USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial records of Pennsylvania, Vol. VII > Part 46
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John Mifflin,
Thomas Cadwalader,
The Minutes of the preceding Council were read and approved.
On Thursday, the Seventeenth, the following Bills were enacted into Laws, viz *:
" An Act for the further Continuance of an Act of General As- sembly of this Province, intituled ' An Act for the more easy Re- convey of Legacies.'"'
" An Act to render the Quartering of Soldiers on the Publick Houses of this Province less burthensome:"
"An Act for regulating the Hire of Carriages to be employed in His Majesty's Service within the inhabited Parts of this Province."
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On Friday, the Eighteenth, Two Members of Assembly waited on the Governor and acquainted him that the Business of the House being chiefly before his Honour, and in the Hands of Committees, the Members inclined to make a short Adjournment to Monday next, unless the Governor had any Thing to lay before them which required their immediate Consideration; To which the Governor was pleased to say, he had nothing prepared at present to lay before the House, but on Monday next should have several Matters in Readiness for their Consideration.
The same Day the Secretary waited on the Assembly, with a verbal Message from the Governor, and requested that the Report of the Lords of Trade on the Sixty Thousd. Pounds Act, sent down to the House sometime ago, might be returned to his Honour.
The Governor by the Secretary, sent down to the House the fol- lowing Message :
"Gentlemen :
"Being convinced that nothing could more effectually secure the People of this Province from the Attacks of the Enemy than a well trained and regular Militia, I thought it my Duty to recommend it to you, in the most pressing Terms, at your first Meeting in Octo- ber last, to frame a just and equitable Militia Bill with all possible Dispatch.
"Moved by the same Sense of Duty, I must again request that you will not suffer a Matter of so great Importance to be any longer delayed.
"WILLIAM DENNY.
" March 21, 1757."
The Bill for regulating the Indian Trade was read, with the Amendments made to the former Bill, which were approved, and a new Amendment proposed to ascertain the Salary of the Agents.
The Governor informed the Council that he had consulted Lord Loudoun on the Bill to prevent the Exportation of Provisions, and his Lordship acquainted him that the Embargo was laid at New York, exactly as desired by the Lords of Trade in their Letter, and it was his Lordship's Opinion that the same should be done in this Province, it appearing to him, that the Neutral Ports in Europe and Maderia had been well considered at the Board of Trade, and judi- ciously left out. The Governor having received this Advice, he adhered to the Amendments, and returned the Bill to the House with them.
His Lordship desiring an Account of the Face of the Country on the Borders of Pennsylvania, the same was delivered to him as follows :
" The inhabited Part of Pennsylvania has for its Frontier a Ridge
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of Mountains which extend from New England to Carolina, their Course nearest South South-West, called in this Province the Blue Hills, and in Jersey and other Provinces Pequaaling Mountain. At about Six Miles North of these, in the same Course with them, runs another Flight of High Mountains, called the Tuscorora Hills ; be- tween these Two Ridges all along the Frontiers are Valleys, which were lately inhabited but now deserted.
" Both these Ridges of Hills are very passable in many Places,' and the Face of the Country on this side of them until you come to the thick inhabited Part is all over Wood, abounding with Streams and a great deal of broken Land, Swamps, Morasses, and Unevenesses, thro' which any Number of Men may pass, and where they may conceal themselves and do what Mischief they please with- out Difficulty and with an easy Retreat.
" At about Ten Miles Distance South of these Blue Hills is an- other Ridge of Mountains ; this Third Ridge is called, where they . pass the River Delaware, the Lehigh Hills, and where they cross the Sasquehannah, the South Mountain. Between these Two last Ridges of Hills are two well inhabited Valleys, one of which, on this side Sasquehannah, is the fine Vale of Tulpyhoccon; another, on the other side Sasquehannah, makes the County of Cumberland. In the Centre of this last Valley passes a great and good Waggon Road thro' this Province to Virginia and Carolina, on which are Harris' Ferry, the Towns and Forts of Carlisle and Shippensburg, the Magazine at McDowell's Mill, and Forts Loudoun and Lyttleton ; to this fine Valley there is an easy Access from the Ohio by several good Passes in the Mountains, and the Access is easier now, as the Inhabitants are mostly fled from the North Side of the Blue Hills and from the Vale.
" In short, quite the Length of the Frontiers which extend be- twixt Delaware and Potomac, One Hundred and Eighty Miles, the Face of the Country is woody, with Broken Hills and small Rivers, and the Passes thro' the main Bodies of the Mountains many and easy.
" There are two usual Paths from the Ohio to Pennsylvania, One thro Ray's Town, distant from Shippensburgh Sixty-Five Miles, and the other thro' Frank's Town, situate at about Thirty Miles North of Ray's Town. A new Road was opened and cleared thro' Ray's Town over the Allegheny Hills for the Use of General Braddock, and is now a good one ; thro' Frank's Town Col. Armstrong marched , to the Kittannin, and it is said to be a very bad Road, abounding with Morasses and broken Hills difficult of Passage.
" By one or other of these Two Roads the Parties of Indians have hitherto enter'd the Province, their Rendezvous having usually been either at Ray's Town or Frank's Town.
" The River Juniata affords an easy Passage by Water from
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Frank's Town to Fort Augusta at Shamokin, or to Harris' Ferry on the Sasquehannah, from which it is but Thirty-Five Miles to the Town of Lancaster."
At the Request of Lord Loudoun the Governor issued the fol- lowing Warrant to apprehend Charles Le Blanc, Jean Baptiste Gal- lerme, Philip Melancon, Paul Bujauld, and Jean Landy, Five Neutral French :
" PENNSYLVANIA, SS :
" Whereas, Information hath been made to me, William Denny, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Pro- vince of Pennsylvania and Counties of Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex, on Delaware, that Charles le Blanc and Jean Baptiste Gallerme, now in Philadelphia City; Philip Melancon, now in Frankfort, in - the County of Philadelphia; Paul Bujauld, now in Chester, and Jean Landy, now in Derby, Inhabitants of Nova Scotia, lately imported into this Province, are suspicious and evil-minded Persons, and have, and each of them hath, at divers Times, uttered menacing Speeches against His Majesty and His liege Subjects, and behave in a very disorderly Manner; You are, therefore, hereby strictly charged and commanded to apprehend, or cause to be apprehended, the said Charles Le Blanc, Jean Baptiste Gallerme, Philip Melan- con, Paul Bujauld, and Jean Landy, and when taken to commit them, and each of them, to the Jayl of the City of Philadelphia, there to remain till they are legally discharged. Given under my Hand and Seal at Arms at Philadelphia, the Twenty-First Day of March, in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty-Seven.
"WILLIAM DENNY.
"To JAMES COULTAS, Esquire."
Information being given to Lord Loudoun and the Governor, against Francis Ingliss, a French Deserter, as if he was engaged with Others in encouraging the Back Inhabitants to settle among the French, the following Warrant was issued to apprehend him :
" PENNSYLVANIA, SS :
" Whereas, Information hath been made to me, William Denny, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Province of Pennsylvania and the Three Counties on Delaware, That a certain Francis Ingliss, late of Conegochege, in the County of Cumberland, travelling Shoemaker, is a very suspicious and evil- minded Person, and hath committed many notorious Breaches of His Majesty's Peace, as well in this Province as in the Province of Maryland, and hath also committed divers other Offences and Mal- feasances, to the Damage of many of His Majesty's liege Subjects ; You and every of you are, therefore, hereby strictly required and commanded to take the Body of the said Francis Ingliss, and carry
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him, when so taken, before some Justice of the Peace of the County where he may be apprehended, who is hereby ordered and com- manded, forthwith, to send the Body of the said Francis Ingliss with a strong Guard, under the Custody of the Sheriff of the said County, before me, that he may be dealt with according to Law. Hereof fail not at your Peril, and this shall be your sufficient Warrant.
" Given under my Hand and Seal at Arms, at Philadelphia, this Twenty-First Day of March, in the Year of our Lord One Thou- sand Seven Hundred and Fifty-Seven.
"WILLIAM DENNY."
"To all and every the Sheriffs and Constables of the several Counties in the Province of Pennsylvania."
The Governor communicated to Lord Loudoun Sir Charles Har- die's Letter relating to Intelligence, entered in the Minutes of Council of the Twenty-Fourth Day of November last, and ac- quainted his Lordship that the Post Office of America is executed jointly by Mr. Franklin and Mr. Hunter of Virginia. It extends from Georgia to New Hampshire, and they have each Three Hun- dred Pounds Sterling # Annum, payable out of their own Office.
" Besides the Salary, they have the Disposal of the Deputy Postmasters, Twelve in Number, said to be one with another above One Hundred Pounds Sterl. Each # Ann™
" Mr. Franklin has in particular the great Advantage of circulat- ing his Papers free, and receiving Intelligence, which he may make the best or worst Use of in the present Situation of Affairs.
" Sir Charles Hardie wrote to the late Governor Morris and my- self, to prevent the Publication of Improper Intelligence in News- papers, which it is impracticable for me to do, unless your Lordship lays your Commands on the Postmaster, to be extremely cautious in that particular ; and perhaps it may even be thought necessary for His Majesty's Service, that Articles of Intelligence should re- ceive my Approbation, and not published without Leave."
The Governor thinking it necessary to know the exact Number of Roman Catholics within the Province, ordered the Secretary to ap- ply to Mr. Harding, the Roman Catholic Priest in this City, for a List, which he delivered with the following Letter :
" Hd. Sir :
"I send you the Number of the Roman Catholicks in this Town, and of those whom I visit in the Country. Mr. Sneider is not in Town to give in an Account of the Germans, but I have heard him often say, that the whole Number of Roman Catholicks, English,
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Irish and Germans, including Men, Women and Children, does not exceed Two Thousand.
"I remain, Hd. Sr., Yr· Humble St.,
"ROBT. HARDING.
" To the Rd. Mr. PETERS."
"The Number of Roman Catholics in Pennsylvania.
" English & Irish in Philadelphia :
" Males 77 139. - "Females 62 1
"In Chester County :
"Males 25
"Females 15
40.
Lord Loudoun desiring to be made acquainted with the Nature of the Constitution, and the Matters in difference between the Gover- nor and Assembly, the following memorands were drawn up by Mr. Peters, and given to my Lord for his Consideration :
"The Inhabitants have never been numbered, but it is believed by good Judges that They Amount to Two hundred Thousand in the Province and Counties, Thirty Thousand of which may be capable of bearing Arms.
"No Militia is established by Law, owing to the Quakers, who, it is thought, make an Eighth of the Province, and as they are against Defence, those who wou'd otherwise chearfully defend their Country are displeased, and decline to form Associations, as they did in the last War, for their Protection.
"On the first Attacks of the Indians, the back Inhabitants, having no Arms nor Order, were struck with a Panick and deserted their Plantations ; on which a Range of Forts was built along the Fron- tiers, and 1,400 Men raised for Garrisons and Patroles, wch are still kept up. Each Soldier has Eighteen Pence Currency a Day, and his Victuals found; these Fourteen hundred Men with their Officers cost the Province above Seventy Thousand Pounds Currency an- nually. They are only inlisted for a Year, which is either expired or near it, and five Months' Pay in Arrear.
"The Assembly have sat five Months without raising Supplies. Last Year an Act passed granting Sixty Thousand Pounds to the King; and a Supplement to that Act, granting One Hundred Thou- sand Pounds, is now before the Governor, with respect to which He is under this Difficulty, that tho' the Proprietary Estate be exempted yet the Bill is framed on a Plan very unjust, unequal, and oppres- sive; On which Account the Proprietaries, in Instructions given after the Act, to which this is a Supplement, had received the royal
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Assent, have restrained their Governor from passing such an One, and this by advice of the Lords of Trade; and yet if it be not passed just as it is, with many things in it which are acknowledged by Mr. Franklin to be unjust, no Supplies, it is said, will be raised. It is to be observed that neither in this nor the other Supply Bill is any Money given for the general Service of America; and that all Monies raised and not particularly appropriated are at the Disposal of the Assembly, so that the Governor is obliged to make particular Ap- plications for every Article of Expence, be it never so trifling, or advance it out of his own Pockett.
"The Assembly withholds the Governor's Support, which used to be a Thousand Pounds Currency $ Annum ; and the Perquisites, which amount one Year with another to a Thousand Pounds, are chiefly paid at the Close of the Year.
"The Assembly have of late very much encroached on the Rights of Government in this particular, vizt .: That where any Office is created by Act of Assembly, the Officers are inserted in the Bill, with a Clause giving the Assembly the Right of Nomination in case of Death; and they will not suffer Amendments to their Bills in these particulars.
" The People, by the Proprietary Charter, Chuse the Sheriffs and Coroners. And all Officers concerned in the raising, assessing, and collecting publick Monies, by express Laws, are chose by the People annually, or nominated by the Assembly, and only account- able to them.
"The Assembly say they cannot be prorouged nor dissolved, and have a right to adjourn when, and for as long a Time as they please, without the Governor's Consent. In fact, they sometimes, by Mes- sage, acquaint the Governor with their Intention, and ask if he has no Objection; sometimes they adjourn without giving the Governor Notice, and sometimes contrary to his express Order.
"The Assembly never send the Governor their Minutes, and have even refused them when he has demanded them, so that, ex- cept what is contained in their Messages, the Governor knows nothing of their daily Proceedings till they are printed, which is once or twice a Year.
" The Assembly, by a Bill now before the Governor for the Regulation of the Indian Trade, have excluded him and his Council from any share in the Choice of Officers, or approbation of their Proceedings, or even in the disposal of the Presents that are pro- posed to be made to the Indians out of the Profits arising from the sale of Goods.
" In short, the Powers of Government are almost all taken out of the Hands of the Governor, and lodged in the Assembly ; and as to what little remains, scarce a Bill comes up without an At- tempt to lessen them.
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" A Flood of Paper Currency will finish the Ruin of the Pro- vince, and the Assembly does not seem disposed to offer any Bill without increasing the Quantity of Paper Money.
"The Assembly have not as yet made any regular Complaint against the Proprietors, which they might and ought to have done any time these two Years. So that it is their Fault that the Mat- ters in dispute are not brought to an issue, which the Proprietaries desire, of all things, may be done."
Governor Dinwiddee being in Town, Lord Loudoun desired the Governor to let him see the Indian Trade Bill, and take his Senti- upon it, which was done accordingly, and Governor Dinwiddee made the following Observations on it :
" The Indian Trade I am much a Stranger to, but this Bill ap- pears to me very usefull, and may be of great Service in furnishing the Indians with Goods much cheaper than they can be supplied from the French, and in Course may get the Interest of the whole Tribes of Indians.
"The restraining carrying to those poor People large Quantities of spirituous Liquors will be of great Service, as it is a general Complaint among them. I have read the Bill carefully, and have taken the Liberty to make some short Observations thereon ; if any ways satisfactory, it will fully answer my End.
" The Commissioners shou'd be mentioned in the Bill and ap- prov'd of by the Governor, as also the Persons appointed to con- duct the Trade with the Indians. And I am of Opinion, that a Fort properly Garrison'd shou'd be at the Place where the Truck- House is erected. The Persons appointed sho have full and ample Instructions, to be approved of by the Governor or Com- mander-in-Chief for the Time being.
" If any Surplus on the Sales and Returns, it is properly order'd for a Present to the Indians by the Direction, or at least with the Approbation, of the Governor or Commander-in-Chief. The Se- curity given by the Agent to be approved of by the Governor.
" The Agent or Agents trading with the Indians, shou'd have Reward or Salary specified in the Bill, as few Persons incline to have their Payments for Services done, left to the Direction of Commissioners or Committees of the Assembly, and their Salary shou'd also be approved by the Governor, &cª.
" All Forfeitures on this Bill shou'd be (I think) to the King, and appropriated as mentioned in the Bill."
Lord Loudoun having shewed the Propositions of the 17th of March relative to the Money Bill to the Speaker and Mr. Franklin, and having received from them an Answer, His Lordship sent it to
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the Governor to be communicated to the Council, and it was read in these Words :
Answers to Points proposed to be amended in the Bill relative to Assessments.
"A. The Assessors are Yearly chosen by the People, and if there is any Complaint of unequal Taxation (which there always will be in every Country), it does not with us lie against the As- sessors as unjust and partial so much as against the Concealment of Estates and the imperfect manner of obtaining a Knowledge of them, which is intended soon to be remedied. The Commissioners and Assessors who Tax the People are obliged by a Law passed in the Sixth Year of the present Reign to lay their Assessments and Accounts before the Justices and Grand Juries of the County Courts, wch. has accordingly been done ever since that Law passed, Yet no Complaints have ever to this Day been made to the Assembly by any of the Courts of any Injustice in the Assessors, and it seems extraordinary that this matter shou'd at this time be pressed by the Governor, who is never Taxed, and by the Proprietors, who exempt themselves from Taxes, while the People, who alone are affected by any Inequality, are as easy as they generally are in any Country. The Assembly, however, have already determined to prepare a par- ticular Bill to regulate the Assessing and Levying of Taxes, but they chose to make use of the old Method in the present propos'd Tax, not because they fully approved of it, but because the King's Service required an immediate Supply, and the changing of estab- lished Modes in a Matter so interesting as that of Taxation wou'd, as they had found by Experience in the Attempt, have made this present Session take up much time, and might fail at last. The Mode directed in the Hundred Thousand Bill now before the Gov- ernor is the same that has been used in this Province from the Be- ginning, and the same that is directed by the Act for granting Sixty Thousand Pounds, passed the last Year, is now practised in the Execution of that Act, and all the Officers concerned are well ac- quainted with it. It seemed, therefore, the Method most eligible on the present Emergency, which is become so pressing that a Com- plyance with the Proposal in the first Clause, tho' it shou'd on Con- sideration be found reasonable, is now impracticable.
" The Bill expresly mentions that the Tax is to be on all Estates, real and Personal, the Proprietary Estate only excepted.
" B. The Committee for disposing of the Money, auditing the Accounts, are expressly named in the Bill, and two of them are of the Council.
"C. The Provincial Treasurer is required to give in a New Se- curity by the present Bill. The sum is also named in the Body of the Bill, to wit, Five Thousand Pounds; and as the People must not only pay the Tax, but make good any Deficiency however arising,
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there is no doubt but Assemblys will always be ready to make such Provision as shall be found necessary to secure the Money in the Hands of their Treasurer by a particular Bill for that purpose.
"D. As the present Money Bill is formed, none of the Money can be issued without the Governor's Assent and Approbation, and it is in power at any Time to regulate the Manner in which that Assent shall be signified.
"E. The Governors of this Province have always had the Dis- posal of all Presents to Indians, and the Choice of all Commissioners appointed to make Treaties with them. The Assemblys never claimed any power of this kind. The Proprietaries are Hereditary Governors of this Province ; they have a noble Support in the Quit Rents; They ought therefore to govern the Province in Person ; But they live in England, make private Estate of the Quit-Rents, and send Deputies to govern in their stead. Their Deputies have also a Support (which we have established by Law) in the Money arising from Lycences, &ca., supposed to be near a Thousand Pounds Sterling per Annum. Thus we actually pay two Supports, and yet have not the full Benefit of One Governor; For the Proprietors live at a great Distance, and cannot readily be applied to on any Emergency of Government, and their Deputy is so restrained as that he can not use his own Judgement. When our Lieutenant Governors were at Liberty to act as Governors, and to pass such Laws as they found for the Benefit of the People, they have always received from the Assembly additional Yearly Marks of the People's Gratitude and Respect. Above Thirty Thousand Pounds have been given by the Assembly within these Thirty Years to Governors out of the Funds, which by Law the Assemblys had the sole Dis- position of.
"F. The Assembly have great Respect for their present Gov- ernor, and if he wou'd think fit himself to hear and answer their Complaints, it might probably be very agreable to the Assembly to have an Opportunity of laying them before him; But as there are some of his Council who are suspected to be the Advisers of all the Measures, and even procurers of the Instructions to be complain'd of as Grievances-Men who are looked upon as Enemies to the House and to the People, attached to the Proprietaries by profitable Offices, held during pleasure-it seems as if it wou'd answer no good End, but rather tend to continue and increase Contention, if the Council are to consider the Complaints and advise the Answers.
"G. The naming of the Treasurer in the Body of the Bill is unusual if not entirely New, and may be attended with Incon- venience ; for if the Securities, after consenting to be named in the Bill, shou'd change their Minds when the Law had passed, The Treasurer cou'd not act without a New Law naming others, unless those named were compelled under a Penalty to become Securities, which wou'd seem extraordinary. If the Securities are such as the Governor has no Objection to on Account of Insufficiency, it is all
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that appears to be necessary-And he is the sole Judge of their Sufficiency."
21st of March, P. M.
The Governor receiv'd by Express from Fort Augusta Letters from Major Burd giving an Account that a hundred and Fifty Six Nation Indians were arrived there in order to be present at a Treaty between Delawares and this Government ; And that they informed him there was Eight Hundred French and Indians at the Head of the West Branch of Sasquehannah, who were making Canoes there with Intent to attack Fort Augusta; And that the Garrison refused to do Duty for want of Pay, and that there was a Scarcity of Pro- visions and Ammunition.
The Governor consulted Lord Loudoun upon this Intelligence after examining the Commissary's Returns of Provisions and Am- munition, and making out a List of what was wanted, Who there- upon advised him by Letter not to make any further Opposition to the Supply Bill, but to pass it directly. And the Governor im- mediately laid before the House the Intelligence, and return'd the Bill to them with a Verbal Message, to wit : " The Governor re- turns the Bill intituled ' A Supplement to the Act intituled 'An Act for granting Sixty Thousand Pounds to the King's Use, &ca.,"' and commands me to acquaint the House that 'though his Senti- ments are still the same respecting it as before, yet the Intelligence now laid before you has determined him to give his Assent to it, and will pass it To-morrow at One o'clock, if it can be engrossed and ready by that Time.'"
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