Scalps and Eleven English Prisoners, but now find that four or five of the Scalps are missing, part of which were lost on the Road and part in possession of those Men who with Captain Mercer seperated from the main Body, with whom also went four of the Prisoners, the other seven being now at this place, where we arrived on Sunday Night, not being ever seperated or attacked thro' our whole March by the
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